HSC QUOTES AND NOTES

• "wanting to be myself alone"


  The simple dictation reveals how the mother feels as though she needs to reject motherhood and its domestic duties to find/reclaim her identity.
• "three times I took that lonely stretch/three times the dark trees surrounded me" and "thrice for me"

  The biblical allusion and anaphora reveal how the mother wants to be alone and away from her children, however struggles when alone and lonely, enhancing the paradoxical nature of motherhood.
• "I heard the cock crow on the hill... turned the handle"


  The biblical allusion reveals how the mother has accepted her domestic duties and given up her freedom to provide for her children. Even though she feels as though she lost her old identity, motherhood gave her a new one.
• "lift your hand to the window latch" and "sighing, turn and move away"


  The symbolism and imperative verb reveal the young girl's change from curiosity and acceptance to fear. Dobson explores and communicates the paradoxical emotions of trepidation and fear, yet excitement and curiosity.
• "moral swords are crossed on thresholds at the end of the day"


  The mixed metaphor reveals how the change in emotions can be caused by both the conflicts and the change that will occur when entering adulthood.
• "the fading air is stained red" and "somebody spoke/though nobody spoke and nobody will"


  The symbolism and enjambed anaphora reveals the major conflict of menstruation. It is a collective experience, yet taboo, particularly in the context of the poem, making it difficult to overcome and face individually.
• "this way the map of living" and "you must go"


  The metaphor and high modality reveals how this experience is an unavoidable, biological experience that individuals must journey through physically and emotionally.
• "Drovers Wife" and "The drover, an ex-squatter is away... His wife and children are left alone"


  The unnamed protagonist in the title and laconic description reveal the reality of the context of the author's time where women were seen as property of their husbands. It further reveals of the absence of her husband impacts her identity.
• "she put on an old pair of her husbands trousers"


  The symbolism reveals how the absence of her husband has forced her to adopt her husbands masculine qualities to survive.
• "Her girlish hopes and aspirations have long been dead... as a girl she built the usual castles in the air"


  The personified extended metaphor reveals how she is forced to abandon her dreams and and hopes to survive the harsh environment, as well as forcing her to abandon her femininity and the metaphorical "castles in the air".
• "Her sewing basket and a copy of the Young Ladies Journal" and "she hugged him to her worn-out breast and kisses him"


  The symbolism and emotive language reveals how she still persists an effort to not let the land consume her and how her femininity and motherly love was only suppressed, not lost.
• "shooting the moon"


  The idiomatic title reveals the culture and identity of Aus swagmen, where ingenuity and instinct are required to survive.
• "Fringe of the Mulga"


  The personified Romantic imagery adds to the affirming nature of the bush, while also displaying the harsh environment.
• "The moon reminded my mate of something... anything reminded him of something"


  The personified repetition reveals the importance of storytelling as a quintessential part of brush culture, by strengthening their resilience in the harsh and monotonous existence.
• "I carried the rope in case of an accident... or hang myself" and "now that I come to think of it, I carried the revolver for that. It was the only thing I never pawned"


  The past narration and hyperbole reveal swagmen's reliance on dark humour to survive. The casualness of the conversation shows their connections in the common experience of the bush culture.