Judith Wright was an important Australian poet, critic, and environmentalist who entwined her artistry with her activism. "Train Journey," published in the 1953 collection The Gateway, is about the relationship between the speaker and the country she was born in. The speaker is concerned with the effects of drought on the landscape, and she communes with particular trees to encourage their resilience in the harsh environment.
In the poem, the speaker journeys on a train at night. Observing her surroundings in a dreamlike state, the speaker personifies the land as a woman. On the body of this woman, small trees grow in a purposeful way that the speaker compares to poetry. The speaker urges the trees to draw upon their strength and create life in the barren landscape. When the speaker suddenly awakes, she sees the trees burn into flowers that are more beautiful than the moon.
Questions of the relationship between land and people in Australia shape Wright's aesthetic as a poet, both in The Gateway and in her other collections. The dreamlike quality of "Train Journey," as well as the poem's final image, align more with a mystical experience than with clearly defined logic. These factors showcase Wright's talent for using the lyric poem to articulate her environmental concerns.
