HARBOUR DUSK ROBERT GRAY ROBERT GRAY SAID OF

HARBOUR DUSK ROBERT GRAY

ROBERT GRAY SAID OF POETRY……. • The purpose of poetry is to give pleasure. it does this particularly for someone interested in words (and even for HSC students). • Poetry is primarily a visual art, which conveys ideas and emotions through imagery. images are the pictures we have in our mind, derived from memories. they can be shredded, rearranged, magnified, manipulated in every possible way, which is the work of the imagination. • My poetry is full of images, because I want to particularize every natural thing that appears in it, out of respect, you might say. In my poems, nothing is a symbol for anything else. everything has its own worth and is presented directly. the overall effect is one of clarity and light. • ROBERT GRAY (http: //robertgraypoetry. com/remarks-on-poems/)

GENERAL OVERVIEW • Harbour Dusk is a poem that paints Sydney Harbour in a particular light – this time the sun is set and evening is approaching, “away off, through the strung bridge (Sydney Harbour Bridge), a sky of mulberry, and orange chiffon. ” In this poem the writer is taking a late afternoon walk with his girl and they pause at one of the many sandstone ocean walls (“stone parapet’s”) you find in public parks dotted around the harbour foreshore – if on the north shore, then…. imagine Milson’s Point, Kirribilli or Cremorne Point. If on the city side, ……. think maybe Elizabeth Bay, Rose Bay or Nielson Park (more likely because the writer is looking, “across … the Harbour” to a “far shore of dark, crumbling bush (woodland)” – Bradley’s head or the National Park). • With ref to: HTTP: //BYPOETLINES. BLOGSPOT. COM/2015/05/ROBERT-GRAYSKETCH-OF-HARBOUR. HTML? _SM_AU_=IVVSPLNMKQM 6 KKJH

SYDNEY HARBOUR AT DUSK

• of ‘Harbour Dusk’ generally Gray said……. • This poem is written in what I call ‘loosened form’, which allows divergence from the correct examples in the textbooks. The best instances of standard form are found in Shakespeare’s sonnets: look at sonnet 23, for example. (Loosened form shows the effects of the free verse revolution of the 20 th century on traditional formal poetry. Many expressive gestures have been made available — this poem shows the use of some of them. ) • The ‘fading life’ of the harbour’s stone wall tells us that the relationship between ‘she’ and I is failing. The day at this time is going down into darkness. Some yachts linger, as if hesitant, unsure; as if they’ve lost their way. • The theme of this poem might be a phrase from the Irish poet W B Yeats, who announced sweepingly, ‘things fall apart’. These resonant words are to be understood generally, they proclaim a tragic sense of life, realized on a smaller scale here. • The last of the evening light is coloured mulberry and orange – a spectacle that is sumptuous and fleeting. Chiffon is a flimsy, semi-diaphanous woven material. , the last rhyme (‘sail’ and ‘confessional’) is almost not there; is not to be grasped; the poem, in its lapsing rhythm, has a melancholy sense of loss, of our plans being foiled, inevitably; at the same time expresses the appealing relaxation that hides in pessimism. • We like sad songs and music for the calming effect they have on us. ‘Harbour Dusk’ is my favourite among all my poems. Numerous people don’t agree.

