Unfinished Continent

Why does the poet feel that he cannot contain the vastness of the unfinished continent?

• The poet is fascinated by the enormity of coastline, bush, waterways etc.

• Life is very comprehensive

• He is worried by the disjunct of nature

What is the vastness of the unfinished continent compared to?

• a baffled adventure

• a mighty mastodon long asleep

  resisting the stir of day

• a flashing crystalline pearl

Why does the poet feel that he cannot ‘foist a trite formulation’ of the unfinished continent?

• because of the sheer enormity of coastline, bush, waterways, hills and deserts, of the unfinished continent

• because it is a mueum of different forms

• Because he is completely dazed

What is baffled adventure in the poem?

• His fascination to muse on the adventure he experiences

• His attempt to contain the vastness of the continent

• His attempt to foist a trite formulation

List a few actions or life forces that the poet mentions in the poem ‘Unfinished Continent’

• a tremulous leaf

• leaping whelp, whine or whimper, a warble, warning or a screech of various life forms

• Every fling or flick by reptile, spider, fly, lizard or soldier-ant etc.

‘Every atom of action, thought, life force—somehow comprehends all, all.’

What does the poet mean?

• His grasp on the fundamental rule of nature

• The loss of thecontinent

• The need for harmony in the Great Chain of Being

Explain ‘How shall we hold the North against the South’?

• The meaningless of being indiferent to fellow components in the web of life

• The affluent North trying to build walls against the South

• The indifference of the modern man towards lesser beings

Why are the Kangaroos puzzled and the Koala bears wistful?

• The Kangaroos are puzzled and the Koala bears wistful because they can’t comprehend the indifference of modern man.

• The kangaroo is puzzled by the ways of humans who are unmindful of the natural harmony of pre-modern past.

• The koala bears are thoughtful and sad about humans encroaching on the natural space of other beings

What does the poet mean by ‘pressures of the past’?

• The learning of the colonizer

• reference to the Australian aborigines and their

  philosophy of life.

• The desire to dominate and control

Why does the poet feel overawed and trapped?

• realisation that the form or world order of the modern humans is unnatural.

• The human centred world order that is unmindful of nature and its borderless harmony supports their indifference towards nature.

• The moment of realisation that humans are a part of this great chain of being, and not its master,