LITERATURE ENTRY WEEK SEVEN
Judith Wright
Entrancing enchanting
shape
colour overwhelming
pulse beat style
These are all words we concluded were evident in the poem “The Forest” by Judith Wright. In our tute we spent a lot of time focusing on this poem. On first reading the poem it appears clearly that the poem is about a forest. Flowers, violets, orchids and trees are features of the forest and yet a deeper meaning was interpreted.
Overall the poem was about a relationship. The first stanza relates to a relationships’ beginning where all is new and unfamiliar, ‘when first I knew this forest, its flowers were strange’ and the relationship continues to form its shape as too the poem. The second stanza describes the forest in a little more detail as to a relationship where more is discovered about each other and also here Judith is creating a relationship with the forest perhaps not necessarily with a person as I first thought. The third stanza shows a deeper love for the forest and her relationship within, ‘flame-tree’s bright blood’. Judith uses very vivid imagery in her word choice to draw the reader into the scene she is depicting ,’ground-orchids small and single haunted my day’, the haunting sense of unforgettable sight, that won’t leave you in a moment but stays with you for some time. The fourth stanza illuminates a feeling of comfortable happiness that appears to ‘never reach an end’; when in a relationship that’s going well you don’t want it to end. The fifth stanza is the changing point in her poem as she makes note of ‘long-fulfilled desires those first strange joys are gone.’ as a comparison to a relationship that’s almost over when all the goodness is gone. The final stanza is closure of the poem or is it?.....Judith writes similar to one who is finished with the relationship but not finished with the exploring of what makes up a relationship, ‘my search is further. There’s still to name and know’.
Is this poem like that of life? We are all searching for that something or someone to fulfil our life, to make it complete or simply to enjoy. Judith Wright has a grasp on the environment around her and isn’t afraid to explore or challenge it.
In the lecture preceding the study of this poem, MG analysed a poem “The Wattle-Tree”. This poem was so deep for me. I felt a little lost for words to discover others in the lecture understood the complexity of this poem. I’m still curious as to how they concluded the alchemy aspect of the poem; I never would have seen that in a million years.
Thankyou Literature Semester Two, 2008.