Request To A Year (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE English Literature)

Request To A Year

The poetry anthology for CIE IGCSE Literature in English contains 15 poems. Below is a guide to Judith Wright’s poem ‘Request To A Year’ from the Songs of Ourselves Volume 1, Part 4 anthology. Below you will find:

• Overview: a line-by-line breakdown of the poem, including its possible meanings and interpretations

• Writer’s methods: an exploration of the techniques and poetic choices that Wright has used

• Understanding the text: an exploration of the themes and ideas in the poem

Overview

To answer an essay question on any poem, you must understand what it is about. The section includes:

• The poem in a nutshell

• A “translation” of the poem, section-by-section

• A commentary of each of these sections, outlining Wright’s intention and message

‘Request To A Year’ in a nutshell

‘Request To A Year’ was written by Australian poet Judith Wright and published in her 1955 collection, The Two Fires. The speaker in the poem recounts the story of her great-great-grandmother, who was faced with a challenging and dramatic incident involving her son. Instead of saving her son from drowning, the mother chose to sketch the incident. The poem explores ideas of female agency and artistic expression.

‘Request To A Year’ breakdown

Lines 1–4

“If the year is meditating a suitable gift,

I should like it to be the attitude

of my great-great-grandmother,

legendary devotee of the arts,”

Translation

• The speaker expresses a desire for a particular gift from the year

Wright’s intention

• The speaker starts by personifying time and suggesting that if the year were to consider giving a gift, she has a specific desire in mind

• The speaker then specifies that they desire the attitude of their great-great-grandmother, which implies that she possessed qualities or characteristics that the speaker finds admirable or valuable:

  • By invoking their ancestor, the speaker is drawing a connection between past and present, suggesting a desire for continuity or a return to certain values

• The speaker then further elaborates on the qualities they admire in their ancestor by describing her as a “legendary devotee of the arts”:

  • This phrase suggests that the great-great-grandmother had a deep passion and commitment to artistic pursuits

Lines 5–8

“who, having had eight children

and little opportunity for painting pictures,

sat one day on a high rock

beside a river in Switzerland”

Translation

• The speaker talks of how having children stopped her great-great-grandmother from painting

Wright’s intention

• The speaker highlights the fact that their great-great-grandmother had eight children:

  • This detail immediately conveys a sense of the challenges and responsibilities she faced as a mother

• Due to her role as a mother and the demands it placed on her time and energy, the great-great-grandmother had little opportunity for pursuing her own artistic interests, specifically in painting pictures:

  • It suggests that she had talents or interests in the arts but was constrained by her circumstances from fully exploring or expressing them

• The imagery of the great-great-grandmother sitting “on a high rock” beside a river in Switzerland evokes a sense of serenity and contemplation:

  • It suggests a moment of respite and a tranquil setting where she could pause and reflect

Lines 9–12

“and from a difficult distance viewed

her second son, balanced on a small ice-floe,

drift down the current towards a waterfall

that struck rock-bottom eighty feet below,”

Translation

• The speaker recounts a story of her great-great-grandmother witnessing her son in danger

Wright’s intention

• The phrase “from a difficult distance viewed” suggests that the great-great-grandmother is observing the scene from afar, indicating a sense of helplessness:

  • This distance may be physical but could also represent emotional distance or both

• The image of the “second son, balanced on a small ice-floe” adds a layer of danger and vulnerability to the scene

• The danger of the situation is emphasised by the fragile nature of the ice-floe and the potential for it to tip or break under the son’s weight

• The imagery of rushing water and the inevitable descent towards the waterfall creates a sense of tension and impending disaster:

  • The mother’s inability to intervene as her son drifts towards this perilous fate heightens the emotional impact of the scene

• The description of the waterfall striking rock-bottom eight feet below further underscores the severity of the danger facing the son

• The imagery created here may also be a reflection of how the great-great-grandmother does not feel the maternal instincts and love that a woman was expected to feel at the time

• Her distance from the river and the impending danger could reflect the distance she feels from her role as a mother and a carer

Lines 13–16

“while her second daughter, impeded,

no doubt, by the petticoats of the day,

stretched out a last-hope alpenstock

(which luckily later caught him on his way).”

Translation

• The speaker continues the story and focuses on the second daughter’s attempts at saving her brother

Wright’s intention

• The phrase “impeded, no doubt, by the petticoats of the day” suggests that the second daughter’s movement or ability to act is hindered by the clothing of the time period:

  • This detail adds a historical context to the scene and highlights the challenges faced by woman in past generations due to societal expectations and clothing conventions

  • The tightness of a petticoat could represent a woman’s place in the society of that time and how they were restricted from doing what they wanted 

• The second daughter takes action by stretching out an “alpenstock” as a “last hope”:

  • The description suggests that the alpenstock is being used as a final attempt to rescue the son from perilous situation described earlier in the poem

• The phrase “luckily later caught him on his way” indicates that the alpenstock ultimately succeeds in aiding the son

Lines 17–20

“Nothing, it was evident, could have done;

and with the artist’s isolating eye

my great-great-grandmother hastily sketched the scene.

