Differing Approaches to the Destruction of Nature: "Legend" and "Australia 1970" by Judith Wright Arya Roy 11th Grade

In her poems Legend and Australia 1970, Judith Wright condemns and criticises land usage as well as destructive agricultural and industrial practices. She uses literary devices, colloquial symbolism and structural elements to shed light on the themes of dispossession and environmental waste caused by humanity. Although both poems share their major ideas and global issues Wright wants to address, they differ significantly in terms of their content and form.

The poems differ in terms of their respective subjects and protagonists. This difference is also caused by the style and structure of each poem. In the poem Legend, the title of the poem itself means that it is written in a narrative form, in the style of a “legend.” The subject of this poem is a “blacksmith’s boy.” Therefore, his attitude towards nature is foreshadowed through the fact that due to his father’s occupation, he is someone who represents modernisation and civilisation, which contrasts with the image of peace and harmony in the natural world that Wright wants to portray. His aggressive conduct towards his nature is further reinforced in the quote, “I can break branches, I can swim rivers, I can stare out any spider I meet,” which shows his opinions regarding his...