Figuratively speaking, Ngauranga Gorge Hill contrasts between the land that bore her children and the “barren place”, she leaves. The land, to the 14 year old fleur, is wild and vegetated. She rode past the landscape too fast to notice the awkward land beneath the lush fertile cover. As the naive teenager she notices the rural land so close to the city, but as a tired 30 year old she sees the landscape of her youth emotionally barren. So literally the land is lush and green and fertile, while figuratively the land to her is barren and devoid of attachment.
The question Im supposed to be answering here is whether or not the poem can be broken down into sentences...to put the answer simply, yes it can be, it actually already is. The structure of the sentences might be a bit all over the place, but they are still already in fact, there.
Ngauranga Gorge has some figurative language. Firstly, 'the great hill outside Wellington' that is '..a steep road to climb' could be taken figuratively in meaning that traveling away from the city is a hard journey emotionally and that the fourteen year-old Adcock doesn't want to go away from the city to Johnsonville. But this could also be meant to taken literally in that the road is steep (which it is...) Or, maybe the sentence has a figurative and literal intepretation, like the rest of the poem. For example, Adcock describing Wellington as 'barren' could be figuratively referring to the lack of emotional satisfaction and energy of the place, or the relatively few people that live in Wellington (especially at the time) and the expanse of unoccupied land all around it, in the literal sense.
The diction of the poem: the poem uses mostly formal language but has the occasional informal comment like "the old chev" which could be seen as colloquial language. the language is mainly concrete, vivid and modern. We decided that the poem doesn't really manipulate syntax as the word order used is very similar to the word order we would use in our day-to-day lives.
Who is speaking? Fluer Adcock is speaking and reflecting on her life as a 14 / 24 year old living in wellington. according to the publish date she would have been about 40 give or take a few milleniums.
I feel she is speaking to us directly as wellingtonians (who also remember going up the Ngauranga Gorge Hill) "Do you remember"
She is speaking in remenescence of her childhood and the poem has a general nostalgic tone. Although adcock appears to be speaking to us in the first section she ignores us for the rest which implies that she could be reflecting with an old friend who used to go up the gorge with her and so perhaps we are over hearing the conversation.
Adcock tends to choose words in this poem that are more concrete than abstract. Phrases like “The bee in the foxglove" enable readers to understand and picture what Adcock is trying to explain. The language used is mostly modern, however some words such as "Burgeoning" are slightly dated. In some cases Adcock does use words that have other connotations, for example "Barren" has the double definition of meaning both bare and deserted as well as describing someone unable to produce offspring.
This poem does use figurative language.Adcock describes Wellington as being a "barren place" but at the same time she says it "bred two sons".The city did not literally breed children.She is using this extended metaphor to compare the city to a woman.There is also the use of a pardox saying that the city bred her two children but was also a barren place,seeming like a contradiction of thoughts.On one hand it "bred two sons" but figurativly speaking it is "barren" i n the sense that it holds no emotional connection for her.
Ngauranga Gorge Hill, conjures up many mental images, open to individual interpretation. Although, the opening descriptions of the Ngaurange Gorge Hill do not allow much interpretation, as the picture of the Ngaurange Gorge is somewhat explicitly described by Fleur. As the poem developed, my mental picture went from the one i hold of the hill to the one Fleur was describing, full of "rock and gorse, gravel-pits, and foxgloves". The mental picture created throughout the poem by Fleur is one of adventure and wilderness, yet the positive descriptions delivered in the poem are transformed to have negative connotations with her closing statement "But i think it was a barren place".
What does it make you see, hear, taste, smell? I guess how your senses react to this poem differs from reader to reader but this was my interpretation: The beginning of this poem provokes very pure and sweet smells as we encounter "acts of nature" ie bee pollinating foxglove, baby sucking on mother's nipple. We are then jolted into a different setting, to a somewhat industrial landscape where we can almost hear the putt-putt of the old Chev tipping over into J'ville, the raw small of tar and gravel. I imagine the rough barren landscapes, not near as sweet as the first opening images.
