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Theme Of Motherhood In Cock Crow And Gwen Harwood

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Poetry is a timeless form of storytelling that can connect people of all generations, races, and religions. Rosemary Dobson’s “Cock Crow” and Gwen Harwood’s “Suburban Sonnet”, both explore the idea of motherhood being a timeless sacrifice made by women every day. Harwood’s sonnet exposes the audience to the reality of a mother’s life where she has accepted the sacrifices made for her children, whereas Dobson’s quatrains show the journey of a mother stuck in a conflict between staying with her daughter and discovering herself. These ideas are portrayed through the various language techniques and stylistic features used by each poet.
The sacrifices of motherhood are established comparably in Dobson’s and Harwood’s poems. The poem “Cock Crow” commences with the first-person narration of a mother who wants “to be [her]self” but feels confined by her …show more content…

In “Cock Crow”, the mother has inescapably succumbed to the guilt of leaving her mother and daughter believing the “too brief [was the] illusion”. As the “cock crow[s]” three times, Dobson’s biblical allusion referencing the story of Peter betraying Jesus, she is transported back to reality and the story she is reminded of sinks in. Believing she knows “his meaning well”, she reluctantly bears the sacrifices of motherhood at her own expense. Likewise, the mother of “Suburban Sonnet” involuntarily stays with her discontent as she ironically “comforts” her children while she is left with no one to comfort her in her misery. Nevertheless, she carries on with her life making “tasty dishes from stale bread” which metaphorically represents her effort to find enjoyment within her “stale” life. While the mothers in neither Dobson’s nor Harwood’s poems are entirely content with the situations, they have found themselves in, they have ultimately chosen to make the necessary sacrifices because a mother’s love for her child is

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