Introduction                                                            Page 1

BORN OF FIRE, POSSESSED BY DARKNESS

An exploration of spirituality in the poetry of Judith Wright

INTRODUCTION

"We are all of us born of fire, possessed by darkness."¹ These words sound

the major theme running through this exploration of spirituality in the poetry of

Judith Wright. It is an exploration involving a constant "play of opposites,

their interpenetration" ("Patterns").   The thesis of this essay is that the

apparently opposing forces or energies of fire and darkness, or those of love

and death, life and destruction, belong inextricably together, in relational rather

than oppositional difference. This bringing together of realities usually seen as

mutually exclusive or antagonistic to each other, has an important part to play

in an understanding of spirituality in the post-modem world.

Issues raised when attempting to express something of contemporary

spirituality are parallel to those raised by deconstructive philosophy and

theology. They include the "death of God", a marked shift in the consciousness

of people influenced by modem science and philosophy, and a loss of faith in

traditional religious imagery and language. There are many other associated

issues that emerge when discussing post-modem spirituality. These include

the implications of disconnection with nature, the lack of integration of the human

body into every aspect of spirituality, the denial of death and a veritable forest

of dualities, dichotomies, 'laws and hierarchies to be negotiated on the path to

the divine, often seen as at a great distance, far away from here and now.

The poetry of Judith Wright, while not claiming to be "religious" or explicitly

"spiritual", is preoccupied with nature, meaning and truth, love, time and death.

In a close reading of the poetry a spirituality begins to emerge that lives in the

here and now, is both personal and political, finds eternity in 'the world's

womb" (“Night", C.P. p.49), reconciles opposites and sees them as mirroring 

each other's truths.

This spirituality is expressed in the poetry in an indirect way, often through

absences, silence and spaces. This approach, possible in poetry and other

forms of art, goes beyond the point where the purely rational exhausts its

possibilities and it is able to hold in creative tension what the rational may see

as contradiction. This essay reflects on the interplay of Love-and-Death, Life-

and-Destruction, Truth-and-Darkness and the Correspondences weaving the

whole together.

¹ "Patterns", Collected Poems 1942-1985 (Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1994) p.426.

    Subsequent references to this edition will be indeed as C.P. and will be 'included in the text.