The sketch survives to prove the story by.”

Translation

• The speaker describes what her great-great-grandmother was doing while her son was in danger

Wright’s intention

• The first line suggests an acceptance of the situation:

  • This statement could emphasise the powerlessness of the mother in the face of circumstances beyond her control

• The phrase “with the artist’s isolating eye” suggests that the great-great-grandmother observes the scene with the detached perspective of an artist:

  • Instead of reacting emotionally, she approaches the situation with a sense of detachment, viewing it as if she were creating a work of art

• Despite the urgency of the situation, the great-great-grandmother takes the time to sketch the scene:

  • It could suggest that the great-great-grandmother’s love or art overpowers her desire to help her child

Lines 21–22

“Year, if you have no Mother’s day present planned;

reach back and bring me the firmness of her hand.”

Translation

• The speaker re-addresses the “year” and asks for a gift

Wright’s intention

• The speaker directly addresses the year, personifying it if had the power to intervene:

  • The speaker’s request suggests a longing for a gift or gesture that symbolises the love and care associated with Mother’s Day

• The phrase “reach back” suggests a desire to connect with the past or to retrieve something meaningful from earlier times

• The speaker specifies what they want when they ask for “the firmness of her hand”:

  • This evokes a tactile sensation and suggests a longing for a comforting presence

  • The “firmness” of her great-great-grandmother’s hand symbolises strength, security and reassurance

These lines convey a sense of longing and nostalgia and the request to the year reflects a desire for strength in the face of life’s challenges

Writer's methods

Although this section is organised into three separate sections – form, structure and language – it is always best to move from what the poet is presenting (the techniques they use; the overall form of the poem; what comes at the beginning, middle and end of a poem) to how and why they have made the choices they have. 

Focusing on the poet’s overarching ideas, rather than individual poetic techniques, will gain you far more marks. Crucially, in the below sections, all analysis is arranged by theme, and includes Wright’s intentions behind her choices in terms of:

• Form

• Structure

• Language

Form

The poem consists of 22 lines with no regular metre.

Structure

The poem consists of 22 lines broken up into six stanzas. The first five stanzas are quatrains and the final stanza is a rhyming couplet.

Language

The writer uses a range of language techniques to convey the themes and ideas in the poem, such as personification, alliteration and symbolism to reflect the speaker's admiration for her ancestor and her desire to possess some of her traits. 

Understanding the text

It is not enough to just know the poem really well as all questions in the IGCSE encourage an informed, personal response. Therefore, you need to develop a solid understanding of the theme, main ideas, settings, situations and events depicted. Even though context is not explicitly assessed in the IGCSE, it is important that you have an awareness of background information that is relevant to the main themes in the poem as this can help you develop a sustained, critical understanding of the text. This is so that you are able to demonstrate individuality and insight in your answer. To help you do this, the section below has been divided into two main themes that Wright explores in ‘Request To A Year’:

• Motherhood and feminism

• Art as a form of expression

Motherhood and feminism

• Judith Wright wrote ‘Request To A Year’ in 1955:

  • She is known in Australia as an activist poet as she spent most of her life fighting for the rights of Aboriginal Australians 

• Though it is never made clear in the poem, readers can assume that the speaker of the poem is a female (and potentially a mother) as she asks for a Mother’s Day gift

• The reader makes clear at the beginning of the poem that her ancestor had “little opportunity” for pursuing art as she had “eight children”:

  • This could reflect the expectations of society during her great-great-grandmother’s time as she was expected to have children and be a mother before pursuing her own interests

• The speaker then goes on to recount a story of the great-great-grandmother’s son’s brush with death and how her ancestor accepted that she could not help him and so she had the strength of mind to sketch the incident instead:

  • This shows how her great-great-grandmother defied the expectations placed on women during that time

• The speaker also makes mention of another woman, her great-great-grandmother’s daughter who, despite her restrictive clothing, used her initiative to save her brother:

  • Again, the daughter defies societal expectations and fought against her restrictive clothing (which could be a metaphor for the restrictions society has placed on women) in order to do the right thing and save her brother

• The phrase “bring me the firmness of her hand” could suggest that the speaker wishes for her great-great-grandmother’s strength as well as artistic ability:

  • The word “firmness” could link to strength of character and mind

Art as a form of expression

• The speaker of the poem recounts a story that is linked to a very old drawing in her possession

• She recounts how her great-great-grandmother’s “firmness” of hand and “isolating eye” was able to sketch the incident despite her son’s life being in danger

• It could also be suggested that the great-great-grandmother’s decision of drawing the incident was an attempt to express her frustration and shock as she was unable to physically help her son

• It is important to note that some may find the mother’s actions unusual as she chose to draw when her son’s life was in danger:

  • However, it is this quality that the speaker admires, which is why she asks for the “firmness of her hand”.

• The poem underscores the importance of art as a form of expression and as an important resource in the preservation of memories