The identity and voice of the central figure within a poem influences the readerÃÂs view of the world. The symbolic depiction of societal roles from the point of view of a central characterÃÂs experience articulates social and cultural traditions, allowing the poet to endorse or critique the naturalized values of his or her culture. In her two sonnets, ÃÂIn the Park,ÃÂ and ÃÂSuburban Sonnet: Boxing Day,ÃÂ the Australian poet Gwen Harwood uses the generic conventions of poetry to construct a central persona who, through their voice, conveys the social expectations of women in 1950s suburban Australia. Both sonnets centre on a mother dealing with the everyday challenges of motherhood and through the use of the poetic techniques of the sonnet form, imagery, irony, tone and symbolism, socially define the mother figure in Australian Culture. The development of the womanÃÂs identity empowers the feminine voice of the poem to portray cultural values in a way that positions the reader to develop an understanding of the poetÃÂs world and interrogate AustraliaÃÂs patriarchal societyÃÂs marginalization of motherhood.
The feminine poetic voice of ÃÂIn the Park,ÃÂ and ÃÂSuburban Sonnet: Boxing Day,ÃÂ describing the burdens of motherly life ironically contradicts the conventions of the Elizabethan sonnet. Instead of a masculine voice professing undying love to a woman, HarwoodÃÂs ironic gender reversal in both poems, casting the voice as a woman disrupts the naturalized idea of the elegant sonnet woman. In ÃÂIn the Park,ÃÂ this contrast is emphasized by the motherÃÂs ÃÂout of dateÃÂ clothes and spiritual pain thereby encouraging the readerÃÂs understanding of the motherÃÂs hardship. It immediately develops the voice of the poem to critique the expectations of motherhood. In ÃÂSuburban Sonnet: Boxing Day,ÃÂ the organized order demanded by the sonnet juxtaposed with the total chaos described in the motherÃÂs life challenges the...