Australian Poetry
Yr 11 English Studies
Ms Paine
Modern Australian Poetry
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We will study a range of Australian
poets
You will required to analyze and
comment on poems individually and in
comparison.
Use the Poetry Grid (supplied) to
guide your thinking.
Poetry Grid
Poetry Analysis –
Using the Grid
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‘Suburban Sonnet’
Poet: Gwen Harwood (1920-1995)
Pg. 299 Lines to Time
‘Suburban Sonnet’
(Gwen Harwood)
She practises a fugue, though it can matter
to no one if she plays well or not.
Besides her on the floor two children chatter,
then scream and fight. She hushes them…
…A pot
boils over. As she rushes to the stove
too late a wave of nausea overpowers
subject and counter-subject.
…Zest and love
drain out with soapy water as she scours
the crusted milk.
…Her veins ache. Once she played for
Rubinstein, who yawned….
…The children caper
round a sprung mouse trap where a mouse lies dead.
When the soft corpse won’t move they seem afraid.
She comforts them; and wraps it in a paper
featuring: Tasty dishes from stale bread.
Poetry Grid
10 Step Process for
Successfully Analyzing a Poem
Using “Suburban Sonnet”
“Suburban Sonnet” textual references
“fugue”: (musical term)
(Gwen Harwood)
A composition in which a
short melody/ phrase is
She practises a fugue, though it can matter introduced by one part and
successively taken up by
to no one now if she plays well or not.
others…(OED)
Beside her on the floor two children chatter,
then scream and fight. She hushes them. A pot
boils over. As she rushes to the stove
too late, a wave of nausea overpowers
subject and counter-subject. Zest and love
drain out with soapy water as she scours
the crusted milk. Her veins ache. Once she played
for Rubinstein, who yawned. The children caper
round a sprung mousetrap where a mouse lies dead.
When the soft corpse won't move they seem afraid.
She comforts them; and wraps it in a paper
“Rubinstein”:
featuring: Tasty dishes from stale bread.
famous concert
pianist in 1950s &
60s
Step 1: Subject Matter
Question:
 What event, situation, or
experience does the poem
describe or record?
“Beside her on the floor two children chatter,
then scream and fight. She hushes them. A pot
boils over…”
Answer:
 A suburban mother living
an ordinary life eg. Children
fighting, pots over boiling
etc
Step 2: Purpose/ Key Ideas/ Message
Questions
 What is the poet’s
purpose in writing this?
 What message does
Harwood want to
communicate?
“She practises a fugue, though it can matter
to no one now if she plays well or not.”
Musical reference to the career she
could have had.
Title: “Suburban Sonnet”
A sonnet is a famous traditional
poetic form associated with
Shakespeare
What does the juxtaposition
with the word “Suburban”
indicate?
Answer
 Communicates despair &
disappointment in being a
suburban ‘desperate’
housewife rather than living
an extraordinary life as a
concert pianist.
Step 3: Emotion/ Mood/ Feeling/ Tone
Questions
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What is the predominant
emotion, tone, or mood of the
poem?
Does the mood change during
the poem?
What emotions or feelings
does the poet seek to evoke in
the reader/ hearer?
…Zest and love
drain out with soapy water as she
scours/ the crusted milk.
Answer:
 Despair & disappointment
 For the housewife whose
life has not turned out like
she had hoped for
Step 4: Techniques
Including
(some might be more evident depending on
the poem being studied):
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Step
Step
Step
Step
Step
Step
5: Structure
6: Sensory Appeal
7: Language
8: Imagery
9: Movement & Rhythm
10: Sounds
Step 5: Structure
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How is the poem structured?
Does it have conventional structure
such as a sonnet or ode?
Does it have stanzas with regular
number of lines, or any other
features of structural design?
Step 6: Sensory Appeal
Questions
 Is the poem designed
to appeal to one or
more of the five senses
– touch, taste, smell,
hearing, sight –
through description?
 How does this impact
upon the reader?
Answer
 No
The structure of “Suburban Sonnet”
•A Sonnet usually has a
consistent rhyme scheme
1 She practises a fugue, though it can matter (a)
with 14 lines and a turn on
2 to no one now if she plays well or not. (b)
thought (volta) at the 8th or
3 Beside her on the floor two children chatter, (a)
9th line. are of a similar
4 then scream and fight. She hushes them. A pot (b) length.
(c)
6 too late, a wave of nausea overpowers (d)
5 boils over. As she rushes to the stove
(c)
(d)
7 subject and counter-subject. Zest and love
8 drain out with soapy water as she scours
•The letters indicate the
rhyme/ half-rhyme scheme;
but is irregular
(e)
10 for Rubinstein, who yawned. The children caper (f)
11 round a sprung mousetrap where a mouse lies dead. (e)
12 When the soft corpse won't move they seem afraid. (e)
13 She comforts them; and wraps it in a paper (f)
14 featuring: Tasty dishes from stale bread. (e)
9 the crusted milk. Her veins ache. Once she played
VOLTA as the woman
reminisces about
what her life could
have been.
Step 7: Language
Questions
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How would you describe the
poet’s use of words –vivid,
striking, arresting, effective or
colourless and predictable?
Is the language appropriate to
the subject and/ or theme?
What effect does the language
have on the reader?
Answers:
Striking imagery of the dead
mouse. (Unexpected)
…The children caper
round a sprung mousetrap where a mouse lies dead.
When the soft corpse won't move they seem afraid.
She comforts them; and wraps it in a paper
featuring: Tasty dishes from stale bread.
Irony (Tasty/ Corpse)
Step 8: Imagery
Questions
 Are there any striking
examples of similes,
metaphors, personifications
or symbols in the poem?
 What is their effect?
Metaphor: pot boiling over like
vomiting & musical
reference back to fugue
….A pot
boils over. As she rushes to the stove
too late, a wave of nausea overpowers
subject and counter-subject. Zest and love
drain out with soapy water as she scours
the crusted milk…
Metaphor: positive emotions
draining away in the kitchen
Step 9 : Movement & Rhythm
Questions (Movement)
 Does the poem have a regular
(slow or fast) rhythm?
 What is the effect of any
rhythmic/ kinetic qualities on the
poem’s meaning or tone?
 What kind of energy does the
poem have?
These words are
phrased to be read
slowly and reflect the
energy and tone of the
poem.
Answer (Movement):
 Rhythm = slow
 Tone = depressing
 Energy = lacklustre
“Beside her on the floor two children chatter,
then scream and fight. She hushes them.”
Step 10: Sounds
Questions:
 Does the poem have any
significant sound features?
Is it musical?
 Does the poet use
onomatopoeia, alliteration,
or assonance?
 Does the poem rhyme?
 What are the effects of
these features of sound on
the effect of the poem?
Answer:
 No
(possibly)
Perhaps the lack of
language adornment is
deliberate?
Does this fit with mood
and message of the
poem?
Critical Response & Summary
“Suburban Sonnet” (p. 299)
1. What is the irony in the title “Suburban
Sonnet”?
2. What kind of activities and routines are
described in this poem? What is the poet’s
attitude to them? How does the reader know
this?
3. What is the message of this poem? How does
Harwood communicate it?