The Revelation of Truths The Preoccupation with Life,...

Kate Llewellyn is one of the most important contemporary Australian poets whose poems deal with a variety of themes – life, love, loss and pain along with the delineation of her emotions and experiences gathered while leading her everyday life. Thus she has taken for her themes simple, everyday sentiments which are intense enough, leaving deep impressions on her mind and in the process giving rise to these emotions which she has recorded in her poems. An attempt will be made in this paper to look into the different aspects of her poetry and to analyse the ways in which she uses her rich experience to uncover truths about life and its myriad shades. Kate Llewellyn is one of the most important contemporary Australian†¦show more content†¦Thus a study of the titles of the poems will reveal the wide range and scope of her themes. Thus the opening poem of this collection is titled â€Å"Elephants† where the poet tries to capture the intermixture of beauty and power that is associated with these beasts : such a creature thick grey beautiful as a calling cloud. . . . . . their volcanic groans have deep song I dance when I hear . . . (2-4, 12-14) Thus, the poet is visibly fascinated by these huge creatures, getting the dual impression of tremendous strength and beauty that is perhaps not celebrated generally. We are naturally reminded of William Blake, the 18th century English Romantic poet and of his remarkable poem â€Å"The Tiger† where he was equally fascinated by the beauty and majesty on the one hand and the strength and ferocity of the beast on the other. Of course, there are differences in the way the two poets look at the two creatures, but the similarity lies in their appreciation of these animals’ strength and beauty. From an appreciation of the elephants, Llewellyn shifts to a very personal subject, a description of the lives of her aunts who are presented as old and decrepit women in the poem â€Å"The Aunts† : All my aunts are