Relationships in Gwen Harwood

Through her collection of poems, Gwen Harwood challenges the audience through a reminder of the transitory nature of time, and the unavoidable reality of our mortality, affirming to the responder the necessity to acknowledge these facts in order to more greatly recognize the significance of relationships we maintain and behaviours we uphold. Elucidated through a varied poetry suite, Harwood explores the power of memories in the validation of our lives, catalyzing changes in perspective and profound maturation as a result of such augmented appreciation.
The inherent, intense necessity for individuals to maintain nourishing familial relationships promotes a deepening of understanding of one’s role in society through the expectation and convention of reciprocal didacticism. Harwood’s Father and Child explores emotional maturation through acceptance of the evanescent nature of time, and the impact of pedagogic lessons ingrained on our psyche through the influence of parental figures.   Childhood rebellion is an intrinsic principle which catalyses individuals need to reflect on and deal with resulting repercussions, as portrayed in Father and Child through an anecdote of a youthful memory.   The shooting down of an owl – a traditional symbol of wisdom – reflects the naïve ignorance of the implications of rejecting knowledge in search for independence, and instigates the immediate need to recognize responsibility for one’s actions in order to mature under the instruction of a parent. The motif of blindness, such as in metaphor “owl-blind in the early sun,” connotes a lack of experience and knowledge, suggesting that an acknowledgement of our youthful bewilderment enables retrospective recognition of comfort provided through strong, innate familial bonds.   The tonal juxtaposition in parental dialogue between the two parts of the poem, with authoritative “End what you have begun,” in Barn Owl, and empathetic “Be your tears wet?” in Nightfall, indicates a shift in the power...