Response Paper
Length: 1000 words
Value: 20% each
Due: Dependent on topic; must be submitted before joining online tutorial on topic.
PLEASE NOTE:
S A response paper must have a bibliography, a cover sheet (see the last page of this booklet) and a signed plagiarism sheet (p. 24 of this booklet, or you can download a copy from the Course Documents folder on Blackboard).
S You can choose any question from the list of discussion topics/qucstions provided for the seven content tutorials allocated to this course (sec pp. 9—23 in this booklet).
J You must write on the tcxt(s) specified for the tutorial you choose.
J Your response paper should be structured in essay form (introduction, thesis statement, presentation of argument & textual evidence, conclusion).
J Your chosen response paper can only be submitted in the week that topic is being discussed in tutorials, not after the fact (c.g. a response paper on Mansfield can only be submitted in week two of the tutorial schedule, when Mansfield is discussed in tutorials). If you happen to miss that week’s tutorial because of illness or other reasons, you need to choose a different topic and submit your essay in the appropriate week.
J It is expected that in the week you submit your response paper you will take a particularly active role in class discussion. For this reason, the submission of response papers is tied to tutorial attendance. Response papers must be
Texts (on cRcscrve)
• Thomas Bracken, “The New Zealand I lymn” (1890)
• David Egglcton, “God Defend New Zealand” (1989)
Task
Read the following key term definitions of “nation” and “settler nation”
nation
“Nation” is a relational term; like any sign, one nation consists in being what the others arc not. The concept belongs, in fact, to the realm of signification, not to any external, referential world of “facts.” Each nation is a symbolic marker: a discursive construct whose identity consists in its difference from others.
Benedict Anderson described the nation as an “imagined community” (Anderson 1983), which is maintained by a wide variety of discursive institutions, ranging from national literatures and languages to national curricula in education. Participation in the nation is “imagined” because no one can know more than a small number of the other citizens of their nation, but it is a “community” because everyone has complete confidence in the simultaneous co-existence of all others. This sense of community is built and sustained by the quotidian rhythms of print and electronic media output, along with periodic national ceremonies which arc themselves communicated through the media. With increased migration and mobility, these symbolic markers of a nation can be the only common heritage it has.
settler/settler nation
Many critics and writers have commented on the ambivalent position of settlers in settler colonics, especially where they constitute a racially distinct majority with regard to the indigenous inhabitants |. . .|. Settlers arc displaced from their own point of origin and may have difficulties in establishing their identity in the new place. They arc frequently constructed within a discourse of difference and inferiority by the colonising power (“colonials/colonial”) and so suffer discrimination as colonial subjects themselves. At the same time, they act as agents of that power, and their own identity depends in part, at least initially, on retaining their sense of difference from the “native” population. In this sense they arc simultaneously coloniser and colonised.
—13—
—ENGL 242 (2022)—
Discussion/Response Questions
How do the poems compare in terms of attitude towards New Zealand? I low docs each view and depict ‘New Zcalandncss’? Docs cither poem imply what/who a (‘real’) New Zealander is (or isn’t)? XXTiat arc the politics of this?
What similarities and what differences in formal structure (stanzas, use of rhyme, rhythm, and other features of sound and layout) do you find between Bracken’s “The New Zealand Hymn” and Egglcton’s “God Defend New Zealand”? Compare the poems in terms of the speaking voice represented, diction, tone, and other aspects of language choice and use. How do these features affirm (or undermine) each poem’s representation of New Zealand?
z- What docs each poem value about New Zealand? Is cither critical of any aspects
of New Zealand? How docs each work relate to the nation and to nationalism?
64 David Eggleton
back from the gurgling wine like tarnished coins thrown into a pocket the questing forefinger seeks.
A Model-T Ford carhulk planted
in front of the mind like a zombie chariot before the cult of skis.
A battery of children
winding in a crocodile, candles aloft, their seed teeth bared at the effort of the pilgrimage. Those ropey arms and flayed legs are not starved of sensation nor the sharp black/white as the light snaps on.
Don’t knock yourself out,
Taranaki will be there in the morning, the snow a gunky white blob of brilliantine, an ornament, a gargoyle for Bat-Stud.
The town hall, pub, gymnasium, and squash court cluster below; everything we have learnt reduces to a search for the pyramid they burned down.
1986
God Defend New Zealand
When young men no longer pick the peaches at the beaches and the West Coast coal veins have been taken too far, when the gold and orange dreams leave the crayfish pots and supermarkets stop leaking Classical Gas, God defend New Zealand.
When the Golden Gorse hums no more with bees and blue heaven’s blackberry delights fail to please, when old ladies brush their hair into atomic clouds and Auckland pubs lose their sweating crowds, God defend New Zealand.
When teenage yahoos quit going on the razzle and the Tasman Sea gives up its dazzle, when the cow-nipple of green Taranaki ceases to spout and the neon sky-writing of Newmarket goes out, God defend New Zealand.
When Henderson’s purple river of wine won’t flow and the waving wheat carpets of Canterbury don’t grow, when the fruit machine of juicy Nelson breaks down and bobby-calf trucks buzz off from one-horse towns, God defend New Zealand.
When the salt lake vanishes from lonesome Marlborough and Otago’s blooming cherry trees no longer bother, when Japanese power tools blow up as they shape the land and kids will not play on the crystal sand, God defend New Zealand.
1989
500 William Pember Reeves
Thomas Bracken
Born in Ireland, Thomas Bracken (1843-1898) arrived in New Zealand in 1869. He worked as a storekeeper, miner and journalist as well as representing Dunedin in Parliament 1881-1884. He was probably New Zealands most popular poet of the late nineteenth century.
The New Zealand Hymn
God of nations! at Thy feet In the bonds of love we meet, Hear our voices, we entreat, God defend our Free Land.
Guard Pacific’s triple star
From the shafts or strife and war, Make her praises heard afar, God defend New Zealand.
Men of every creed and race Gather here before Thy face, Asking Thee to bless this place, God defend our Free Land.
From dissension, envy, hate
Thomas Bracken 501
And corruption guard our State, Make our country good and great, God defend New Zealand.
Peace, not war, shall be our boast, But, should foes assail our coast, Make us then a mighty host, God defend our Free Land.
Lord of battles, in Thy might,
Put our enemies to flight, Let our cause be just and right, God defend New Zealand.
Let our love for Thee increase, May Thy blessings never cease, Give us plenty, give us peace, God defend our Free Land.
From dishonour and from shame Guard our country’s spotless name, Crown her with immortal fame, God defend New Zealand.
May our mountains ever be Freedom’s ramparts on the sea, Make us faithful unto Thee, God defend our Free Land.
Guide her in the nations’ van, Preaching love and truth to man, Working out Thy glorious plan, God defend New Zealand.
1890
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