The poem “Woman to Man” is part of a collection of poems, published in 1949, called Woman to Man by Judith Wright. Judith Wright was a distinguished and well-known Australian poet during the Twentieth Century presenting themes and thoughts on Modernism, Naturism, Realism, Love, Sensuality, and Symbolism. Often her work reflected Australia or mirrored her life. “Woman to Man” is a beautiful and rich poem. The poem is deeply effective and vivid. It is descriptive and has a lot of depth. The poet’s achievements in this poem are expressing the notion of growth and love. The poem is about the physical and spiritual phenomenon of creating life through physical and sexual intimacy. In this essay, I will account for these achievements by observing structure, meter, and poetic and language techniques.
Judith Wright expresses the notion of growth and love through the structure and scaffolding in the poem, “Woman to Man”. The form of this text is a poem. We understand this by the visual appearance of the text on the page. It reveals that it is a poem by formal poetic features such as the position on the page (being centered on the page), the uniformed substructures or stanzas and the number of lines – five in each four stanzas. With this in mind, the stanzas create a uniformed and processed order that represents the meaning of the poem and Wright’s achievement of the idea of growth and love. The first three stanzas show the creation and development of life: In stanza one – creating life, in stanza two – growth, stanza three – development, and the last stanza as love and reassurance of this process or cycle of intimacy in creating life. Her achievement of love is emphasized in the rhyme scheme: A, B, C, A, A. The first line rhymes with the two last lines of a stanza – rhyme couplets at the end. This structure is a representation of a poem that has a beginning and an end; an end and a beginning – a cycle that is involved when creating life. Moreover, the poem is a song or ballad that uses structure, like paragraphs, to tell a story and journey, which embodies the notions of growth and love.
Another way Judith Wright expresses the idea of growth and love is through the meter of the poem. The prevailing meter is iambic tetrameter with some trochee and spondee foots to move the piece along. The meter creates a rhythm and pace for the poem which is reflected and re-enforced in the rhyme scheme. As well, gives a sense of controlled, emotional description of this experience. This is shown well in the first stanza:
The eyeless labourer in the night,
the selfless, shapeless seed I hold,
builds for its resurrection day –
silent and swift and deep from sight
forsees the unimagined light.
The unstressed and stressed syllable in the first line carries the poem along and creates a prevailing meter for the piece. Words like ‘labourer’ in stanza one, a dactylic foot (stressed/unstressed/unstressed), ‘resurrection’ in stanza one, a ditrochee tetrasyllabic foot (stressed/unstressed/stressed/unstressed), and ‘precise crystals’ in stanza three, iambic with trochee foot (unstressed/stressed, stressed/unstressed), creates an emphasise and a rise or climax for the stanza accentuating love and growth. Additionally, this rising and falling, created by the meter and flow of the poem, can be seen in each stanza. Wright’s achievement of the idea of growth and love can be shown in the final stanza:
This is the maker and the made;
this is the question and reply;
the blind head butting at the dark,
the blaze of light along the blade.
Oh hold me, for I am afraid.
This stanza shows the persona has developed and grown through the physical and sexual act by the rhythm which gathers impetus and a climax in the final line. The words ‘Oh hold me’, a molossus foot, is very direct and contrasts with the rest of the poem. Through intimacy and growth, this act is not only love, but also the act of creation involving ‘the third who lay in our embrace’.
Thirdly, sounds created by the words in “Woman to Man” also show the poet’s achievement of idea of growth and love. The use of alliteration in ‘silent, swift…sight’ creates movement and energy that moves the piece along. Another example of this is, ‘Selfless, shapeless seed’. These sound combinations give the pulse and energy in the poem through the ‘s’ sounds, but also the achievement of the idea and message of love or love-making. Additionally the ‘i’ sound (silent and sight) and ‘e’ sound (selfless and seed) shows the delicate and beautiful meaning in the nature of love – a metaphorical description of the child. This passage also reveals and enhances the tone of fear, excitement, and anticipation. The words that show growth and love are in stanza three, ‘folded rose’. Love and growth is a delicate and intricate ‘folded rose’ symbolising that love, creation, and birth are special. It also shows that the creation, the baby, is beautiful as a ‘folded rose’. A rose in literature connotes something or a thing has special properties. Judith Wright uses these words to show the idea of growth and love in “Woman to Man”.
Lastly, figurative and tropological language is used throughout the poem to present the idea of growth and love in the poem. “Woman to Man” is highly figurative and metaphorical. The poem has a lot of hidden meaning, symbols, and ideas. The words, ‘This is’ is used repeatedly at the beginning of a line through stanza two and four. This use of anaphora shows movement; it moves the pace along creating development. Anaphora gives a sense of the speaker’s intensity, seriousness and fear, but as well a sense of richness and understanding of this development as growth and progress of creating life. The use of polysyndeton of the word, ‘and’ throughout reflects this as well, growing and pushing the poem along. The line, ‘eyeless labourer in the night’ is a metaphor for working and thriving to create a human being, a baby, through love and intimacy. The line ‘resurrection day –‘ is a metaphor for growth and new life. It is also a biblical allusion to Jesus, In Christianity, who has grown through love by a single ‘seed’. This is emphasised by the use of aposiopesis (the line -) in stanza one that gives a break and silence to this importance of growth and love. ‘Foresees the unimagined light’ in stanza one, is a paradox in itself – to see something that you cannot see or touch. The ‘unimagined light’ is a metaphor that answers this paradox. The ‘light’ or source of aspiration to create life is through love, intimacy, and passion. This is yoked together through the symbolism of the line in stanza three, ‘blood’s wild tree’ as tree-like arteries or veins are connected and form life through love. Judith uses figurative and tropological language to show that life is achieved through a sexual act to create a physical ‘seed’ that ‘grows…[into an] intricate and folded rose’.
In Conclusion, the poem “Woman to Man” is powerful and serious poem by Judith Wright. Judith Wright has distinguished a complex experience into a compact poem. It is an extraordinary poem, which tells a story and journey about the physical and spiritual phenomenon of creating life through physical and sexual intimacy. It is interesting to see that her poems, during the 1940’s, mirrored the precedent of Modernist poetry in Australia – especially with movements like the Jindyworobaks and the Angry Penguins. It is through the structure, meter, and poetic and language techniques that Judith Wright presents a vivid and emotional account of growth and love in “Woman to Man”.
V.T
(written: 5 April 2016)
Vasile Tiano 