STANZA 1 She and I came wandering there through an empty park, and we laid our hands on a stone’s parapet’s fading life. Before us, across the oily aubergine dark of the harbour we could make out yachts – We start with two personal pronouns – ‘She’ and ‘I’ – an interesting reference considering later in the stanza it is ‘we ’and ‘our’ and ‘us’…suggestive of being perhaps both a shared experience but also these two people being ‘apart’ in some way, or two separate entities. Despite them being there ‘together’, is there perhaps a ‘distance’ between them? Set at the ‘end’ of the day…pace is now slow(er), evening is setting in, the rush of the day is slowing. ‘She’ and ‘I’ are ‘wandering’ through an ‘empty park’. . . suggestive of loneliness perhaps. NOTE: There is no suggestion of conversation or chat between them. ‘She and I’ become ‘we’ in line 2 and the poem speaks of how they ‘laid’ their hands on the ‘stone parapet’s’ fading life. ’ [The sandstone parapets (ocean walls) found at various points around Sydney Harbour, would have warmed throughout the day in the sun, but as sunset comes the warmth is fading from the stone…it’s becoming cold. ] Symbolic perhaps of a relationship that may be coming to its inevitable end. Is its life also ‘fading? They look out across the water…’the oily aubergine dark of the harbour’. ‘Oily’ in reference to water often means that it appears thick and greasy or glassy – not suggestive of ‘health’. Aubergine is a dark purple or brownish purple colour and again may be suggestive of a stormy or darkening water (and perhaps even sky – if we consider the ‘vista’ of the harbour). Again note there is no talk or conversation and they are looking out into the distance – just being able to ‘make out yachts – ‘.

STANZA 2 beneath an overcast sky; that was mauve underlit, against a far shore of dark, crumbling bush. Part of the city, to our left, was fruit shop bright. After the summer day; a huge, moist hush. Note here the enjambment or ’run on line’ from stanza one, considering the flow of the poem and the ideas within it. Again, more imagery connecting with what might suggest ‘stormy’ or troubled times- the ‘overcast sky’. . the ‘dark, crumbling bush’. In the final line of the stanza we are given the impression of perhaps the calm before a storm – ‘a huge, moist hush’. It is still and quiet but almost eerily so (high modality of ‘huge’) – what or who will break the silence first? Like summer storms in Australia over the harbour, there is electricity in the air. Again there is the use of pronouns – ‘to our left’ – suggesting togetherness but perhaps they are also waiting for the storm that is to come in their relationship Note the visual imagery that is used to contrast what is ‘near’ and ‘far’ from ‘them’, what is left and right of them. In the distance the ‘far shore of dark’ but ‘to our left’ part of the city ‘was fruit shop bright’. ’, suggesting the bright almost neon and garish colours of the city bright and glowing.

STANZA 3 The yachts were far across their empty fields of water. One, at times, was gently rested like a quill. They seemed to whisper, slipping amongst each other, Always hovering, as though resolve were ill. Again there are the ideas of space and distance being emphasised in the stillness (prior to a storm/the storm) – ‘. . yachts were far across their empty fields…’ There is a simile created …comparing the resting yachts, gently bobbing in the water to a quill. The shapes here are reflecting the idea of a yacht perhaps (with some sail) looking like a ‘quill’ pen. The yacht, however like the ‘quill’ without a hand to guide it is ‘still’. There is the potential for travel and escape and adventure and action…but at this point it is resting and quiet – ‘hovering’ as stated in the fourth line of the stanza. The yachts are then personified, as they ‘whisper, slipping amongst each other, ’. They are moored but as the water moves (and perhaps some little wind), it appears that they are moving among themselves whispering secrets, but ‘chained’ ultimately – unable to break free and go out on that great adventure…… ‘as though resolve were ill. ’ Again linking ideas perhaps of ‘secrets’ in the world of the couple, secrets that are not yet quite ready to be told. Like the stillness and ‘hush’ before the breaking of the storm, the couple are perhaps unable to find the ‘resolve’ to say what needs to be said, to finish what needs to be finished. Perhaps they too

