The Colors Of Light
This is not easy to understand
For you that come from a distant land
Where all the colors are low in pitch –
Deep purples, emeralds deep and rich,
Where autumn’s flaming and summer’s green –
Here is a beauty you have not seen.
All is pitched in a higher key,
Lilac, topaz, and ivory,
Palest jade-green and pale clear blue
Like aquamarines that the sun shines through,
Gold’s and silvers, we have at will –
Silver and gold on each plain and hill,
Silver-green of the myall leaves,
Tawny gold of the garnered sheaves,
Silver rivers that silent slide,
Golden sands by the water-side,
Golden wattle, and golden broom,
Silver stars of the rosewood bloom;
Amber sunshine, and smoke-blue shade:
Opal colors that glow and fade;
On the gold of the upland grass
Blue cloud-shadows that swiftly pass;
Wood-smoke blown in an azure mist;
Hills of tenuous amethyst. . .
Oft the colors are pitched so high
The deepest note is the cobalt sky;
We have to wait till the sunset comes
For shades that feel like the beat of drums –
Or like organ notes in their rise and fall –
Purple and orange and cardinal,
Or the peacock-green that turns soft and slow
To peacock-blue as the great stars show . . .
Sugar-gum boles flushed to peach-blow pink;
Blue-gums, tall at the clearing’s brink;
Ivory pillars, their smooth fine slope
Dappled with delicate heliotrope;
Grey of the twisted mulga-roots;
Golden-bronze of the budding shoots;
Tints of the lichens that cling and spread,
Nile-green, primrose, and palest red . . .
Sheen of the bronze-wing; blue of the crane;
Fawn and pearl of the lyrebird’s train;
Cream of the plover; grey of the dove –
These are the hues of the land I love.
– Dorothea Mackellar
Analysis:
The Colors of Light by Dorothea Mackellar is a pleasure to read. Her subject of choice and her mode of the writing style though lack some modern poetry edge and energy, but still is a pleasure to read. Mackellar was sometimes a political poet which shout out the victory of her point clearly. In addition to writing poems, she also wrote novels. Though not famous her stories were not worthy and commendable.
Her unique and artistic way of writing is seen in this poet. The poet has painted the words of the poem very gracefully. It is seen that the poet takes us to her homeland, Australia. The poet knows and tells us that it is not easy to understand a foreign land and its beauty. For an outsider it may seem just another piece of land or another sight to see, but for the residents, they can see the beauty in it. The poet starts by explaining and painting each season beautifully in the minds and hearts of her readers. Like she describes summers with a bright green color, and the winters with deep purple. The poet even goes on to say that this is a beauty that one has never seen or experienced. She describes how everything has come to a ‘higher’ level. She describes the sky as pale clear blue and the grass as palest jade-green. The flowers take the colors of topaz, lilac and ivory. So a beautiful landscape is painted in the minds of her readers. She takes the beautiful color of Aquamarine that the Sun can and does shine through. The plains and hills take the color of gold which and shine and sparkle. And which is evident through the far off sight also. Silver-green of the myall leaves,
Tawny gold of the garnered sheaves, this is how she describes the greenery that is around and cover us. Mackellar then describes the rivers with a beautiful of silent sliver. The sands are also described in gold, which lay beside the sliver waterside. Of the colors and music, which are so high and rich, the deepest of them is the cobalt sky. The poet says for us to feel the enriched colors we have to wait until sunset. She describes the night full of energy and life with the reference of the beat of drums. The stars are painted in peacock-blue, which put up a great show by itself. The poet ends the poem by saying that these are the colors or hues that the absolutely loves and adores.
The comparison of the music and colors are wonderful. The framing of the picture by the first and the last lines are the best in their way. The colors are beautifully bought to the forefront in this poem with great rhythm making them even better. The vivid apperception of the landscape of Australia is at its best. This is like a tribute to Australia and its beauty.
Nikki Bagrecha
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