Old North Sydney
Old North Sydney - meaning Summary
Loss of Communal Memory
Henry Lawson’s "Old North Sydney" mourns the physical and social transformation of a neighborhood. The speaker watches houses and shops cleared away and remembers a vanished communal spirit when neighbours knew one another and local landmarks mattered. New crowds and streets replace intimate ties; memory and gossip that once defined the place fade with changes in people and authority, leaving the speaker resigned that the old spirit will not return.
Read Complete AnalysesThey’re shifting old North Sydney Perhaps ’tis just as well They’re carting off the houses Where the old folks used to dwell. Where only ghosts inhabit They lay the old shops low; But the Spirit of North Sydney, It vanished long ago. The Spirit of North Sydney, The good old time and style, It camped, maybe, at Crow’s Nest, But only for a while. It left about the season, Or at the time, perhaps, When old Inspector Cotter Transferred his jokes and traps. A brand new crowd is thronging The brand new streets aglow Where the Spirit of North Sydney Would gossip long ago. They will not know to-morrow Tho’ ’twere but yesterday Exactly how McMahon’s Point And its ferry used to lay. The good old friendly spirit Its sorrows would unfold, When householders were neighbours And shop-keeping was old; But now we’re busy strangers, Our feelings we restrain The Spirit of North Sydney Shall never come again!
Feel free to be first to leave comment.