STANZA FOUR Away off, through the strung Bridge, a sky of mulberry and orange chiffon. Mauve-grey, each cloven sail – like nursing sisters, in a deep corridor: some melancholy; Or nuns, going to an evening confessional Another perspective or view of the city. The capitalisation of ‘Bridge’ here in ‘strung Bridge’ directly references the Sydney Harbour Bridge, set at dusk against the beauty of ‘a sky of mulberry/and orange chiffon’. The rich nature of the ever changing colours of the sky, described in terms of the flowing fabric that is chiffon, that moves and swirls and folds so effortlessly and delicately over itself. ‘…Mauve-grey, each cloven sail – ‘ references the shape of the collected ‘sails’ of the Opera House. This silhouette of shapes (from the one building) are then described (in a simile) ‘like nursing sisters, in a deep corridor: ’. The reference to the ‘old fashioned nurses hats that were structured and shaped and part of the uniform they wore. The ‘deep corridor’ references the idea of distance and perhaps dimness that hides detail and allows only for the ‘shape’ to be evident. The other simile again references the headwear of another group (from times past) – ‘nuns, going to an evening confessional. ’ References to ‘nurses’ – those who help to heal that which is broken. Some of these nurses are being described as ‘melancholy’… again perhaps speaking to the state of the relationship of the couple in the poem. The ‘nuns’ going to ‘evening confessional’ ties the end of the poem back to the beginning – the end of the day and perhaps again is suggestive of those who may have ‘sins’ they need to ‘confess’…. . before rest can come. Again a tie in

IMAGES …. . oily aubergine sky …like nursing sisters…

SOME INSIGHTS INTO THE POETRY • DA: Can you talk about similes, so vital in your work? • GRAY: The copious use of similes is all to do with the visual precision and clarity that imagists want. But I’ve carried it further than the original exponents of the style. The more accurately you want to define a thing, the more you have to bring in aspects of other things. This points to the very interdependence of everything, of all qualities - a Buddhist idea. In fact it’s the central one. This is what Buddhism means by “there is no self-nature in anything”. A simile always involves two separate terms - there’s no blurring two separate things together, as with symbols or metaphors. It’s like keeping an outline around each one, and yet making them dependant on each other. (Referenced from an interview with Gray)

CONT……… Robert Gray in conversation My impression is that you have a distinctly painterly eye. Are you also a painter? Gray: I am not a “frustrated painter”. I’m doing what I want to do. I value writing above any other means of expression. My poems are about visual experience becoming language. I’ve consciously decided not to be a painter, even though some of my closest and earliest friends are landscape artists, and I’ve long felt a sympathetic involvement with their work. I’ve decided on this because I know I would feel inarticulate, whatever else I were doing, if I weren’t a writer, and also because of all that stuff that painters have to have. Here’s all the making of frames, and stretching of canvases, and accumulation of equipment, and having to rent studio space, and then, worst of all, selling off the one version of the thing you have made, and it going into private hands to some unknown fate. It’s all too messy, too much problem, and too disappointing, for me. But I love paintings. They’re my greatest passion outside books. And I have always drawn, and sometimes used colour. I’ve consciously limited myself to a relatively small scale, to drawings, for the reasons above, and because of time - because I am wary of chasing two hares at once, as Chekov described it. Still, what a pleasure drawing is, drawing from the subject. Perhaps nothing gives me more pleasure when it works. I don’t show these things to anyone other than friends. If you’ve captured something of what pleased you in a subject, then that is always there in the work, to reward you when you look

THE STRUCTURE OF THE POEM • ‘Harbour’ Dusk is a four stanza or quatrain poem, which generally uses an ABAB rhyme scheme, though there is also the use of ‘half-rhymes’. Half rhyme is a major poetic devices. It is also called an “imperfect rhyme, ” “slant rhyme, ” “near rhyme, ” or “oblique rhyme. ” It can be defined as a rhyme in which the stressed syllables of ending consonants match, however the preceding vowel sounds do not match. For instance, in words such as “shape” and “keep” the consonance is very strong. The final consonant sounds remain similar, but the ending vowel sounds are different in half rhyme. Similar to these two words “moon” and “run, ” and in the words “hold” and “bald, ” the ending consonant sounds are similar, whereas vowel sounds are different. • It is generally used to give an inharmonious feeling in a rhyme scheme. Poets can bring variations in their choice of words by using half rhymes. It is also known as an imperfect, near, off, or sprung rhyme. Half rhyme is exclusively used as a poetic device. (Definition of ‘half rhyme’ from Literary Devices: Definition and Examples of Literary Terms’

