Analysis Of At Mornington And Mother Who Gave Me Life By Gwen Harwood

Harwood’s poems are as much about love and life as they are about death and loss.
Gwen Harwood once wrote that one must immerse themselves in the shades by confronting harrowing truisms, namely an awareness of life’s brevity and death’s inevitability, in order to find solace in difficult times. While Harwood’s poems consider death as a plaguing concern, she does not remain morbidly transfixed on grief and loss. A celebration of significant relationships with loved ones and reflecting upon fond experiences allow the persona to transcend the fleeting nature of life’s cycle. Harwood utilises the raw and confronting concern of death and loss to emphasise the importance of living expressively and relishing the moment. Harwood’s At Mornington and Mother Who Gave Me Life …show more content…
As in At Mornington, Mother Who Gave Me Life illuminates the importance of living a worthy life regardless of death’s inevitability as a plaguing factor in the natural life cycle. The persona prayed her mother would live “to see Halley’s comet a second time”; a symbol of hope that death could be expelled and life prolonged. Characteristic of Harwood’s poetry are recalled experiences of significant moments enjoyed with kin in order to heighten the value of life. The mother’s time is maximised through reference to her age as close to “thirty thousand days”. Stanza five sees the commencement of the fabric motif, symbolising typical duties of motherhood. The metaphor of the mother’s face as “fine threadbare linen” portrays a weakness upon nearing death and the vocabulary choice of “crumple” indicates depletion in her mother’s determination to defeat death. However, the persona describes her mother as “still good to the last”, therefore eternalising her worth. The metonymy of “a lamp on embroidered linen / my supper set out” dramatizes the comfortable memories of home and motherly