Hospital Evening Gwen Harwood Analysis

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Discuss how one or more writers has used language imaginatively or experimentally to present a world view. (RE-DO) Often writers have the ability to paint an image with their use of language and bring to life a new story. This is true in Gwen Harwood’s lyrical narrative “Hospital Evening” , a poem that revolves around the fictional character Krote and his new life in Australia. Krote is woken up by the sweltering heat of Australia, finding himself in a hospital with hostile nurses and intolerable food. Gwen Harwood contrasts Australia with Germany through Krote’s view and opinion. She presents the word view that those who are different in society are rejected and alienated. Through the fictional character Krote, we are able to see society…show more content…
Krote explains his environment to be harsh as the “blaze of evening burns through the curtains like a firelit ghost”. Krote describes Australia as being deadly and inhabitable through the words “blaze” and “burn”. I believe Furthermore Harwood suggests Australia is compared with ‘hell’ in the eyes of Krote. The sweltering heat that radiates from the outside is described as almost like the burning flames of hell. This emphasizes Krote’s isolation from the rest of his surroundings. Harwood also suggests that Krote is like a ‘ghost’ through the use of simile. Krote constantly yearns to be able to blend and belong, to become invisible. However the xenophobic nature of Australian society constantly separates him from others and alienates him, causing him to be known and ‘firelit’. Harwood enlightens readers to the world that a life that is made up of misery and loneliness is almost like life in hell. This is further developed in the second stanza when Krote eats his breakfast. Taking a mouthful of bread, Krote questions “Is this food? He finds it worse than starving”. The use of rhetorical question represents again the reoccurring idea of alienation. Krote asks a question to which no answer is needed yet there is no one to answer him in the first place. The lack of attention and care towards Krote connotes the ruthless attitude that existed during the Post

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