Holy Thursday by William Blake

An English poet and printmaker. William Blake was an early achiever starting his career early along with his wife Catherine. After his father's death he opened up a print shop and began working. His poems surrounded the theme of Romanticism, although his works weren't regarded as great back in his days but is now recognized by many contemporary writers.

Our imaginary landscape allows the inhabitants to shape their inner landscapes, enabling them to have a further understanding of who you are. 'Holy Thursday' by William Blake shows the importance of expressing your imaginations freely. To be able to connect with your inner landscape. The poet purposely attacks the responder to re-evaluate their current way of living questioning the reader whether we're living the life we should be living, whether our children too being sucked into our bad habits and being forced to grow up quickly.

Blake begins the poem by leading the reader into a series of rhetorical questions to place the responder in a position where they are able to question the way they're living. 'Is this a holy thing to see in a rich and fruitful land' conveys that inhabitants are given many opportunities to be able to figure out who they are. Yet inhabitants aren't allowing themselves to be engulfed by the landscape to become individuals as they worry about what other will think evident in the phrase 'reduced to misery'. The poet emphasizes the lack of individuality within the rhetorical question 'And so many children poor?' illustrates that children too aren't being embraced by the landscape, instead they are being 'poorly' raised, looking up towards parents as their role models and emulates what they have been shown. The use of punctuation in 'It is a land of poverty!' further emphasizes the idea that the inhabitants minds need to be filled with more imagination and should then be expressed to show others that you're different.

The visual imagery in 'And their sun does never shine, and their fields are bleak and bare' indicates that our imagination is cold and boring which in turn isn't worth being showcast as our minds are 'bleak and bare'. Everyone minds think which in turn allows us to act alike, therefore doesn't allow people to be their own selves and set apart from others. The use of strong modality to sum up the poets beliefs in 'For where-e'er the sun does shine, And where-e'er the rain does fall, Babes should never hunger there, Nor poverty the mind appall.' states that when your imagination 'runs wild' let it run wild and don't allow others to judge you because of how you think. Your imagination and thoughts shape the person you are and no one has the right to stop you.

Sydney and the Bush by Les A. Murray

Quoted as 'one of the most country's most influential literary critics', Les A. Murray writes his pieces to enable readers to understand the cultural and spiritual ways of what it means to be an Australian. Coming from a relatively poor family, having a rough time fitting in into University due to his class he decided to move without completing a degree. This however lead him to write his first volume of poems before returning to Sydney to complete his degree and become a full-time poet.

'Sydney and the Bush' by Les A. Murray explores the inner landscapes of two cultures - Aborigines and White Settlers- enabling the reader to delve into the thoughts and reasoning for their actions in the early 18th Century (during white settlement).

The metaphors used in 'Bush' and "Sydney' has two meanings ,symbolizing the two cultures, Bush being the Aborigines and Sydney being the White Settlers. Also symbolizing the change the landscape has gone through since White Settlement, the intruders believing that manipulating the land to be more materialistic is their approach, yet they don't know how much affect the Aborigines experience because of this change.

The poet begins by illustrating an image of the Australian landscape before white settlement. The tone in 'When Sydney and the Bush first met there was no open ground' creates a melancholy mood the Aborigines have encountered due to the change that has taken place. 'men and girls, in chains and not, all made an urgent sound' implies that the White Settlers have no respect towards other inhabitants, thus allowing the audience to believe that the White people use the land as a jail cell to evict the troubled people on their home landscape demonstrating the intrusion of a natural land. The connotations of power in 'Then convicts bled and warders bred, the Bush went back and back' contrasts the inner landscapes of the two cultures. The convicts are killing and destroying the Aboriginal culture to provide the needs for themselves, displaying their greed and selfishness. The White population increases due to the Aborigines depleting population, therefore the Aborigines have a disadvantage and allow the White settlers to push them 'back'. The contrast of these two cultures are shown in the metaphor in 'the men or Fire and of Earth became White men and Black' effectively compares the clash the two inner landscapes has. The White men are symbolized as 'men of Fire', this illustrates the capability these inhabitants have to destroy and make life difficult for others in this landscape, whilst on the other hand the Aborigines are symbolized as 'men of Earth' illustrates the caring and protective actions towards the landscape.

Readers are able to delve into the minds of the inhabitants through the use of sad connotations and negative physical changes towards the environment in 'Then bushmen sand and factories rose and warders set the tone' portrays the minimal rights of their own land. The reader feels empathetic towards the Aborigines and slowly builds a sense of dislike towards the White people. The actions the White settlers have chosen, building factories shows how materialistic and greedy they are. The land has provided for the Aborigines for many years in the past and by taking that away from the Aborigines shows the little respect and understanding the White people have towards the Aborigines.

