Judith Wright - The Old Prison
The rows of cells are unroofed,
a flute for the wind’s mouth,
who comes with a breath of ice
from the blue caves of the south.
O dark and fierce day:
the wind like an angry bee
hunts for the black honey
in the pits of the hollow sea.
Waves of shadow wash
the empty shell bone-bare,
and like a bone it sings
a bitter song of air.
Who built and laboured here?
The wind and the sea say
-Their cold nest is broken
and they are blown away-
They did not breed nor love,
each in his cell alone
cried as the wind now cries
through this flute of stone.
December 31, 2005 at 12:10 am
I have just read your poem and i think that it is amazing it creates so many illusions when it uses the emotional language.
IT IS AMAZING
February 1, 2006 at 4:52 am
The Old Prison ingeniosly evokes a sense of the early inmates hardships. The usual concept of prison being unpleasant is made more specific through the sustained image of a harsh environment and, most specifically, through the personification of the wind blowing “from the blue caves of the South” “like an angry bee”.
Nature, then, is no longer the inmates friend - far from it. It becomes part of what is to be endured during the incarceration. What makes this even more poignant is the reference to a lack of normal human activity. the concluding two quatrains descibe this in;
-Their cold nest is broken
and they are blown away-
They did not breed nor love,
each in his cell alone
cried as the wind now cries
Here we see the image of the inmates being in a nest but one that is very different from the normal concept of warmth and security. Instead, the nest is more like that of a seabird that constructs its nest precariously on a clff or crag. And, like the seabird (an albatross?) the inmates are “alone”, solitary figures devoid of normal human warmth and contact.
I love the poem and could carry on for hours. As a non-Australian, I feel it evokes a sense of those early settlers who endured tremendous hardship and loss (especially those who were “obliged” to settle).
February 1, 2006 at 10:27 pm
I’m thinking of doing this poem for my IB Individual English Oral. I love the imagery where the wind whistling through the turrets makes a sound like a flute. It’s a very beautiful outlook on such a sad topic.
May 17, 2006 at 2:10 am
I am doing this poem for an assignment and i find it very interesting, can anyone pls leave a comment explaining the theme of this poem??? i would much appreciate
May 17, 2006 at 11:53 am
it describes the legacy of suffering endured at the prison still resides in the natural world and is passed through generations
May 24, 2006 at 12:50 am
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August 14, 2006 at 9:30 am
im also doing this poem for my poetry speech as it contains what, 8 types of language techniques?
September 16, 2006 at 12:38 am
im am doin this poem for an assignment. is the peom talkin about a prison in Antartica whe it says “From the blue caves of the south..? it waould be greatly appreciated of some1 could help me find the subject matter or analyse the poem because it is due in two days, ive had to start again becaus ethe first one i did was not right. help. what types of language techniques does it contain?
thnx
p.s. i chose this peom because i love it. they say a picture paints a thousand words but i believe this peom paints a thousand pictures
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May 6, 2007 at 1:23 pm
i thought it was more about the sympathy that the wind had for these prisoners that it had seen throughout the prisons decay. The poet personifies the wind and the sea and i thought it made it seem like they were the only ones that knew their story and cared.
May 6, 2007 at 1:24 pm
each in his cell alone
cried as the wind now cries
through this flute of stone.
the wind is crying as they were crying - for their lost lives?
May 14, 2007 at 9:40 am
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July 31, 2007 at 5:10 pm
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September 26, 2007 at 6:59 am
She was actually talking about Port Arthur in Tasmania, a “prison of last resort” for incirrigible prisoners in the early 19th century colonial period. To quote an old lecturer of mine (back in 1956!), “any damned fool can SEE that it’s ‘a flute for the wind’s mouth’, but it takes a poet to say it.”
Anyone who has read the poem, and seen theunroofed Port Arthur prison knows just what this poem is saying.
Norfolk Island was such an horrific prison that, at least once, one prisoner murdered another in a bizarre pact to ensure both would die and, thus, escape the hell-hole that wasNorfolk. Prisoners that were not broken by Norfolk were shipped on to Port Arthur for additional “processing”.
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April 26, 2008 at 2:27 am
wtf does waves of shadow was the empty shell bone bare and like a bone it sings a bitter song of air.
April 26, 2008 at 2:28 am
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April 26, 2008 at 2:47 am
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May 25, 2008 at 3:01 am
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June 1, 2008 at 1:13 am
what picture could i get to go with this? i am doing it for an english assignment and we have to intertextualise
June 1, 2008 at 1:14 am
what picture could i get to go with this? i am doing it for an english assignment and we have to intertextualise. any ideas?