Judith Wright is an environmentalist! In Judith Wright’s poems, the theme of nature consistently arises. She puts forward her thoughts of the destructions of native lands through poems including “Sanctuary”, also of the uniqueness of the environment itself with poems like “The Surfer.” I believe Judith Wright is an environmentalist because of the points she gives relating to the thoughtlessness of the human seek for technology. In Judith Wright’s poem “Sanctuary”, she describes and area of habitation as a sanctuary. She uses the heading as an ironic meaning to make a point on the thoughtlessness of the human endeavour. This “sanctuary” which by definition states “A place which is safe”, has a road passing through leading to a city which stops for nothing in its way “The road beneath the giant oak trees sweeps on and cannot wait… but has no time to pray” Judith Wright uses this road as a metaphor to stand for the animate, inconsistent, and brutal force of human conflict with nature “flat skins pinned to the road of possum and native-cats.” She describes the road as a ‘fuse’s uggesting the potentially destructive it could have on the sanctuary.
She also involves a small old tree into the poem that has been cut down for no particular reason by a boy and his axe “and here the old tree stood for how many thousand years? that old gnome-tree some axe-new boy cut down.” This gives the responder the feeling of actually committing the deed and gives a feeling of sorrow to the destruction of an old, defenseless tree. I believe Judith Wright wrote this poem to immediately grab people’s attention to the destruction we are doing outside our own habitation, and how important it is to protect our native forests, plants, and animals. The direction of Judith Wright’s poem “The Surfer” is describing how important and beautiful our native lands and oceans are. In this poem she uses the ocean and a surfer to show that there is a relationship between nature and human beings, .”.. the gulls went wheeling in air, as he in water, with delight.” The poem has a lot of descriptive words in the first and second stanzas, which gives the responder an image of beauty and peace and a warm and comfortable feeling of the beach and ocean.
The Essay on "Remittance Man"- Judith Wright Poem Analysis
In her poem “Remittance Man”, Judith Wright focuses on the theme of living up to society’s unwritten code of conduct within England’s 19th century culture. She suggests that within a society so socially divided, there remains the idle rich who are obligated to abide by the incessant need for social etiquette expected of their station. She compares this English lifestyle to ...
The third stanza Judith Wright creates an opposite image of nature, and shows to the responder that like everything in nature has a dangerous side. She uses the ocean to explain the point as a metaphoric wolf “For on the sand the grey-wolf sea lie snarling”, waiting to strike anything that not wary of it presents. This reflects to the responder that everything that human believe are too dangerous to live in the same environment as themselves, are also very important to its natural environment and holds beauty in its own special way. Judith Wright is an environmentalist. She uses her poems to influence and to put forward her point on the current destruction humans are doing to the environment, and also to describe the beauty of the natural environments and how lucky we are to be surrounded by it. She uses a lot of metaphoric meaning to explain her point clearly, and very descriptive language to view the image she wants us to see.
I believe she feels very much towards the destruction we are doing to our native habitats and the animals that live there.
