Sample Essay HSC Advanced English Common Module: Rosemary Dobson, Essays (high school) of English

Download Sample Essay HSC Advanced English Common Module: Rosemary Dobson and more Essays (high school) English in PDF only on Docsity! Poetry is an intense examination of the emotion that arise from our human experiences’ Explore this statement with reference to the poetry of Rosemary Dobson Rosemary Dobson’s oeuvre of poetry examines the diversity of complex emotions that arise from our universal experience of aging and the passing of time. Through Summer’s End and Young Girl at a Window, Dobson explores the sense of nostalgia, pain and reluctance that comes with growing up. Contrastingly, Canberra Morning explores the more positive emotions associated with ageing, that is, the feelings of liberation, relief and joy that comes with freeing oneself from societal constraints and expectations. Summer’s End examines the intense emotions of nostalgia and pain associated with growing up and leaving behind one’s childhood. The use of refreshing natural imagery and water as a motif in the first stanza capture the joy and bliss of childhood, the ‘cleansing of waters’ capturing the purity and innocence of youth. This is contrasted with the ‘curl and crash’ of the waves, symbolic of the reality of time moving forward, shattering the indulgent reliving of youth and signalling a new state in life. This is accompanied with a sense of loss which is mingled with the inevitable passing of time, captured by ‘the waves recede with a sigh.’ The inevitable passing of time and being forced to leave behind one’s childhood is captured in the phrase ‘tadpoles...slipped through my fingers. This symbolises how quickly the years go by and escape us, beyond our control, which only heightens that sense of nostalgia and reluctance to move on. The intertextual allusion to the Little Mermaid ‘weeping’ conveys a sense of great pain, regret and loss of a life she cannot have back. The image of the sand being ‘like knives to her feet’ captures the pain of a lost childhood. In the second section, the image of the narrator ‘dreaming by the fire’ reinforces the fact that these memories and joyful moments are no longer part of her reality. ‘Watching’ creates a sense of passivity as the past remains unattainable, catalysing the sense of loss that is felt with the passage of time. The reluctance that accompanies aging is explored in Young Girl at a Window. By capturing a frozen moment in time of a girl sitting beside a window, it conveys a hesitancy to move onto the next stage of life (i.e. adulthood) The window itself conveys a sense of liminality and is symbolic of the threshold between childhood and adulthood which we must all overcome. This is accompanied by a fear of the future, reluctance and a longing to hang onto the past, and this reluctance to acknowledge the passing of time is captured in ‘though nobody spoke and no one will’ highlighting how we are often unwillingly to be confronted with the inevitability of time passing. However, the imperative ‘chance assault’ has a commanding tone, reinforcing the idea that everyone must leave behind their childhood, and make themselves vulnerable and open to future challenges, confronting the ups and downs of life we must all face. This conveys the daunting nature of aging and the fears of leaving