USE OF TECHNIQUES IN THE POEM…. Use of enjambment. In poetry it means moving ‘over’ from one line to another without a terminating punctuation mark. It can be exampled as when a thought or sense, phrase or clause, in a line of poetry does not come to an end at the line break, but moves over to the next line. In simple words, it is the ‘running on’ of a sense from one couplet or line to the next without a major pause or syntactical break. It can be used to allow for the ‘flow’ of an idea to move across lines within a stanza in a poem or between stanzas or verses: and we laid our hands on a stone’s parapet’s fading life. Before us, across the oily aubergine dark of the harbour we could make out yachts – beneath an overcast sky; that was mauve underlit, against a far shore of dark, crumbling bush.

TECHNIQUES CONT…. The use of pronouns. In this poem, Gray uses both singular and collective pronouns to suggest both a sense of two people sharing an experience, but at the same time – especially in the first stanza – of a ‘distance’ or ‘quietness’ between them. The idea of the ‘setting’/timing of this shared experience being the ‘empty park’ the end of the day, with the ‘still’ or ‘hush’ before a typical Sydney summer storm breaking over the Harbour, suggestive of the ‘state’ of the relationship between the two: She and I came wandering there through an empty park, and we laid our hands on a stone’s parapet’s fading life. Before us, across the oily aubergine dark Personification In this poem the personification of the yachts, ties in with the idea of something being ‘tied’ or ‘chained’ in some way by their circumstances, not quite ‘resolved’ to say the things, take the action that they need to, to break the chains – they are ‘hovering’. [There is potential for ‘action’ in the yachts, but that action can only occur when human interaction occurs. ] The ‘whispering’ perhaps referencing secrets, yet to be revealed. They seemed to whisper, slipping amongst each other,

TECHNIQUES CONT…. Imagery: Imagery means to use figurative language to represent objects, actions, and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our physical senses. Usually it is thought that imagery makes use of particular words that create visual representation of ideas in our minds. The word “imagery” is associated with mental pictures. However, this idea is but partially correct. Imagery, to be realistic, turns out to be more complex than just a visual picture, it can relate to an appeal to any, or all, or a combination of the senses. Imagery is created through the use of language that is descriptive, has varying modality and is emotive; as well as through the use of figures of speech like similes, metaphors, personification, alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia etc. Gray is often described as an ‘imagist’, and has referred to himself as being this. He, here for example, utilises adjectives throughout stanzas 1 & 2 to help build evocative images e. g. There is the ‘empty park’; the ‘stone parapet’s fading life. ’ There is the accumulation of, ‘…oily, aubergine, dark/of the harbour. . ’; the ‘overcast sky’ and ‘. . far shore of dark, crumbling bush. ’ These images help create not just a sense of time and place but also a tone or atmosphere that infuses the whole poem.

TECHNIQUES CONT…. As Gray himself acknowledges he often uses ‘similes’ in particular in his poetry to ‘describe’ and create ‘impact’. The first simile: ‘One (yacht), at times, was gently rested like a quill. ’ Creates an image of the yachts being ‘like’ a quill at rest…paused in the writing of its story, waiting for the action or involvement of the human hand, or human intervention, in the case of the yachts to continue the story. The second simile, the ‘…. . strung Bridge…. . ……Mauve-grey, each sloven sail – like nursing sisters in a deep corridor, some melancholy; or nuns going to an evening confessional’ Reflects the ‘sails’ of the Opera House and compares them to ‘old fashioned’ imagery of the hats nurses used to wear of the structured head coverings worn by ‘nuns’ of another generation. There is the sense of permanence and solidity in using the Opera House instantly recognised across the generations and across time in Australia since it began

MOOD/TONE/ATMOSPHERE

MOOD, TONE & ATMOSPHERE CONT…. .

