Poem Analysis - The Mowed Hollow

An Exploration of Colour and Memory

Les Murray's "The Mowed Hollow" is a poem steeped in evocative imagery and a subtle sense of melancholy. The poem navigates between the artificial warmth of domesticity and the more complex, nuanced world of nature, specifically a hollow landscape. It presents a contrast between manufactured comfort and a deeper, perhaps more challenging, reality. The tone initially feels observational, almost detached, but gradually becomes more personal and reflective, particularly in the final stanza with its burst of vivid recollection.

Postwar Nostalgia and Australian Identity

While the poem doesn't explicitly engage with specific historical events, the mention of a "postwar cafe" hints at a backdrop of post-World War II Australia. This era saw a period of rebuilding and redefinition, both economically and culturally. Murray, a prominent Australian poet, often explores themes of rural life and national identity. The contrast between the modern, "stainless steel" cafe and the "green, still dewed with water" of the natural world suggests a tension between progress and tradition, a common thread in Australian literature. The poem could be interpreted as a reflection on the changing landscape of Australia and the lingering memory of a simpler time.

The Dichotomy of Artificiality and Nature

One of the central themes in "The Mowed Hollow" is the tension between the artificial and the natural. The opening stanza describes the process of bringing the outside "yellow" inside, transforming it into something "red/and warm and floral and brown." This suggests an attempt to domesticate nature, to make it more manageable and palatable. However, the speaker notes that "people tire of it," suggesting a dissatisfaction with this manufactured reality. This theme is further developed through the stark contrast between the sterile cafe setting and the vibrant, albeit muted, colours of the hollow. The poem suggests that true sustenance and beauty are found not in artificial recreations of nature, but in its raw, untamed form. The "moist and zinc" colours are not traditionally seen as beautiful in the way that the manufactured "red" is, and that this contrast reinforces the idea that Murray sees true beauty in the more difficult to love things.

Symbolic Colours and Sensory Images

Colour plays a crucial symbolic role in the poem. Yellow, initially representing natural light, is transformed and contained within the house. In the hollow, the colours are "moist and zinc, submerged and weathered and lichen," a palette of muted greens, blues, and greys that evoke a sense of dampness, age, and decay. These colours represent the complexities and challenges of the natural world, a stark contrast to the manufactured warmth of the interior. The sudden burst of "tight curls of fresh butter" and "butter mountains of cassia flowers" at the end of the poem represents a moment of vivid memory and sensual pleasure. The yellow returns, but not as a manufactured substitute but rather as a powerful, nostalgic image connected to a specific time and place. The "caraway-dipped tongues" are a particularly vivid sensory image, emphasizing the poem's connection to taste and memory.

A Journey to the Heart of Memory

"The Mowed Hollow" is a journey from the artificial warmth of the indoors to the cooler, more complex world of nature. The poem uses contrasting imagery and symbolic colours to explore the tension between manufactured comfort and genuine experience. Ultimately, the poem finds solace and beauty in the memory of a simple pleasure, a "postwar cafe" scene bursting with yellow. The significance of "The Mowed Hollow" lies in its ability to evoke a sense of nostalgia and to remind us of the importance of connecting with the natural world and cherishing the small, fleeting moments of beauty that it offers. Is this a memory of a happier time, or a recognition that the present is simply a faded version of the past?