Conclusion

According to me Hilarie Lindsay focuses on women and their struggles. She tries  to put forth pain and sufferings a woman go through and she describes it in a beautiful way. Hilarie Lindsay is an inspiration to lot of other women. She inspires many women to write. 

Quiz

1. When was Hilarie Lindsay born?

• 1934
• 1924
• 1920
• 1922

2. When was Hilarie Lindsay awarded MBE for her services to Literature?

• 1979
• 1974
• 1977
• 1970

3. State the theme of poem 'Monuments of Men' 

• Forgiveness 
• Hatred
• Death
• Superiority 

4. Why according to you in the poem "Barren Harvest" she wishes to remain barren rather than being a mother of a soldier?

Barren Harvest (Structure, figure of speech, themes)

Structure- The structure of the poem is not uniform. The poem consist of five stanzas. In each stanza first word is aligned towards the left and rest of the stanza is towards right and it has no rhyme scheme.



Figure of speech- Alliteration
For eg- "better to be barren than to be"


Theme- The main theme in this poem is the pain and suffering of a mother whose son is in army. A mother is always in agony when her son is far away from her and his life is so uncertain. Also the love a mother has towards her son can be another theme.   

Barren Harvest(summary)

Hilarie Lindsay here tried to put forth the pain and sufferings a mother go through when her son is in army,  fighting a war. There is enduring tenderness in the love a mother has for her children. A mother gives birth,  raises her children with so much love and affection and do everything possible to secure their life. But when son is in army during the time of war the pain a mother's heart go through is unimaginable. In army, life is so uncertain so there is always a fear that anytime she can loose her son. So that is why Lindsay feels that it is better to be childless then to have a son in army at the time of war. 

https://images.app.goo.gl/9pKrGPaQJyNocZeh8

Monuments of Men(Structure, Figure of speech, themes)

Structure - The poem is written in rhyming couplet. It consists of eight stanzas with sixteen lines. The poem has End rhymes
Rhyme scheme- AA-BB-CC-DD....



Figure of Speech - Poet uses metaphor to highlight importance of woman.  He uses 'loving bosom of earth' and 'fertile field' for woman
For eg- ' she is the loving bosom of the                          earth'
         
              ' she is fertile field where the seed                     is spilled'

Poet also uses alliteration.
For eg - 'dream his dreams'
               ' fertile field'



Themes- The main theme of the poem is superiority  men shows over women. We see that Men try to dominate women.  The rule of society which says that Man should take all important decisions, provide for his family and do all difficult tasks  which gives Man a sense of superiority over woman.Also feminism can be another theme as Lindsay tried to highlight woman and her importance in the poem

Monuments of Men (summary)

 

The poem emphasizes the difference between Men and Women. We always consider Men to be superior to Women. Hilarie Lindsay in this poem highlights the importance of women in the male dominant society. Men boast about doing bigger things and he is extremely proud of being superior to women. Women on the other hand gives birth which is greatest thing among all and nourishes the future generation without boasting about it. Women brings the entire race to birth but she doesn't brag about it. Hilarie Lindsay wants to tell us that God has gifted one of the greatest gift, of giving birth to Women but Men still has that in illusion that they dominate Women or they believe that Women is inferior to them which is completely wrong. Men builds monuments of  their praises while women have their living testament in the form of her children.

(Worker and kolkhoz woman, Vera Mukhina, 1937)

https://images.app.goo.gl/Z3wXxrMHeJyEL3ic6

About Hilarie Lindsay

(Auburn Carr,  Weddine Shire Counsil)

https://pioneerwomen.com.au/collection/herstory-archive/lindsay

Personal life

Hilarie Elizabeth Dyson was born on 18th April 1922 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. In 1939 she attended a Business college and later in 1944 She got married to Philip Singleton Lindsay.


 Career

Lindsay's husband owned toy company called A.L Lindsay & Co. Hilarie Lindsay acted as marketing manager in the company for over 40 years. In 1969 she was elected as the first woman president of TAGMA(Toys and Games Manufacturers' Association  of Australia) and the first woman president of any division of the Australian Chambers of Manufacturers.


Writing/works

Lindsay started writing at very young age but gained recognition only after winning Henry lawson Festivals of Arts. In 1974 she was awarded an MBE for her services to literature. She has published more than 20 books across a range of genres including poetry, fiction, non fiction, full length plays. Her first published work was in The Grenfell Record after winning the award of Grenfell prose. Some of her works are  'One for the road' (1978), ' Midget Mouse finds a house' (1978) Noah's Arc (1985), 'Home fires in Southerly' (1992),  The withered Tree(A Play in 2 acts) (1980), ' Household Chaos' (1977),  The naked gourment(1979).Her most notable work is The WasherWoman's Dream (2002).


Achievements

In 1970 She won Society of woman writers (Australia)  award for her short story -The professor 's son. She was awarded as Member of the order of the British Empire for her services to Literature. In 1977 she won Queen Elizabeth.  Silver Jubilee medal. In 2006 Hilarie Lindsay was awarded the Medal of Order of Australia for her work in literature and for inspiring and mentoring new writers.


Reference
1. https://www.henrylawsonfestival.com.au/news/our-patron-hilarie-lindsay

2.https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A7462

3.http://www.auriculotherapysymposium.com/index.php/awards