Australian Landscape

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Australian literature extended essay

Exploring the representations of Australian Landscape in Literature

Poetry is a powerful method and medium that gives people the ability to express and convey important ideas, it is a form of literature and it is through such of the writing that people express their thoughts and what they view to be a representation of what they see in the landscapes around them. The poem written by A.D. Hope, ‘Australia’ along with Dorothea Mackellar’s ‘My Country’ and ‘Bush Studies’ by Barbara Baynton work together to present similar representations of Australian landscape these representations are in a largely negative fashion. In an individual text such as the poem ‘Australia’ by A.D. Hope that the landscape of Australia is one that suggests a country that just fades into the background and is a land of much emptiness. It is through these texts and in particular ‘Bush Studies” that we are presented with an underlying meaning to state that Australia is seen to be of gothic landscapes and presented with the images of solitude and desolation. Mackellar’s text on an opposing idea outlines a love for the terror that exists within the land of Australia yet also explains the beauty behind the dangers and darkness that unfold in the sceneries about Australia. These literary texts explore the representations of the Australian landscapes and do so making use of narration and imagery to position the reader to envision the land of Australia in an intensely realist manor.

Australia is a country and land of great diversity. Alec Derwent (A.D) Hope writes the poem ‘Australia’ encompassing the thoughts of a dreary and forsaken land. This is shown in the opening line “A nation of trees, drab green and desolate grey” that “Darkens her Hills” These colours are suggestive to a country that is bleak or otherwise colourless. This imagery and colours represent the uniform worn in times of war when...