The depiction of bush life in the works of female colonial Australian poets (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2019 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Cologne, language: English, abstract: This paper will examine the works of some Australian female colonial poets, who, in contrast to male authors, have critically examined their situation in their writings and in this way offered a realistic view on life in Australia at the time. To begin with, the culturally specific concepts of femininity and masculinity in literature are to be inspected and how the male myth is embodied in the bush legend. The essay examines the contemporary Australian literary production and analyses the role of women authors.

Secondly, the function and role of poetry for the feminist movement in literature will be demonstrated. Although women's prose has received more attention than their poetry has, and prose writers were central to literary culture, I chose to focus on poetry, since it has been suggested that poetry tended to exhibit the clearest record of the feminist movement. Since many female writers turned to fiction, as poetry was considered men's territory, women poets had to struggle against male attitudes. The essay will research the circumstances of female productions, how they were reviewed by fellow writers and which obstacles women poets had encountered. Although journals do not relate directly to this topic, I feel motivated - due to the fact that poetry was especially dependent on periodical publications - to call attention especially to the significance of The Dawn, opposed to the Bulletin.

Furthermore, the main aim of this paper is to illustrate the thematic range that was relevant to female poetry. The question of which themes and motifs had preoccupied their verse will be discussed. Main themes such as marriage, love, independence, loneliness, religion and the potential for future female influence will be illustrated in poems by authors such as Louisa Lawson, Ada Cambridge, Emma Anderson, Caroline Leakey, Mary Hannay Foott and Emily Manning.