The New Year is finally upon us and most students are taking a well deserved break. 2017 promises to herald new opportunities for Boldtutor’s clients to develop the wisdom required to master their studies.
To open the new year, Boldtutor will publish exclusive essay responses focusing on the 2016 English HSC examination. Use these essay responses as a guide to help you create your own response to some pretty difficult questions. You can find other responses on the Bold Insight page.
The HSC examination is know to push students to the limit. Boldtutor understands this and it is our goal to make your studies that little bit more understandable.
Hopefully this foundation will allow students and clients to build their essay writing skills and analysis by the time the 2017 HSC exam rolls around late this year.
The response below focuses on the Discovery module and analyse’s the poetry of Rosemary Dobson.
To what extent do the texts you have studied reveal both the emotional and intellectual responses provoked by the experience of discovery?
Rosemary Dobson’s poetry and the (related text) each convey the effect that discovery has on reshaping the emotional and intellectual makeup of a human being. Through poems such as Young Girl at a Window and Ghost Town: New England, Dobson presents insight into discoveries that challenge ideas about humanity’s mortality, the meaning of life and metaphysics. Such examination of humanity by Dobson throughout her poetry allows readers to respond in a way that encourages them to develop the confidence and mindset required to cease procrastination and fathom the possibility of an afterlife. In turn, the (related text) also portrays vivid intellectual and emotional responses as a result of discoveries that reform a person’s outlook of the world/ideas/people etc.
Dobson’s Young Girl at a Window illustrates discovery’s capacity to act as a catalyst to provoke an emotional and intellectual response from readers. The poem encourages readers to reflect on one’s own mortality. Furthermore, a reading of the poem could also embolden a person’s ability to live life free of procrastination. Indeed Dobson presents vivid imagery and rhyme to present the concept of time as a mortal being that suffers considerably if one isn’t willing to utilize existence to the best of their advantage:
‘The fading air is stained with red
Since Time was killed and now lies dead.’ (lines 5-6)
The preceding verses highlight the inevitability of death. Words such as ‘fading’, ‘stained’, ‘killed’ and ‘dead’ all possess negative connotations that, paradoxically, aim to perhaps present an urgent and positive message to the reader regarding a need to step outside and experience all that life has to offer before one’s existence begins to fade. Dobson offers further encouragement to the reader regarding the lives they must live in order to make the most of the time they have on this earthly plain:
‘Travel a journey with your eyes
In forward footsteps, chance assault-
This way the map of living lies.
And this the journey you must go
Through grass and sheaves and, lastly, snow.
Alliteration, metaphor, high-modality language and accumulation are all used throughout the preceding stanza to present the idea that the journey of life is a complex one, but one that must be undertaken nonetheless if people wish to make the most of the limited period of existence they possess. References to ‘forward footsteps’ and ‘you must go’ are all positive statements that encourage the reader to fathom life’s possibilities and take charge of a destiny that will eventually end in death. On an intellectual level, readers are impacted in the sense that they now realise that the meaning of life is to venture forward into new experiences and possibilities before one’s mortality begins to cease. If procrastination takes hold, the ability to experience new ways of thinking and living becomes increasingly strained. By embracing such thinking, readers are encouraged to shed melancholic thoughts on life and instead, embrace an optimistic approach to living. As a result, Young Girl at a Window provides readers with great insight into emotional and intellectual responses to discoveries that help liberate individuals from melancholic concerns about life.
Ghost Town: New England also conveys deep emotional and intellectual responses provoked by a discovery that encourages readers to comprehend the possibility of an existing metaphysical dimension in the physical world. The reference to New England in the poem emphasizes the region located in the north of New South Wales. It is a plateau region that also consists of deep gorges and waterfalls. It is a naturally alluring landscape as emphasized in the poem through imagery:
The grass is bleached by summer sun
The dry pods rustle underfoot,
On quartz-bright rocks the lichens creep
Like frail anemones betrayed
Still trembling towards an unknown sea.
The title ‘Ghost Town’ initially has connotations of emptiness – an environment devoid of life. The title however actually encourages readers to consider the existence of spiritual beings who continue to linger in an environment that is devoid of physical life. Such reference to metaphysics also invites readers to consider the events that led to New England becoming a ‘ghost town’. Through an engagement with this poem, readers discover the importance of using imagination to fathom the physical and spiritual makeup of a landscape. In the case of New England, Dobson comprehends the possibility that supernatural spirits or ‘ghosts’ may inhabit the town. Although not a literal belief, such a thought reminds readers to always consider the possibility that an afterlife or metaphysical realm may exist in quite naturally alluring regions like New England. Indeed Dobson personifies the wind as a supernatural farmer that scatters the ‘seeds of light’ (line 7). The preceding verse closes the first stanza of the poem and the second stanza begins with the following:
‘Here at the edge the mind goes on,
the eyes go on, though steps must stop’
Dobson here is advocating for readers to let their imagination ‘go on’ a journey of metaphysical discovery that allows readers to comprehend the possibility that existence, in some shape or form, continues beyond the physical realm. In other words, a person who fears the possibility of the existence of supernatural elements (‘This is no landscape for the eye cupped by a hand to shield the mind’) won’t be able to grasp the deep likelihood of a metaphysical realm that exists beyond physical life. If we let our imagination/mind ‘go on’ this metaphysical journey however, people may begin to appreciate the idea that a greater spiritual power continues to linger in environments that appear, on the surface, devoid of life. Indeed the ending of the poem reveals Dobson’s belief that those who ‘veer away’ and ‘lack(s) the hawks’ unwavering eye’ will struggle to develop an appreciation for metaphysical interpretations of life. Dobson’s poem thus reveals intellectual responses to discovery given that people are now encouraged to grow an imagination that comprehends the possibility of a metaphysical connection. This connection helps people develop an emotional and spiritual relationship with a landscape that may help provide a deeper understanding of the world’s makeup.
Paragraph on related text (about 250 words)
Rosemary Dobson’s poetry and (related text) provide detailed study of the emotional and intellectual responses that are provoked by discovery. These texts help readers fathom the profound impact that discoveries can have on reshaping an individual’s perception, actions and place in the world. Such intellectual and emotional reformation may lead individuals to grasp a more complete view of certain issues and ideas that may inspire them to uncover more secrets about humanity and our world.
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