The Tuft Of Flowers And Robert Frost's Home Burial

The process of discovery refers to the perception created upon experiencing the unfamiliar and redefining what is familiar. Discovery can be achieved through unexpected means or deliberate expeditionary, whether it be tangible or a fragment of our thoughts/imagination/emotions. Poems ‘The Tiger’ and ‘Young Girl At A Window’ by Rosemary Dobson and poem ‘Invictus’ by William Ernest Henley thoroughly explore this concept via their ideology of human nature and its effect on discovery.

The nature of discovery is highly impactful when one is confronted with multiple worlds; enabling a physical and spiritual connection to places, ideals and society, transforming one’s perception over-time. Australian poet Robert Gray‘s ‘The Meatworks’, confronts an individual’s beliefs to influence their standpoint on a desensitized society. ‘Journey, North Coast’ introduces the idea that re-awakened realities emancipate one’s connection of the natural world. and Director Daniel Sousa’s ‘Feral’ explores into how being taken into an unfamiliar reality leads to discovering one’s natural world. It is within these poems that uncover the highly impactful nature of discovery.

Discoveries are everywhere in everyday life and they can impact the way we see the world, either positively or negatively. Because of this, it can be noted that “Not all discoveries are welcomed”. We can explore this philosophy through the examination of various techniques found within both Robert Gray’s ‘Journey, North Coast’ and ‘The Meatworks’, as well Leo Matsuda’s animated short film, ‘Inner workings’. These three texts, although all having visual processes of discovery, offer juxtaposing perspectives on the acceptance (or lack of) towards discoveries.

“To discover is to gain sight or knowledge of something.” How have ideas about discovery been shown in Away and The Book Thief

Frost incorporates his personal experiences with loss and his views on society into the narrative

Through an individual’s life experience and challenges , a process of discovery can be undertaken serving as a catalyst for renewed perceptions of themselves and others. Robert Grey explores this concept in “The Meatworks” where the persona is forced to confront uncomfortable truths about the materialistic nature of society. This notion is furthered in “Flames and Dangling Wire” in which Grey depicts the negative consequences of change and development, portraying a grim image of the self-destruction of humanity. Similarly “Big World”, a short story by Tim Winton portrays how the introduction of a new environment can catalyse significant change within an individual, inducing new understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

New values and understandings obtained from discovery provide a significant catalyst for an individual’s transformation; elucidating their renewed perceptions of the human condition. Evoked by curiosity, Rosemary Dobson’s elegiac poems Young Girl at a Window and Cockcrow explore an individual’s spiritual metamorphosis; this effect is reinforced in Adrienne Rich’s feminist poem Diving into the Wreck.

The process of discovery occurs when individual encounter challenges or problems and through the experiences of adversity they acquire their real identity. Jane Harrison’s play, Rainbow’s End, June Winch’s novel, Swallow the air, and the carton Seashell, by Michael Leunig are the three texts exemplifies how the process of discovery can be confronting and provocative and leads to transformation.

The process of discovery is a profoundly meaningful experience which involves moving into unknown realms, whilst re-evaluating what is known. Discoveries occur in a multifaceted fashion as part of a re-consideration of experiences and values, generating new perspectives of ourselves and our world. Rosemary Dobson’s poetry and unseen position us to recognise the significance of time, change and its confronting challenges. Dobson’s “Young Girl at a Window” explores the persona’s inner struggle to overcome her fears about transitioning into adulthood, evoking contemplation on time and life’s vicissitudes. Similarly “Ghost Town: New England” delves into confronting discoveries about the transience of life, making us reconsider the temporal nature

Discovery inhibits the ability to embrace new beginnings and accept a sense of change whether it is found or forced upon an individual. The places you travel and the people you meet can emotionally revolutionize a self-discovery through unexpected but anticipated terms evoked from curiosity. ‘Swallow The Air’ written by Tara June Winch and ‘The Thing Around Your Neck’ written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie break the inhibitions of vulnerability, as their ideas represented through cultural contexts and values, lead to an overall self-discovery.

As a result of discovery, individuals are opened to the opportunity to transform and in doing so, renew perceptions of themselves and those around them. In having renewed perceptions, individuals are automatically exposed to new experiences and perspectives, and as a result undergo personal growth. Change is an aspect of discovery that is enabled by past experiences and in this, transformation is achieved. Through Jane Harrison’s Rainbow’s End, a 1950’s play about three generations of an Aboriginal family, and Gwen Harwood’s Father and Child, a poem exploring the transformation of a child we are able to explore the way change is inflicted through experiences of discovery and the responses we find as a result of this. Maturation and

Moreover, discovery is an abstract perspective in which is always evolving as it is influenced by the environment and social context in which people place themselves within. The concept of discovery is evidently also illustrated in the novel “The fault in our stars” where the question “Who am I”? Is frequently asked. Through the Fault In Our Stars the self discovery of the protagonist, Hazel Lancaster, is conveyed

The term ‘discovery’ can be explored and interpreted in many different ways, the meaning is created by an individual’s perception, opinion and experiences of discovery. In the book Swallow the Air by Tara June Winch and the film, Titanic by James Cameron explores the concept of discovery as an idea that discoveries can be challenging as they allow for the transformation of an individual’s perspective, and they allow for an individual to discover their true identity and the identity of others around them.

Discovery is an innate aspect of what it means to be human. Discovery involves differing contexts and perspectives and in this way it is unavoidably subjective and offers further insights into the human psyche. This can be seen in the 1914 works of Robert Frost, “Home Burial” that tells of the hardship imposed on a mother and father after the loss of a child, and “Mending Wall” exploring the relationship between two neighbours and the wall that divides them, as well as the 1998 picture book, ‘The Rabbits’ by Shaun Tan and John Marsden, an account of colonisation from the viewpoint of the colonised.

In Robert Frost’s “Tuft of flowers”, the connection of man and nature leads the composer to make an emotional discovery. Frosts unorthodox rhyming style of having 5 iambs in each line makes the poem unique and its quest to realising discovery unique. With that in mind by choosing an unusual form, Frost makes the idea apparent to me in a way that is memorable. Also Frost contrasts the flower with the cut grass shows that he has encased a connection between them and himself as he recognises the beauty of the flower in “…and led my eye to look/At a tall tuft of flowers beside a brook” this new understanding lead him on the path of finding the emotional discovery. Through this poem, Frost showed me that discoveries can lead to refinding yourself and finding new perceptions and by demonstrating this idea he has further my understanding of discovery through the notion of making it memorable.