What essay do I write on Gwen Harwood?? *Confused.

**jamesfirst** · 3 Mar 2011, 5:26 PM

I don't get what type of essays I have to write in relation to "Textual integrity"

What does textual integrity imply??? Integrity as in how it fits in today's society and how audience can integrate themselves into the poems???

Or how the context of Gwen Harwood has integrated into her poems ????

And also is it true that we have to study 7 of her poems (Our school is studying 7 of her poems) ?? My teacher says there's a possibility in the HSC that they'll ask a question on a specific poem.

The thing is, my friend goes to a tuition centre and they are learning the poems that aren't studied in our school. Wouldn't that imply that we only should focus on 3 poems ??

**Kimyia** · 27 Feb 2012, 2:52 PM

Originally Posted by jamesfirst

I don't get what type of essays I have to write in relation to "Textual integrity"

What does textual integrity imply??? Integrity as in how it fits in today's society and how audience can integrate themselves into the poems???

Or how the context of Gwen Harwood has integrated into her poems ????

And also is it true that we have to study 7 of her poems (Our school is studying 7 of her poems) ?? My teacher says there's a possibility in the HSC that they'll ask a question on a specific poem.

The thing is, my friend goes to a tuition centre and they are learning the poems that aren't studied in our school. Wouldn't that imply that we only should focus on 3 poems ??

I'm stuck on the same thing at the moment, trying to apply ideas of textual integrity to Harwood's poetry. Could you possibly give me an idea of what you ended up doing? Thank you!!

**oyuck** · 27 Feb 2012, 8:36 PM

Textual integrity refers to how all the poems fit in together/ideas flow from one poem to another. So you can perhaps talk about a theme which pervades through several of her poems.

**Kimyia** · 27 Feb 2012, 9:20 PM

So if I had to talk about textual integrity with reference to different perspectives, I would talk about the themes relevant to specific perspectives and if they can be found throughout the poems, it shows textual integrity?

**oyuck** · 28 Feb 2012, 4:03 PM

In short, yes. A good way to demonstrate textual integrity is to refer to her poems. So in your paragraph on Poem 2, you might want to have a line or two which says something along the lines of "This idea of ___ is also explored in Harwood's <poem 1>." The main aim of textual integrity in the Critical Study of Text is for you to realise that texts do not exist on their own, but are part and are influenced by a larger body of work, and together, they create meaning.

**arg1** · 23 May 2012, 10:37 PM

Originally Posted by oyuck

Textual integrity refers to how all the poems fit in together/ideas flow from one poem to another. So you can perhaps talk about a theme which pervades through several of her poems.

God, thank you. It makes so much more sense now...
I had been looking at integrity as like moral standing etc and I just didn't understand AT ALL. Now I realise its the other definition, to make a complete whole, it makes it a lot easier. Thanks

**jo_m** · 1 Jun 2012, 5:55 PM

Yeah, there's seven poems: Father and Child, Triste Triste, Mornington, Mother Who Game Life Life, The Violets, Valediction and Sharpness of death. The latter two are the hardest in my opinion.

Her context really heavily influenced the poems themselves. She was a passionate feminist, a devout Christian (she was a nun at one stage in her life) and had depression. Those alone are huge in all her poems.

They all explore the themes of life, relationships/family and love.