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COMMENTS |
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INTRODUCTION
Portraits of ordinary experiences within literature present familiar places in a new light.¹ Constructing settings can be recognised as an integral aspect of Robert Gray’s collection of poems Coast Road (2014),³ achieved through the use of imagery as a favoured, stylistic feature in harmony with other creatively manipulated language forms and features². Through his creative representations of quintessential⁴ Australian spaces in Byron Bay: Winter, Journey: The North Coast and Late Ferry, Gray illustrates the dynamism and activity in these settings to explore notions of beauty, spirituality and journeying. These evocative depictions allow readers to delve into various environments and, in turn, gain awareness of the lives and cultures of those inhabiting them.
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1. This is a really concise thesis but it captures the essence of the question and answers it. I allowed the rest of my introduction to elaborate further on my ideas but this first sentence here is just a direct judgement on the question.
2. I did not restate the statement above but instead, expanded on it by suggesting that imagery is central to Gray’s style. I chose textual evidence that included imagery to really support this claim and each paragraph has at least one example of imagery analysed to illustrate this.
3. If the poems come from a collection, introduce it first before listing the individual poems you will be analysing in the essay specifically.
4. Quintessential: representing a typical example of something.
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PARAGRAPH 1
The portrayal of landscapes within poetry illuminates a beauty that exists within the ordinary. Gray stylistically transfigures iconic settings to provide them with enrichment and artistry. The sights in the coast town depicted in his ballad Byron Bay: Winter with the visual imagery, displayed in “the beach makes one great arc.” The hyperbole, coupled with the connotation of “great”, amazes the reader with the grandeur of the titular setting. The ordinariness is given further aesthetic appreciation in “swamp-oaks’ foliage / streams, hatching by Cézanne,” alluding to the French post- Impressionist painter who, too, depicted the everyday in his painted subject matter. This naturalism is incongruent with the manmade qualities explored in the setting of Sydney Harbour in Late Ferry. The dichotomy of light and darkness is of a compelling beauty, evident in “street lights’ fluorescence / over dark water.” The symbolism of the artificial lights that are gestured over the harbour offers an animation of the elements in city life interacting with the natural world. The urban landscape’s allure is confirmed in the line “this does seem like a movie theatre,” a simile that enables the city to exude a cinematic presence and establish a nexus to the audience. While Byron Bay: Winter situates the reader in a position to admire the beauty in an organic space, Late Ferry locates beauty instead in the intersecting elements of man and nature. Nevertheless, both poems arouse interest in the ordinary and championing the beauty in its diversity.
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5. I approached this essay with an integrated structure. To make sure my paragraphs are balanced, I planned out which poems I would discuss in each and what common theme I would be using to do so.
6. After annotating this poem for the first time, I was immediately drawn to this reference to Cezanne. I was also an art student in high school which made this allusion easy to figure out. If I had not known who he was, I would have researched into this at the questioning stage to better understand why the poet chose to include it. I would certainly recommend doing the same to expand your own general knowledge and to apply it in analysis if it supports your argument.
7. Dichotomy: a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different.
8. Nexus: a connection or series of connections linking two or more things.
9. As with any integrated essay, synthesis is really crucial to facilitate effective comparison. I used the template that I provided here in this guide but in the other two paragraphs, you will see how I have changed up the expression to give my writing some variety.
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PARAGRAPH 2
Examining familiar scenery through poetry channels a deeper spirituality within audiences. Ordinary settings are expressed through captivating expressions to enhance the consciousness of the self. Water is emblematic¹⁰ of the spiritual process of healing, characterised in Byron Bay: Winter with “the sea’s grey feathers flurry, / showing emerald.” The colour symbolism, employed after the enjambment, connotes qualities of balance and introspection of which the persona individually indulges in as they are “walking on the beach alone.¹¹” Though spoken with a childlike tone in “the feeling that I wear great wings,” Gray’s persona experiences an uplifting energy from “stepping along the earth” and chooses to paradoxically remain grounded by the immediate world around him. This creatively stirs a spiritual cleansing for audiences as they similarly celebrate the coast town’s light atmosphere and simplicity. On the other hand, Gray’s Journey: The North Coast provides insight into a more mature perspective to induce¹² spiritual awakening from scrutinising a country town setting. The persona acutely comments on how “down these slopes move, as a nude descends a staircase”, an allusion to French artist Marcel Duchamp’s controversial painting,¹³ is juxtaposed against “slender white gum trees.” Simulating a sense of fluid, parallel movement, the landscape is represented as erotic and yet graceful, “strewn with flakes of light.” Gray’s use of visual imagery invigorates these surroundings, encouraging audiences to observe and intimately engage with the life before them. Though the two settings reveal contrasting intrinsic¹⁴ and extrinsic¹⁵ sensations, an innocence and promiscuity respectively,¹⁶ they both show how it is in the ordinary that the spirit may be effectively revitalised.¹⁷ Thus, audiences’ perceptions of ordinary environments are heightened and renewed in spiritually charged ways in both poems.
