English A1 Assignment

The Legend by Judith Wright Analysis

By Arjun Sharma

The title “ Legend” is important for this poem since we as readers can relate to legends . legends give us hope, they are usually portrayed as common and ordinary people. The fact that the “ Blacks smiths boy is a legend/protagonist of this poem complements and emphasises the meaning.  We also develop a rhyme scheme in this poem which is ABCDBABCA.

The poem begins with the phrase “The blacksmiths boy” which is referenced several times later in the poem.   In fact there are frequent uses of words relating to “black” used by the poet throughout out this poem. This is maybe to portray darker imagery in the readers mind or this also can interpreted as a foreshadowing technique used by the poet to foreshadow a tragic or an unfortunate event that may take place. Repetition of Words such as “black hat”, “black dog” again emphasise the darker imagery exhibited in the poem which again adds a gloomy atmospheres in the poem. The word black can be interpreted as simple and ordinary which relate to the characteristics of a legend.“Cobwebs snatched”, “rivers hindered “, “thorn branches caught at his eyes...” The constant uses of personification by the poet in these three phrases in the first verse add a more interesting and amusing encounter for the reader with the nature. All these three phrases depict the dangers that the blacksmith’s boy faces from the nature. While he does begin with hope and determination, his journey does faces frequent stumbles or blocks.  In the last verse, the protagonist use “I can” frequently throughout,  the poet may have implemented this to bring out the point more to us the readers or to give more power or authority to the protagonist. The Use of “ I can” by the poet again maybe to emphasise that despite the fact, the protagonist can still get past the hurdles nature provides with him and strive towards his journey with hope and determination, which portrays a tenacious approach by the protagonist which again emphasises the meaning of the “legend”.

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 The next verse again begins with “ The blacksmith’s boy”  and “black hat” which again emphasise the pattern of repetition of dark imagery which is portrayed in the poem.  “ Mountains jumped in his way”  Personification is again used here by the poet  which depict vivid imagery/examples of the protagonist’s journey with nature and expands the knowledge of the reader.  “Crows” and “Mountains” can be interpreted as the forces of nature trying to stop the protagonist from completing his mission or reaching his destination, Crows again can be seen as bad omen as they are signals of death or bad ...

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