Friend
Hone Tuwhare
George Lu
Hone Tuwhare
• Born in Northland, but eventually moved to
Auckland, after his mothers death at a young
age.
• Maori, but wrote in English.
• Trades union activist and a advocate of the
working class and Maori.
Summary
• Tuwhare reminisces of a tree and the ‘dreams’
he and his addressed friend – the readerlived, which is now gone.
• This contrast is evident with the comparison
of dream and ‘dreamless’.
• As a result, the tree seems to embody a
special meaning for Tuwhare.
Setting
• A ‘wild stretch of land with the lone tree
guarding the point the point from the sharptongued sea’.
• This suggests a private place of Tuwhare’s, and
his ‘Friend’ but also since it was a long time
ago but is still remembered vividly means that
it is still great personal important.
Mood
• Tuwhare describes the land in which he walked as a
‘cracked clay floor’ – which he knows can not be
restored to its previous state.
• Despite this, he is still desperately trying to reassure
himself that it ‘were real’, desperately clasping the
readers hand for reassurance, as if he could still grip it
once more. This effect is further enhanced by the
enjambment- a literal ‘clasping of words’.
• This creates a feeling of sorrow and shared pain-which
is easily conveyed when the reader is addressed, as if
they were his friend.
Themes -Youth
• The tree metaphorically represents the ‘shade’ of
which guards Tuwhare from the ‘hurt and
troubled world’ – as he describes as a ‘fort’. The
protection is soothing, evidenced in the imagery‘lips’ and ‘whistle’ to a ‘sharp-tongued sea’.
• In this protected state, Tuwhare only has
‘youthful dreams’ and ‘jewelled fantasies’-this
will contrast deeply with the adult Tuwhare’s
sorrowful voice.
Themes-Maturity
• The tree which gives ‘food and drink’ (third
stanza) to the younger Tuwhare dreams,
seems to instill a sort of confidence and
clarity, which the older Tuwhare seems to
conspicuously be lacking- his fort ‘is dead
wood now’, the tree ‘is no more’ and now he
has been exposed the hurt and trouble. Thus
accounting for his lament.
Themes-friendship
• It is during this ‘drear and dreamless time’
that Tuwhare turns to the friend for
‘reassurance’-the friend will always be there.
• Contrasts with the ‘lone tree’ which does not
survive. Tuwhare doubts the ‘tree’ will be
reborn (‘perhaps’), but there is no doubt in his
direct address to the reader right from th
start.