- The human experience of passing time has the ability to weaken people into a sense of
regret and lost potential but at the same time can heal. Kenneth Slessor uses the
paradoxical nature of passing time to express lost love, regret, memory and the power
time has to reconcile, his melancholy view of human experiences is largely influenced by
the postmodern era.
- Slessor expresses the anomaly of the human experience in poems; Wild Grapes and
The Vesper-Song of Reverend Samuel Marsden
Wild Grapes
- The human experience of the passing of time creates a paradox between our
memories and the truth, creating rifts of lost potential and regret.
- ‘Wild Grapes’ takes a melancholy view on the idea of the passing of time, delving into
the experience of lost potential and lingering regret through characterisation and low
modality language.
- Loss and regret is characterised through the grapes - described as ‘gypsy-sweet’ and
dangerous like a ‘musket-shot’, insinuating that Isabella was a tenacious character, her
memory refusing to be forgotten; ‘the dead girl, who has lingered on’.
- The acidic taste of the grapes enhances the person's feeling of regret, his memory of her
is tainted by a sense of loss that lingers long after she has passed, much like the ‘harsh
sweetness’ of the grapes.
- ‘Kissed here - or killed here - but who remembers now?’, questions the fate of Isabella,
whether the persona does not remember due to passed time or because he chooses not
to, the true inconsistency of memory is summarised. A question of love or affliction-
leaves the audience wondering whether the persona’s regret stems from a loss of love,
or something much darker, perhaps he himself killed Isabella despite how he felt for her.
Vesper-Song of the Reverend Samuel Marsden
- Morality is a subjective ideal that often leads to a corrupt view of what is right and what is
wrong.
- The Vesper-Song of Reverend Samuel Marsden highlights Australia’s dark history of
corruption in the legal system and the exploitation of religious beliefs and privileges.
- Slessor uses connotative language and visceral imagery to challenge our idea of the
motivations of people in power and those who say they are acting on behalf of god
- religious connotative language in “sacramental”, “Paradise” - “a scarlet Grace for holy
meat” illustrates the Reverend’s twisted and sadistic idea of religious righteousness
- The visceral imagery of “jewelled blood repent” is jarring next to further religious
language- contrasting the disconnect between the intentions of Samuel Marsden and the
grace and compassion usually expected of people in power, specifically those who are at
the will of God.
Wild Grapes
regret and lost potential but at the same time can heal. Kenneth Slessor uses the
paradoxical nature of passing time to express lost love, regret, memory and the power
time has to reconcile, his melancholy view of human experiences is largely influenced by
the postmodern era.
- Slessor expresses the anomaly of the human experience in poems; Wild Grapes and
The Vesper-Song of Reverend Samuel Marsden
Wild Grapes
- The human experience of the passing of time creates a paradox between our
memories and the truth, creating rifts of lost potential and regret.
- ‘Wild Grapes’ takes a melancholy view on the idea of the passing of time, delving into
the experience of lost potential and lingering regret through characterisation and low
modality language.
- Loss and regret is characterised through the grapes - described as ‘gypsy-sweet’ and
dangerous like a ‘musket-shot’, insinuating that Isabella was a tenacious character, her
memory refusing to be forgotten; ‘the dead girl, who has lingered on’.
- The acidic taste of the grapes enhances the person's feeling of regret, his memory of her
is tainted by a sense of loss that lingers long after she has passed, much like the ‘harsh
sweetness’ of the grapes.
- ‘Kissed here - or killed here - but who remembers now?’, questions the fate of Isabella,
whether the persona does not remember due to passed time or because he chooses not
to, the true inconsistency of memory is summarised. A question of love or affliction-
leaves the audience wondering whether the persona’s regret stems from a loss of love,
or something much darker, perhaps he himself killed Isabella despite how he felt for her.
Vesper-Song of the Reverend Samuel Marsden
- Morality is a subjective ideal that often leads to a corrupt view of what is right and what is
wrong.
- The Vesper-Song of Reverend Samuel Marsden highlights Australia’s dark history of
corruption in the legal system and the exploitation of religious beliefs and privileges.
- Slessor uses connotative language and visceral imagery to challenge our idea of the
motivations of people in power and those who say they are acting on behalf of god
- religious connotative language in “sacramental”, “Paradise” - “a scarlet Grace for holy
meat” illustrates the Reverend’s twisted and sadistic idea of religious righteousness
- The visceral imagery of “jewelled blood repent” is jarring next to further religious
language- contrasting the disconnect between the intentions of Samuel Marsden and the
grace and compassion usually expected of people in power, specifically those who are at
the will of God.
Wild Grapes
