Les Murray’s “The Widower in the Country” Essay

In The Widower in the uncouth, change is conveyed in many ways. The poem plants that change can puzzle a life of isolation and retirement. The poem also shows how change is not always embraced and how we should not lead a life with a lack of change.The title of the poem, the widowman in the country immediately gives the reader the impression of an individual in a vast area. This lets the readers know that the widower is alone and isolated. Already, the reader already feels sympathy for the widower, not only(prenominal) because he has wooly his wife, but he now lives alone in a vast and unemployed area.In the first stanza, the first line, Ill get up soon, and leave my bed unmade, shows how the parting leads a life that is monotonous and repetitive each day. There is a certainty and reluctance in his character and it seems as though he now has no reason to set about his bed, as he is lonely and there is no one who volition see the bed purge if it was made. At the demol ition of the stanza, For I get up late now, the word now has been deliberately placed to show how the widower has changed his behaviour.In the second stanza, the personification of Christmas paddocks, suffer in the heat, imitates the personas own feelings, and the words aching in the heart look like aching in the heart, which is what the persona feels like, as he has lost his wife. Christmas is also usually a time for family gathering, and this highlights how change has caused the widower to lead a life of loneliness and isolation. This stanza is also filled with negative imagery and sublunar activities- The windless trees, the nettles in the yard and then Ill go in, boil water and make tea. The at the end of the sentence shows that the widowers day is filled with opposite activities that are more or the same, again highlighting his life that has a lack of change. The lack of punctuation in this stanza also reflects the widowers monotonous life and again shows how change can br ing a life of isolation and loneliness.In the third stanza, there is again a lack of punctuation. Ill stand out on the hill and watch my house away below, and how the roof reflects the.There is a certainty in the widowers tone and the detached images show he doesnt essential to be in this situation. Makes my eyes water gives us an image of the widower in misery and yell and we feel sympathy for him. This also shows he has not embraced the change. Close on beady webbed visions smeared on the dark of my thoughts to dance and fade away shows how the persona has visions and memories of the past.There is a paradox between bright and smeared and this reflects the personas misery. Although he wishes to think of the happier times in the past, they have now become woolly- drifted and have faded away. Then the sun will move on shows the widowers unhappiness and I will simply watch, or work, or sleep is a cumulative listing of three monotonous and mundane activities, which highlights the l ack of variety in the widowers life. The sentence also shows how the monotony is never-ending. In And change surface will come on the and is placed at the start of the sentence to draw attention to how the widower is so certain about his life as it is always the same, day after day.In the remnant stanza, Getting near dark, Ill go home, light the lamp and eat my corned-beef supper, sitting there at the head of the table shows how the widowers day is filled with even more mundane activities and his reluctance to make any changes. The fact that he is sitting at the head of a table highlights his loneliness, as he has no family, and is by himself. Then Ill go to bed again shows the certainty in his tone and his lack of change. Last night I thought I dreamed is the only time there is a change in tense and harsh sounding images- the screaming was only a phalanger ski-ing down the iron roof follows it. The widower has lost all hope as he cannot even dream and has nothing positive to loo k forward to, not even in his dreams. The poem ends with its only positive image little moonlit claws.With uses of imagery, personification, paradox, assonance and cumulative listing, Les Murrays The Widower in the orbit clearly shows how change can lead to a life of isolation and loneliness.