The+Girl+in+the+Park

The girl in the park is expressing her grief over 'her lover'. She has 'velvet' in her throat, describign the feeling in your throat when your really upset and trying to hold back your sobs. Use of third person throughout the poem shows how the girl is reacting to the grief. e.g. 'it is very big/she said' shows the effect of her grief, she is in a daze and this is portrayed to reading that she was being through someone elses eyes. -Izzy

I think that the trees are a symbol of her lover and that the 'owls' or stars are meant to be the observers of her transition from grief to a sort of crazy hysteria as 'Her body swayig to the dark-edged chant of storms' represents. Her grief is over her lover and interestingly enough, the owls or observers carry her (the moon) away in the second to last stanza. This could be representative of the fact that possibly her lover has died, and she has been carried away from his body or coffin or something. this would also be supported by the fact that the moon glides into 'the dead tree's arms'. - Abby

In my opinion Tuwhare is using the moon and tree as mirroring symbols of the relationship between the girl and her lover. The moon the girl and the tree her lover. The moon "glides" into the "dead tree's arms" gives an image like when a girl rests her head on the man's chest, the tree however is described as dead emphasizing perhaps the loss of that feeling of security and warmth that was once there. "The grave trees,/ as muscular as her lover/ leaned darkly down to catch the moonrise" another image of the tree catching or holding the moon, this time the tree is described as "grave" which has connotations of death and loss. "Carried the helpless/ one-ribbed moon away..." This part really put this idea of the moon as the girl in my mind, Tuwhare describes the moon as one-ribbed, this connects to the idea of Adam and Eve where God put Adam to sleep and took out a rib from him to create Eve. One can then get the idea that Eve was created from "one-rib" and can thus connect the idea of women to the moon as the girl. This connects with the idea placed above by Abby and Izzy that there is grief, sadness, sorrow and death surrounding the relationship between the girl and her lover. - Theon

The poem again depicts the connection between nature and people, something that is almost always clear in most poems of Tuwhare's. The poem as Izzy said also is the expression of grief for her 'lover'. Her lover depicted "as muscular as her lover" has a mystical more spiritual sense to it which suggests that her lover culd be dead and like Theon I agree that the moon and the tree as mirroring symbols represent the relationship as the tree "as muscular as her lover leaned darkly down to catch the moonrise in her eyes.." I think that there is a feeling that the love the girl had for her lover was prohibited as "the trees scraped and nudged eachother and the satrts carried the helpless one-ribed moon away..." obvioudly the other trees symbolising family of her lover (the main tree) and the stars with links to the moon representing her family and the pull that both families have on both the girl and her lover. - Lu'isa

This poem has many negative connotations, which further back up the idea of the girl being in a bad relationship or having a broken heart. ' the __cold steel__ buttons, into a __dead tree's__ arms, the __grave trees__, carried the __helpless__, __does not care__.' There is also a typical language used in the poem that is similar to Tuwhare's other poems, where he uses nature and humans in the same sense when he is describing the relationship between the girl and her (former) lover........... - Sahib

This poem is a love story between the tree and the and moon. The tree is huge, masculine, muscular. The moon is feminine, soft, gliding. One rib --> link to story of creation They are being seperated, the stars carry the moon away. ~//Jacob//

There is a lot of personification used as is evident in his other poems, also he uses nature to reveal a love story between the moon and the tree. Nature is often used by Hone Tuwhare... this is because of the connection he feels with the countryside. The moon seems to be the woman of the relationship as she is shown to be feminine in comparison to the muscular tree which "leaned darkly down to catch the moonrise her eyes". "One ribbed" is a reference to Adam and Eve and talks of creation. The setting is very calm as stated at the beginning of the poem in stanza one "nonchalant sky" and at the end when the girl doesn't care. It is a distant relationship that doesn't directly effect the girl.