Sydney and the Bush annotations

Off the Map by David Malouf

David Malouf, an excellent Australian contemporary writer who has travelled across many states of Australia to share his knowledge. His success has lead him to become a full-time writer in 1978, publishing both books and poetry.

'Off the Map' by David Malouf demonstrates the strong forces the urban landscape has on an inhabitant. The poem recites the everyday routine the inhabitant goes through after a day's work. The farm boy loves his country land but at the end of the day, the inhabitant is captivated by the lights of the city and is drawn to dwell over the city.

A journey is taken place by the inhabitant through his/her homeland -the country. The natural landscape is one that provides and aids the inhabitant to be enlightened and awakened from life struggles. The juxtaposition of his lethargic mood and his sudden awareness is used to compare the lethargic mood due to the truck driver's long day at work. The sudden interest towards the landscape portrays the power the natural landscape has to capture the eyes of inhabitants. 'Truck-drivers throbbing on pills...bronze Anzacs dozing, leaden headed' connotes a heavy and tired mental state of the persona. This indicates the inhabitants the work they usually would have to get through to provide for their families and/or themselves. However in 'out into a dream of apple orchards' illustrates that the environment is able to provide a land that. The country atmosphere is one that satisfies with the inhabitants needs, it is able to cure the tiredness instead of using pills, supply the inhabitants with food instead of having to work for an income to go out and purchase food and a home for the inhabitant to rest upon.

The emphasis of the landscape being one that truly provides the inhabitants is used within the simile 'They thunder across like the daredevil boys' refers to the vehicles that intrude and disrupt the ability the inhabitants have to connect with the natural landscape. People often are too occupied praising man-made objects that they forget the landscape can offer them something more beautiful which is the view of grassy plains and beautiful animals in 'paddocks tumbling with mice.'. The change in mood and visual imagery in rode off into headlines and hills or into legends that hang, grey-ghostly, over campfires in the rain' depicts a sinister and dark mood, showing the change and thoughts the inhabitant has towards the natural landscape. The natural landscape isn't safe during the night and isn't loved by the inhabitant due to its darkness. The alliteration in 'grey ghostly' illustrates the unknown during the night. The alliterative use of the letter 'g' presents and unpleasant tone which adds to the mysteriousness of the night time.

When a day comes to an end the landscape cannot be adored as the darkness hides all the beauty, however Strung out on the hills, new streets that glow in the eyes of farmboys, cities alive only at nightfall that span a continent' evidently displays the city's capability of attracting any inhabitant. The lights attract the inhabitant and therefore shows the power man-made objects are looked upon as something magnificent and beautiful.

Off The Map annotations

In the Forest by Thomas Shapcott

Thomas Shapcott, a well educated writer who took up writing full time after being an accountant. He has achieved many recognitions and roles in the literature world. He was the past director of the Literature Board of Australia Council (1983-1990) and now a Professor of Creative writing at the University of Adelaide.

"In the Forest" by Thomas Shapcott is a poem that displays humans interactions with the natural landscape. In the society we live in today inhabitants (humans) believe that they are able to 'waltz' into any natural landscape and demolish it without thinking about outcomes that may arise in the future. Within this poem the poet allows the viewer to understand what takes place during an event of deforestation and become more aware of the impacts human destruction has on the environment.

The inhabitants interaction with the natural landscape is one of disrespect and manipulation. The recurring motif of the 'axe' acts as a catalyst, illustrating demolition and destruction.

The poet cleverly depicts a perfect environment in Stanza 1 through the use of natural connotations such as 'forest', 'birds' and 'lizards'. Although the use of repetition of 'wait' creates a suspenseful atmosphere in conjunction with the visual imagery of animals that are still and not moving. This indicates that something is wrong and urges the read to read on.

Reading on the poets breaks the suspense in Stanza 4 where he juxtaposes the previous three stanzas. The truncated sentences reinforce the change that is occurring in this environment, 'The tree is tenses. In its green height the possums clutch their young. They flee.' displays the struggle the animals go through to survive which in turns makes the audience realize that our actions are unacceptable.

In Stanza 6, vicious connotations are shown in 'The late slow lives have been taken, in the sheltering tree they have been crushed.' was purposely intended by the poet to straight forwardly inform the reader that we are ruining the natural habitat without even realizing it and should empathize with nature.

The last Stanza uses a metaphor in 'The accepted world is quickly broken, the skull of the forest is opened up.' compares the land to 'us'. The poet effectively poses that the land needs as much looking after as much as we need looking after. Therefore the inhabitants must take care of the environment if they want it there in the future.

Finally, Shapcott's poem explores the interactions humans have with the physical landscape and urges the reader to think and change their actions towards the environment

In the Forest Annotations