Prize Giving Harwood

• Social Satire
• Set Narrative- tightly structured rhyme scheme
• 3rd person (omniscent) narrative and uses a double vouce. This distances Harwood from her characters which still enabling her to give her perspective. Eisenbart’s psyche is presented from Harwood’s perspective as she is being judgemental and mocking him through the use of words such as “grace” and “rudely declined”.
• Iambic Pentameter (10 beats to the line, as in Shakespeare)
• An Extreamely formally structured poem- Reinforcing the stiffness of Professor Eisenbart
• Prof. E. Represents the world of Science/Academic.
• FEMINIST INTERPRETATION:
Headmistress wants the Professor to be a role model to the girls, as he is a leader in his field. She’s a woman who admires male achievements and is therefore stuck in the old world. She has to go out of her way in order to get him, through persuation and manipulation. She has learnt, therefore, how to survive in the male world. The girl who wins the music awards represents the new hope for women- representing creativity. She parodies/mocks the professor, showing the rebellion against the patriarchal society.
• PSYCHOANALYTICAL:
People representing two worlds- Intellectual versus creative. We must understand and develop both of these characteristics in order to develop wholely.
• POST-COLONIAL:
Reading Australia beyond colonial time- Eisenbart represents traditional european culture. Those values are outdated and suffocating to this nation. The Girl represents the new culture/generation. An individual who shows that we need to develop our own creative spirit.
• Emjambment is a device common among Harwood’s work. Allows line to move on by removing punctuation (this can, for example, as it does in Alter Ego, add to the meditative quality)
• IRONY- Professor sees emotion and creativity as flaws, yet the girls creatrivity imacts upon him and embarrases him. He thought that only he would impact on their lives.
• This pomposity reflects upon the POST-COLONIAL view.
• OXYMORON and Ambiguous Ending- “sage fool”- perhaps he has seen the flaw in himself and gained insight for a short moment of time? Howeever this insight is squandered through the superficiality of his demeanour when he “teased his gown”, an indication that he had not changed.
• From a PA interpretation, the oxymoron shows the complexity of human psychology. Intellectually, Eisenbart is wise but he is also foolish. Although he understands that by blocking his emotional side his life is incomplete, he is scared of change: “trapped by music in a copper net of hair”. It shows how hard it is for people to change.
• Structural Divide, Paragraph 4, the focus shifts from Eisenbart to the titan hair girl. Eisenbart and the girl are both SYMBOLS.
• “Underneath a light”- Recurring images of light…. Girl is shown here as a symbol of hope, who is unique for her skills and as a woman (FEM).
• “like Rodin’s Thinker”. SATIRE. He changes his image to create the illution of intellect, such showing the superfciciality of whats old culture (P-C). Satarising and laughing at Prof E, and in result satarising the nature of intellectuality without creativity.

• HEAT IMAGERY is used for the “titan-hair” girl ? “Passion”, “Forged” and “Rose-Hot”… all respresent vitality and are vibrant emotions. In a FEM interp. These images can be seen as liberation of females and as a representation of hope.
• This is Juxta with the IMAGERY for Eisenbart. “Calm age” and “indifference” revealing that he is trapped in an intellectual world that doesn’t recognise emotions.
• EPIPHANAL MOMENTS: Eisenbart’s transpires as he acknowledges his emotional side and realises that his life is mediocre and a façade because of the girl who “felt its voltage fling his hold from his calm age and power”. However, the result of their epiphanal moments are contrasting, because while the child accepts and develops, Eisenbart remains trapped within his own rituals.
• The poem seeks to define such epiphanal moments, showing that Harwood is able to convey human behaviour in a universal context.
• Harwood juxtaposes the insinuation of freedom and independence surrounding music wit the sense of tradition associated with scientific language.