//James//

//I believe that this poem shows connection between nature and humans, along with the relationship between a women and her lover which has deteriorated. Tuwhare uses the moon to reflect the women and aspects of the moon to also reflect elements of the women. "The moon is big, it is very big" this statement made by her shows rather than the physical size of the moon but the emotional capacity of the women and possibly how the man, reflected by the muscular tree is now unable to care for her anymore. The tree is also described as grave and dead and this possibly links to the status of their relationship and also gives the poem a very somber mood. the somber mood is also emphasized in the last stanza "the girl in the part does not care: her body swaying to the dark edged chant of the storms" the fact that she is now just swaying there with no aim anymore because of an emptiness in her heart gives us a very strong image of loneliness and the effect that the absence of someone that was once important to us has. Daviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiid// ... (\_/) . ..(-_-) <=( 0 )=> .. (").|.(")

I believe the poem describes the despair of a widow over her husbands death. I don't think that her lover has left her intentionally or is still alive and is in another relationship. This is first hinted by the line "the moon glide into a dead tree's arms", where the moon describes the girl since it is usually used as a feminine representation, and the tree is then her former lover. The line after, "and felt the vast night pressing", indicates that the girl feels pain after seeing the tree, showing the significance of the moon and tree as perceived by the girl. The fact that the tree is indeed her lover is also given by the quote "the grave trees, as muscular as her lover", there is a direct link between the tree and her lover, both being largely built. Further more the inclusion of the adjective 'grave' supports that her lover is indeed dead as it is a direct link to death itself and also creates a negative atmosphere. Finally the line "the stars heard her and swooped down perching on tree-top and branch owl-like and and unblinking" supports the death of her lover.From this quote an image of an owl (although it is the stars that acts like an owl) on a branch of a tree is perceived. The owl is not only a symbol of the night, but also bad luck, negativity and death. The fact that it was coming from the tree is quite significant as it is similar to the myth of when a crow is on top of a certain structure, death will occur inside that structure. This 'death' is actual death and not an end of a relationship. The girl is also in the midst of commiting suicide. The girl is also the only thing that does not move or make a sound initially. The moon sways, the trees nudge, the owl hoots. In the final stanza it is revealed that the girl does not care, this contradicts with the idea of her strong feelings that have been kept after her lover's death, which was established in the poem. The facts previously established are true and by saying that the girl does not care, is what she is trying to feel as she is trying to deceive herself or trying to rid of her feelings. The quote "her body swaying to the dark-edge chant of storms" indicates her struggle to keep her feelings at bay, as the violent nature of a storm directly refers to how out of hand her emotions have become. the 'dark-edge chant' refers to the influence of her emotion, and by being described as 'dark-edged' (negative connotation), the 'dark-edge chant' could refer to the chorus of death. The fact that she is swaying to the chant also indicates that she is influenced by it and is submitting to it (you can't fight a storm only run away from it, wait till it dies down or of course fall victim to it, the girl has failed the first option and cannot wait like the second option due to her strong feelings toward her lover). The poem obviously shows her strong emotions toward her lover, and possibly she would want to join him in the afterlife hence beings of myths (moon, stars, sky) are significant as they are described to be vast or large. There is also a link with clothes in this poem(i.e. denim, buttons, velvet) which I don't really understand the significance of their inclusions.

Purple highlights mean that I'm not sure. - Winstan

The one-ripped moon, representing the woman, emphasizes the loss that was created by the end of the relationship. The relationship was of great importance for the girl and therefore her grief is big which is shown by the lines:"How huge it seems,/and the trees are big she said." This is related to the "vast night" and how the Moon in the "arms" of the dead tree still appear to be big. -Lorenz

The poem generates an atmosphere of solemnity and despair through use of diction such as 'cold', 'dead', 'pressing', 'vast night', 'pressing', helpless' and 'storms'. These words effectively reinforce the theme of the poem which is the loss of a loved one. We can tell that the narrator is struggling to cope and finds solace in the idea of being 'carried away', away from the storms and her melancholy. - Mike

In this poem Tuwhare again draws human and natural characteristics together, as he does in a lot of his poems. I got the feeling that the poem was about a girl trying to get over her ex-lover. The tree, I thought, represented her lover and similarly the stars and moon also represented different people in the 'love triangle'. Stars hold mystical connotations and are viewed as almost a helping hand-we are always told to wish upon stars. In this poem Tuwhare goes with this idea, '...The stars heard her...' I believe the stars are perhaps her friends or family trying to help her get over her grief. Owls are also conotated with being wise or clever, and in the second to last stanza it talks about the owl hooting, and the stars carrying the 'one ribbed moon away'. Perhaps the moon represents the new love interest of her ex and the moon and stars are trying to remove the image of the girls mind.-Chelsea ... (\_/) . ..(-_-) <=( 0 )=> .. (").|.(")