“Request to a Year” Introduction

• Read the full text of “Request to a Year”

“Request to a Year” Summary

“Request to a Year” Themes

• 

  The Role of the Artist in Difficult Times

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-12
  • Lines 17-22
• 

  Motherhood and Female Strength

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 2-6
  • Lines 13-15
  • Lines 18-22

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Request to a Year”

• Lines 1-4

  If the year ...
  ... of the arts,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  who, having had ...
  ... river in Switzerland

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  and from a ...
  ... eighty feet below,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-16

  while her second ...
  ... on his way).

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-20

  Nothing, it was ...
  ... the story by.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 21-22

  Year, if you ...
  ... of her hand.

  

  

  

  

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“Request to a Year” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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  Where enjambment appears in the poem:

  • Lines 2-3: “attitude / of”
  • Lines 5-6: “children / and”
  • Lines 7-8: “rock / beside”
  • Lines 8-9: “Switzerland / and”
  • Lines 9-10: “viewed / her”
  • Lines 11-12: “waterfall / that”
  • Lines 15-16: “alpenstock / (which”
  • Lines 18-19: “eye / My”

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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  Where alliteration appears in the poem:

  • Line 3: “great-great-grandmother”
  • Line 5: “who, having had”
  • Line 6: “painting pictures”
  • Line 9: “difficult distance”
  • Line 10: “second son,” “small”
  • Line 11: “drift down”
  • Line 12: “bottom,” “below”
  • Line 13: “daughter,” “impeded”
  • Line 14: “doubt,” “petticoats,” “day”
  • Line 16: “luckily later”
  • Line 18: “isolating eye”
  • Line 19: “great-great-grandmother,” “sketched,” “scene”
  • Line 20: “sketch survives,” “story”
  • Line 21: “present planned”
  • Line 22: “back,” “bring”

• Personification

  

  

  

  

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  Where personification appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “If the year is meditating a suitable gift,”
  • Lines 21-22: “Year, if you have no Mother's day present planned, / Reach back and bring me the firmness of her hand.”

• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

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  Where apostrophe appears in the poem:

  • Lines 21-22: “Year, if you have no Mother's day present planned, / Reach back and bring me the firmness of her hand.”

“Request to a Year” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Suitable
• Meditating
• Devotee
• Ice-floe
• Rock-bottom
• Petticoats
• Impeded
• Alpenstock
• Isolating

• (Location in poem: Line 1: “If the year is meditating a suitable gift,”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Request to a Year”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Request to a Year” Speaker

“Request to a Year” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Request to a Year”

More “Request to a Year” Resources

• External Resources

  • A Look at the Poet's Life — A biography of Judith Wright. 

  • Two Fires Festival of Arts and Activism — The website of the Two Fires Festival, an arts and activism festival held in honor of Judith Wright's "twin passions."

  • Listen to the Poem Out Loud — A reading of the poem.

  • Reflecting on the Poet's Life — An obituary written by Christopher Zinn for The Guardian. 

  • "An activist poet who was ahead of her time" — An article discussing the importance of Wright's underappreciated non-fiction works and her activism. 

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Judith Wright

  • Australia 1970