Change Essay: Gwen Harwood & Related Texts

Change is a process that is inevitable in all our lives; it is constant, unpredictable, physical, emotional and psychological. In the poetry of Gwen Harwood changing self is an important theme, though she focuses on different experiences of life in which change is emphasised. From the stimulus booklet the short story Sky-high by Hannah Robert uses a central symbol of the clothesline to represent the changes one experiences from childhood to adult. In the movie Pleasantville change is obvious through the film techniques that are used turning an innocent black and white world into an experienced technicolour world.


‘In the Park’ is a poem by Gwen Harwood that highlights the commitments women have compared to men. Gwen Harwood wrote her poetry in the 1950’s and 60’s a time that women were still expected to stay at home and look after the kids and not really do much else. ‘In the Park’ is in a sonnet form divided into two quatrains and a sestet. Harwood uses the details...