How could the poem be paraphrased? Looking back at her early years in Wellington, Adcock sees the town as "barren". For her, its redeeming feature was that she had two children there.
In 'Ngauranga Gorge Hill', the landscape that Adcock observes sounds very harsh and unpleasant in the way she describes the awkwardness and desolation of the surroundings that she deems to have 'possessed' her. There is no tranquil imagery, assonance nor any rhyme to soften the overall tone of the poem. Consequently it becomes clear that the poem is cacophonous; as the harmony that we would expect to find in a euphonious poem is absent.
Sound - no, the poem does not rhyme, nor does it use a repetition of sounds, lines or refrains, although it does a repetition of the words "foxglove" and "nipple", there is no alliteration, assonance or onomatopoeia and the general 'sounding-ness' of the poem is cacophonous - the lack of rhyme and 'sense-making' makes it not easy on the ears, my brain just doesn't agree with it ^^
As mentioned today, I agree that the overall tone of Ngauranga Gorge Hill is quite bitter- in a subtle way throughout until the last line- and so Fleur Adcock's detachment and dislike of Wellington/ NZ can be seen. For example, alliteration can be seen with 'harsh' sounding words such as "gorse" and "gravel- pits." The strong, sharp 'g' sound makes the reader subconsiously relate the area to other unpleasant places/ experiences. The last line, "...a barren place" also reinforces the resentment and bitterness of the tone. The deliberate use of 'barren' is what ultimately does this because people do not associate the word with happiness, but rather, a lonely kind of emptiness.
I really like your phrase "a lonely kind of emptiness", Lucy, because that seems to perfectly describe the state of barrenness. If a woman is barren, you could say that her womb is empty. And you might also say that there's a consequent sense of loneliness for her.
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Figuratively speaking,
Ngauranga Gorge Hill contrasts between the land that bore her children and the “barren place”, she leaves.
The land, to the 14 year old fleur, is wild and vegetated. She rode past the landscape too fast to notice the awkward land beneath the lush fertile cover. As the naive teenager she notices the rural land so close to the city, but as a tired 30 year old she sees the landscape of her youth emotionally barren. So literally the land is lush and green and fertile, while figuratively the land to her is barren and devoid of attachment.
The question Im supposed to be answering here is whether or not the poem can be broken down into sentences...to put the answer simply, yes it can be, it actually already is. The structure of the sentences might be a bit all over the place, but they are still already in fact, there.
Ngauranga Gorge has some figurative language.
Firstly, 'the great hill outside Wellington' that is '..a steep road to climb' could be taken figuratively in meaning that traveling away from the city is a hard journey emotionally and that the fourteen year-old Adcock doesn't want to go away from the city to Johnsonville. But this could also be meant to taken literally in that the road is steep (which it is...) Or, maybe the sentence has a figurative and literal intepretation, like the rest of the poem.
For example, Adcock describing Wellington as 'barren' could be figuratively referring to the lack of emotional satisfaction and energy of the place, or the relatively few people that live in Wellington (especially at the time) and the expanse of unoccupied land all around it, in the literal sense.
The diction of the poem:
the poem uses mostly formal language but has the occasional informal comment like "the old chev" which could be seen as colloquial language. the language is mainly concrete, vivid and modern. We decided that the poem doesn't really manipulate syntax as the word order used is very similar to the word order we would use in our day-to-day lives.
What is the rhetorical situation of the play...
Who is speaking?
Fluer Adcock is speaking and reflecting on her life as a 14 / 24 year old living in wellington. according to the publish date she would have been about 40 give or take a few milleniums.
