Juxtaposition In The Violets By Gwen Harwood

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Through the use of several poetic devices, Harwood is able to articulate and format her ideas in a way that adds to the appeal of the text. Harwood incorporates juxtaposition in order to depict the binary oppositions and the dualistic nature of human life and experience. "Frail melancholy flowers among ashes and loam." (The Violets) is a given example, with the 'ashes' symbolising death and fragility, contrasted by 'loam' as a symbol of life and growth. "On what flood are they borne, these memories of early childhood/iridescent, fugitive" (At Mornington) juxtaposes the secretive nature of memories that can also be both splendour and colourful. The frequent use of enjambment in 'The Violets', captures the stylistic feature of the train-of-thought

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