MOOD/TONE/ATMOSPHERE In literature, mood is a literary element that evokes certain feelings or vibes in readers through words and descriptions. Usually, mood is referred to as the atmosphere of a literary piece, as it creates an emotional setting that surrounds the readers. Mood is developed in a literary piece through various methods, including setting, theme, tone, and diction. Tone, in written composition, is an attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience. Tone is generally conveyed through the choice of words, or the viewpoint of a writer on a particular subject. The manner in which a writer approaches this theme and subject is the tone. The tone can be formal, informal, serious, comic, sarcastic, sad, weary, reflective, melancholy, cheerful, or it may be any other existing attitude. Atmosphere is a type of feeling that readers get from a narrative (or text), based on details such as setting, background, objects, and foreshadowing. A mood can serve as a vehicle for establishing atmosphere. In literary works, atmosphere refers to emotions or feelings an author conveys to his readers through description of objects and settings, such as in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter tales, in which she creates and spins a whimsical and enthralling atmosphere. Bear in mind that atmosphere may vary throughout a literary piece.

MOOD, TONE & ATMOSPHERE IN ‘HARBOUR DUSK’ • With regard to ‘tone’, there is a sense of reflection and rest at certain points in the poem – it is ‘tranquil’ in a way. There are, however, also strong undertones of melancholy as well – that word itself is used in the last stanza and seems to infuse the whole four stanzas – ‘like nursing sisters in a deep corridor, some melancholy; ’ • There is also a somewhat ‘dark’ atmosphere at times…. created in part by the ‘literal’ time of the day the poem is set but also potentially in relation to the ‘state’ of play between the ‘she’ and ‘I’ of the poem. The quiet and reflectiveness of the time, place and situation sits well within the imagery of the harbour generally with its, ‘empty park’ and ‘a far shore of dark, crumbling bush. ’. There is a ‘break’ within the rest and reflection when the couple are faced with the ‘Part of the city, to our left’ which ‘. . was fruit shop bright. ’ In a way this ‘breaks’ with the colour palette and imagery used in the rest of the poem, which focuses on that which is more quiet and gentle. • The mood could be described as rueful or regretful. There is a sense that perhaps as dusk and then evening settles – the end to the day - a ‘stillness’ descends before perhaps the ‘breaking’ of a suggested storm. The world is ‘hovering’, ‘waiting’ or ‘marking time’ in a way…something inevitably is coming (to an end), but the resolve to do something, to take action, to move on…has

FINAL POINTS FOR CONSIDERATION While there is a distinct Australian setting and context in the poem, the ideas and themes have a universality. There is a ‘sense’ of something coming to an ‘end’…. an inevitable end in this poem. This moment of tranquil harbour dusk, finds a couple being faced with quiet reflection and a sense of melancholy at the end of the day. There is a sense of ‘being’ in an environment together – ‘seeing’ the same things, as they look out into the harbour - at points near and fair around it. However, despite this being a ‘shared’ experience, there is loneliness here and the colour palette which is largely ‘bruised’ and ‘shadowy’ and ‘underlit’ and constantly changing (chiffon reference) reflects both this loneliness and the melancholy, that comes with it. The fact that the word ‘empty’ is used twice in such a short poem, is also indicative of the larger ‘story’ being played out against this time and place. Gray himself references the idea (from poet W. B. Yeats) that ‘things fall apart’ in regard to what is going on in this poem and there is sort of a sad inevitability to the suggested demise of a relationship, that the players – ‘she’ and ‘I’ haven’t yet quite found the ‘resolve’ to acknowledge or deal with. While the ‘setting’ in some ways is quite specific…the scenario of ‘loss’ and ‘change’ and ‘transition’ and the ‘end’ of things’ – where indeed things do ‘fall apart’, even in quite beautiful places and moments and times is universal.