I feel she is speaking to us directly as wellingtonians (who also remember going up the Ngauranga Gorge Hill)
"Do you remember"
She is speaking in remenescence of her childhood and the poem has a general nostalgic tone. Although adcock appears to be speaking to us in the first section she ignores us for the rest which implies that she could be reflecting with an old friend who used to go up the gorge with her and so perhaps we are over hearing the conversation.
What is the Diction of the poem?
Adcock tends to choose words in this poem that are more concrete than abstract. Phrases like “The bee in the foxglove" enable readers to understand and picture what Adcock is trying to explain. The language used is mostly modern, however some words such as "Burgeoning" are slightly dated. In some cases Adcock does use words that have other connotations, for example "Barren" has the double definition of meaning both bare and deserted as well as describing someone unable to produce offspring.
This poem does use figurative language.Adcock describes Wellington as being a "barren place" but at the same time she says it "bred two sons".The city did not literally breed children.She is using this extended metaphor to compare the city to a woman.There is also the use of a pardox saying that the city bred her two children but was also a barren place,seeming like a contradiction of thoughts.On one hand it "bred two sons" but figurativly speaking it is "barren" i n the sense that it holds no emotional connection for her.
Ngauranga Gorge Hill, conjures up many mental images, open to individual interpretation. Although, the opening descriptions of the Ngaurange Gorge Hill do not allow much interpretation, as the picture of the Ngaurange Gorge is somewhat explicitly described by Fleur. As the poem developed, my mental picture went from the one i hold of the hill to the one Fleur was describing, full of "rock and gorse, gravel-pits, and foxgloves".
The mental picture created throughout the poem by Fleur is one of adventure and wilderness, yet the positive descriptions delivered in the poem are transformed to have negative connotations with her closing statement "But i think it was a barren place".
What does it make you see, hear, taste, smell?
I guess how your senses react to this poem differs from reader to reader but this was my interpretation: The beginning of this poem provokes very pure and sweet smells as we encounter "acts of nature" ie bee pollinating foxglove, baby sucking on mother's nipple. We are then jolted into a different setting, to a somewhat industrial landscape where we can almost hear the putt-putt of the old Chev tipping over into J'ville, the raw small of tar and gravel. I imagine the rough barren landscapes, not near as sweet as the first opening images.
How could the poem be paraphrased?
Looking back at her early years in Wellington, Adcock sees the town as "barren". For her, its redeeming feature was that she had two children there.
SOUND:
In 'Ngauranga Gorge Hill', the landscape that Adcock observes sounds very harsh and unpleasant in the way she describes the awkwardness and desolation of the surroundings that she deems to have 'possessed' her. There is no tranquil imagery, assonance nor any rhyme to soften the overall tone of the poem. Consequently it becomes clear that the poem is cacophonous; as the harmony that we would expect to find in a euphonious poem is absent.
Sound - no, the poem does not rhyme, nor does it use a repetition of sounds, lines or refrains, although it does a repetition of the words "foxglove" and "nipple", there is no alliteration, assonance or onomatopoeia and the general 'sounding-ness' of the poem is cacophonous - the lack of rhyme and 'sense-making' makes it not easy on the ears, my brain just doesn't agree with it ^^
As mentioned today, I agree that the overall tone of Ngauranga Gorge Hill is quite bitter- in a subtle way throughout until the last line- and so Fleur Adcock's detachment and dislike of Wellington/ NZ can be seen.
For example, alliteration can be seen with 'harsh' sounding words such as "gorse" and "gravel- pits." The strong, sharp 'g' sound makes the reader subconsiously relate the area to other unpleasant places/ experiences.
The last line, "...a barren place" also reinforces the resentment and bitterness of the tone. The deliberate use of 'barren' is what ultimately does this because people do not associate the word with happiness, but rather, a lonely kind of emptiness.
I really like your phrase "a lonely kind of emptiness", Lucy, because that seems to perfectly describe the state of barrenness. If a woman is barren, you could say that her womb is empty. And you might also say that there's a consequent sense of loneliness for her.
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