Rosemary Dobson's The Ice Palace

The process of discovery is a profoundly meaningful experience which involves moving into unknown realms, causing a re-evaluation of the known. Discoveries occur in a multifaceted fashion as part of a re-consideration of experiences and values, generating new perspectives of ourselves and our world. Rosemary Dobson’s poetry and Fitzgerald’s The Ice Palace position us to recognise the significance of time, change and its confronting challenges. The persona’s desire for creative freedom within “Cock Crow” emphasises the complex nature of discovery as she comes to value the undeniable significance of maintaining familial relationships and responsibility. The discovery process within The Ice Palace occurs as part of a reconsideration of place …show more content…
The persona, Sally Carrol feels an inclination to forsake her stifling Southern heritage to explore the alternatives in the North. Carrol embarks on this meaningful process to discover aspects of herself and embrace elements beyond the threshold, conveyed in “ there’s two sides of me… the sleepy old side you love an’ there’s a sort of energy”. The juxtaposition captures her inner struggle as she seeks new realms while is immersed in the Southern lifestyle which restricts her creative sense. Fitzgerald captures Carrol’s connection to Clark and the South through her effusive dialogue “Oh Clark, I love you” but it is mediated by a feeling of being “tied down” to the “lazy days” that she feels renders her life “ineffectual and sad”. The allusion to Kubla Khan in “dazed by the magic of the great crystal walls Sally Carrol found herself repeating over and over two lines from “Kubla Khan: It was a miracle of rare device” highlights the way the persona’s initial assumptions of the North are contrary to the reality, as her initial feeling of excitement are gradually compromised. Fitzgerald employs the circular narrative structure to reinforce the significance of discovery as part of a re-evaluation of self and experience. The nature imagery in “the wealth of the golden sunlight route a quite enervating yet oddly comforting heat over the house where day long it faced the dusty stretch of the road” encapsulates the communion with nature and the feeling of comfort that Carrol finally associates with the empowering presence of the South. The revelatory statement in “Cock Crow”, “thinking I knew his meaning well” portrays how the process of inner discovery has enlightened the persona’s perspective, as she comes to value the undeniable significance of her family. Similarly Carroll returns having