The speaker of Judith Wright's "Request to a Year" recounts the story of her art-loving great-great-grandmother, who looked on as her son got swept downriver toward a waterfall. Realizing that she was too far away to help save the boy's life, the great-great-grandmother quickly sketched the scene to create a record of what happened. The poem suggests that the artist's role in challenging times is to bear witness to and record what's going on around them. It also speaks to the strength of generations of women in the speaker's family, illustrating how women, in particular, are often the ones to keep familial memories alive. The poem was published in the Australian poet's 1955 collection The Two Fires.

• 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

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