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10. Emblematic: serving as a symbol of a particular quality or concept; symbolic.
11. When analysing colour symbolism, it is really easy to fall into the trap of just listing all the connotations of that colour and not elaborating further on the effect this has on the text’s meaning. Here, I suggested the way those qualities of “balance and introspection” are experienced by the persona which is one way you could justify the reasons why those qualities would have been represented.
12. Induce: to bring about or give rise to.
13. As with Byron Bay: Winter, another allusion is made here which I was able to instantly recognise because of my art knowledge. Including this in my analysis suggests that I have engaged with the poem at a deeper level prior to constructing my arguments and considering the importance of these references to my overall understanding of the themes explored in the poem.
14. Intrinsic: belonging naturally to something.
15. Extrinsic: not part of the essential nature of someone or something; coming or operating from outside.
16. My analysis in this paragraph, unlike the Keats one, does not shy away from addressing more mature subject matter. Being respectful and responsible in your analysis is how you can tackle more sensitive subject areas such as mental health, sexuality and ethics.
17. Revitalise: to provide with new life and vitality.
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PARAGRAPH 3
Journeying is able pave explorations into ordinary settings and generating awareness of them. Gray’s poetry delivers picturesque descriptions of the places travelled that motivate audiences to follow along.¹⁸ In Journey: The North Coast, this is portrayed through “the train’s shadow, like a bird’s, flees on the [...] paddocks,” projecting the titular journey’s momentum. Orienting the audience to an aerial angle, the use of simile increases the movement of the persona and figuratively proposes opportunities for the audience to embark on a journey. The motif of travel is inherent to the subject matter of this poem, rewarding spectacles for the audience. This is detailed in how “the country bursts open on the sea” with visual imagery, in conjunction with an enthused tone, marvelling the audience as the persona reimagines familiar sights throughout his journey. Visual wonders are additionally represented in Late Ferry as “the ferry wades now into the broad/open harbour.” The enjambment between the synonyms of “broad” and “open” indicates a pause for contemplation on the grand scope for journeying available in metropolitan areas,¹⁹ that there is indeed adventure in the everyday. As the horizon widens and the persona “loses sight of the ferry” the audience’s visions are ironically increased from realising the transformative nature of journeying. Journey: The North Coast and Late Ferry share the travelling experience with the audience to propel them into the pastoral and urban terrains. Therefore, Gray shows how journeying instigates a greater awareness of the quotidian,²⁰ and how this fundamental nature makes the experiences gained from them especially meaningful.²¹
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18. These first two sentences suggest journeying to not only be a theme of the poem, but an action that is encouraged in audiences as a result. This is what we would call a performative view on the role of language which suggests that words have the power to affect change. While this is some high-end thinking, and it still confuses me sometimes myself when I study it in university, it does make your arguments more interesting because it explores audience impact quite intimately.
19. I analysed the function of the enjambment here in creating a poetic effect, something which I particularly noticed when I read the poem out loud. While enjambment can be easily identified from the text, that emphasis I put in the guide on reading aloud the poem can really be seen here because I was able to “feel” the pause itself.
20. Quotidian: mundane, typical, everyday occurrences.
21. In this synthesis, I do not go as in depth with the differences between the poems beyond just saying that they explore contrasting settings. I usually prefer to compare them more clearly but since the thematic representations of these poems are quite similar, it is completely fine to do this as well. Ultimately, synthesis is included in your arguments to show that the poems have been curated together for a reason and should be examined in tandem with each other. However you choose to do approach it is something you will grapple with as you practise and experiment with writing.
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CONCLUSION
The ongoing appeal of Gray’s oeuvre lies in its recognition of everyday phenomena.²² Setting is not a static representation of a place but a lively space for audiences to reside in and gain awareness of lives, cultures and experiences mobilised²³ through the vivid imagery and poetic verse. Through exploring beauty, spirituality and journeying, Coast Road masterfully presents rejuvenated profiles of familiar landscapes that arouse curiosity and thrill. It can be concluded that Gray transforms the environments constructed in his poetry to invite audiences’ into these settings for them to reach new levels of appreciation for ordinary experiences.²⁴
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22. Phenomenon: remarkable persons or things.
23. Mobilise: to make something movable or capable of movement.
24. This final sentence includes audience impact and incorporates the key words of the question to reaffirm the judgement I have made and justified over the course of this essay.
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