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Judith Wright -
Woman to Man
The poem Wo a to Ma is part of a collection of poems, published in 1949, called
Woman to Man by Judith Wright. Judith Wright was a distinguished and well-known
Australian poet during the Twentieth Century presenting themes and thoughts on
Modernism, Naturism, Realism, Love, Sensuality, and Symbolism. Often her work reflected
Australia or mirrored her life. Wo a to Ma is a eautiful a d ri h poe . The poem is
deeply effective and vivid. It is descriptive and has a lot of depth. The poet s achievements
in this poem are expressing the notion of growth and love. The poem is about the physical
and spiritual phenomenon of creating life through physical and sexual intimacy. In this
essay, I will account for these achievements by observing structure, meter, and poetic and
language techniques.
Judith Wright expresses the notion of growth and love through the structure and scaffolding
in the poem, Wo a to Ma . The form of this text is a poem. We understand this by the
visual appearance of the text on the page. It reveals that it is a poem by formal poetic
features such as the position on the page (being centered on the page), the uniformed
substructures or stanzas and the number of lines - five in each four stanzas. With this in
mind, the stanzas create a uniformed and processed order that represents the meaning of
the poem and Wright s a hie e e t of the idea of gro th a d lo e. The first three stanzas
show the creation and development of life: In stanza one – creating life, in stanza two –
growth, stanza three – development, and the last stanza as love and reassurance of this
process or cycle of intimacy in creating life. Her achievement of love is emphasized in the
rhyme scheme: A, B, C, A, A. The first line rhymes with the two last lines of a stanza – rhyme
couplets at the end. This structure is a representation of a poem that has a beginning and an
end; an end and a beginning – a cycle that is involved when creating life. Moreover, the
poem is a song or ballad that uses structure, like paragraphs, to tell a story and journey,
which embodies the notions of growth and love.
Another way Judith Wright expresses the idea of growth and love is through the meter of
the poem. The prevailing meter is iambic tetrameter with some trochee and spondee foots

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to move the piece along. The meter creates a rhythm and pace for the poem which is
reflected and re-enforced in the rhyme scheme. As well, gives a sense of controlled,
emotional description of this experience. This is shown well in the first stanza:
The eyeless labourer in the night,
the selfless, shapeless seed I hold,
builds for its resurrection day -
silent and swift and deep from sight
forsees the unimagined light.
The unstressed and stressed syllable in the first line carries the poem along and creates a
prevailing meter for the piece. Words like la ourer in stanza one, a dactylic foot
(stressed/unstressed/unstressed), resurrection in stanza one, a ditrochee tetrasyllabic foot
(stressed/unstressed/stressed/unstressed), and pre ise r stals in stanza three, iambic
with trochee foot (unstressed/stressed, stressed/unstressed), creates an emphasise and a
rise or climax for the stanza accentuating love and growth. Additionally, this rising and
falling, created by the meter and flow of the poem, can be seen in each stanza. Wright s
achievement of the idea of growth and love can be shown in the final stanza:
This is the maker and the made;
this is the question and reply;
the blind head butting at the dark,
the blaze of light along the blade.
Oh hold me, for I am afraid.
This stanza shows the persona has developed and grown through the physical and sexual act
by the rhythm which gathers impetus and a climax in the final line. The words Oh hold e ,
a molossus foot, is very direct and contrasts with the rest of the poem. Through intimacy
and growth, this act is not only love, but also the act of reatio i ol i g the third who lay
i our e ra e .

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Thirdly, sounds created by the words in Wo a to Ma also show the poet s achievement
of idea of growth and love. The use of alliteratio i sile t, s ift…sight reates o e e t
a d e erg that o es the pie e alo g. A other e a ple of this is, “elfless, shapeless
seed . These sound combinations give the pulse and energy in the poem through the s
sounds, but also the achievement of the idea and message of love or love-making.
Additio all the i sou d sile t a d sight a d e sou d selfless a d seed sho s the
delicate and beautiful meaning in the nature of love – a metaphorical description of the
child. This passage also reveals and enhances the tone of fear, excitement, and anticipation.
The words that show growth and love are i sta za three, folded rose . Love and growth is a
deli ate a d i tri ate folded rose s olisi g that love, creation, and birth are special. It
also shows that the creation, the baby, is beautiful as a folded rose . A rose in literature
connotes something or a thing has special properties. Judith Wright uses these words to
show the idea of growth and love in Wo a to Ma .
Lastly, figurative and tropological language is used throughout the poem to present the idea
of growth and love in the poem. Wo a to Ma is highl figurati e a d etaphori al. The
poem has a lot of hidden meaning, symbols, and ideas. The ords, This is is used
repeatedly at the beginning of a line through stanza two and four. This use of anaphora
shows movement; it moves the pace along creating development. Anaphora gives a sense of
the speaker s i te sit , serious ess a d fear, but as well a sense of richness and
understanding of this development as growth and progress of creating life. The use of
pol s deto of the ord, a d throughout refle ts this as well, growing and pushing the
poem along. The li e, e eless la ourer i the ight is a etaphor for orki g a d thriving
to create a human being, a baby, through love and intimacy. The li e resurre tio da – is a
metaphor for growth and new life. It is also a biblical allusion to Jesus, In Christianity, who
has gro through lo e a si gle seed . This is emphasised by the use of aposiopesis (the
line -) in stanza one that gives a break and silence to this importance of growth and love.
Foresees the u i agi ed light in stanza one, is a paradox in itself – to see something that
you cannot see or touch. The u i agi ed light is a etaphor that a s ers this parado .
The light or source of aspiration to create life is through love, intimacy, and passion. This is
yoked together through the symbolism of the line in stanza three, lood s ild tree as tree-
like arteries or veins are connected and form life through love. Judith uses figurative and

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tropological language to show that life is achieved through a sexual act to create a physical
seed that gro s…[i to a ] i tri ate a d folded rose .
In Conclusion, the poe Wo a to Ma is po erful a d serious poe Judith Wright.
Judith Wright has distinguished a complex experience into a compact poem. It is an
extraordinary poem, which tells a story and journey about the physical and spiritual
phenomenon of creating life through physical and sexual intimacy. It is interesting to see
that her poems, during the 94 s, mirrored the precedent of Modernist poetry in Australia
- especially with movements like the Jindyworobaks and the Angry Penguins. It is through
the structure, meter, and poetic and language techniques that Judith Wright presents a vivid
and emotional account of gro th a d lo e i Wo a to Ma .
Reference:
Wright, J. (1994). Collected Poems 1942-1985. 1st ed. Manchester, UK:
Carcanet Press.