Peter Skrzynecki

Australian School Libraries Association conference – State Library 28th Feb 2009

Skrzynecki claims his book “The Sparrow Garden” is the best study guide as other crib guides contain many inaccuracies
Of the guides, “Five Senses” is probably the best of a bad bunch

Has taught for 37 years

The key to understanding the poems is that they are:
- accessible
- students can relate to the poems and draw their own conclusions

The groups we belong to include:

• family
• school/workplace
• religious groups
• sporting
• cultural
• social
• political

The students who do best in the HSC mention the techniques used:

• personification
• metaphor
• symbolism
• imagery
• historic/biblical allusions
• direct speech
• hyperbole

Ancestors

Series of rhetorical questions
Came from a dream – the poem is not easy to explain
NOT disturbing – it is a reassuring poem
Circle:
symbol of completion
symbol of protection (mother love)

Mary Queen of Scots motto: in my beginning is my end
TS Eliot changes this to “ In my end is my beginning”

Skrzynecki speaks of T.S. Elliot’s Four Quartets http://www.tristan.icom43.net/quartets/

This poem is a dream of being reconnected with ancestors

The setting is an ancient place

There is a elemental theme – mud is earth and water

Discusses the importance of blood
message of unity through the taste of blood
unity of blood as a common element to all black/white, races and cultures

Folk Museum

Set in New England/Armidale/Atherton Tablelands
Armidale is known as a Cathedral City

Late afternoon, autumn
They yellow and brown is a reflection of “California Dreaming” (song from the Mamas and the Papas)

Feeling of not belonging has nothing to do with being an immigrant and everything to do with being new to a country area. He has come from the city.

Winnowing machine – NOT related to the immigrant experience. It was an artefact in the museum

Clay (elements earth and water)

Discusses cold and acclimatising to the extreme cold of Armidale.

Reference to the Hotel California – you can checkout but you can never leave.

Can’t leave the museum without signing the visitors book
confronting mortality
we all leave our mark on the earth.

St Patricks

Disciplined/formal tone. Reflection of the school environment

Aspirations of a working class mother for her son

The pine needles mentioned in the poem do not pierce, he places them out of boredom

Time alluded to in the many of the poems

Sense of insecurity, of being an outsider. Did he really belong?

He and his friends (Anglo, Italian, Japanese, Croatian) were known to the other students as “The United Nations”

School was a guilt trip because of the fees

The message in the poem is that there are always moments of doubt. Those moments make us stronger. He is NOT implying that he has lost his faith.

Feliks

Is a paean (a type of triumphal or grateful song, usually choral though sometimes individual)

Celebratory poem
2 distinct parts

1-4 Father as a working man
5-7 Father as a teacher

His father had been imprisoned – 5 years of forced labour
He was a contented man, set his own goals and standards

Father was a stoic “But I’m alive”

Dancing Bear – refers to behaviour that is like that of a “dancing bear”, ie. an animal that has been taught to perform.

The dog is a symbol of fidelity/ loyalty

The Excel crib states that the poem shows resentment between the generations – this is WRONG.

“Dumb prophet” Refers to TS Eliot tiresias “the waste land”

Hadrian’s Wall
represents the generation gap
south of the wall are the traditional centres of learning, Oxford, Cambridge etc.
south of the wall leads to enlightenment

2 worlds

The father’s sense of belonging comes from memories of Poland, from his friends and his garden.

He felt it was his duty to work for Australia

Skrzynecki talks of his duty to write

Migrant Hostel

Is a poem of temporary belonging
Bird references – birds are symbols of freedom
Skrzynecki was part of a Govt program to bring workers to Aust
His passport as a 4 year old identifies him as a “worker for Australia”
Barrier – symbol of bureaucracy
Time – ruling lives
The key to the poem is the key
The key is the symbol of the working class environment
Hyperbole – eating strawberries and peas from the garden
Kilbasa (??) polish sausage, gives the poem authenticity
Key – citizenship paper, key to the country
What they had at 10 Mary St was more important than that paper – it was family. Family leaves its mark.