2. ‘ House and Land’ Allen Curnow 1941 ‘ The Skeleton of the Great Moa in the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch’ Allen Curnow 1943 ‘ Sad Joke on a Marae’ Apirana Taylor ‘ The Trick of Standing Upright Here’ Glenn Colquhoun 1999

4. Turangawaewae : a place to stand

6. EXEMPLAR… In his 1941 poem ‘House and Land’ Allen Curnow makes the point that New Z ealanders have no real sense of their own identity. They are displaced from Britain, (widely regarded in 1941 as the Mother Country), yet they have not adapted to New Zealand customs, or emotionally settled in New Zealand. Curnow ends the poem talking about ‘…what great gloom stands in a land of settlers with never a soul at home.’ Curnow draws upon the key difference between a house and a home to make this point. The reader is left in no doubt that a house is merely a physical building, whereas a home requires emotional attachment. Therefore, the ending is significant, because it is a direct criticism of those who have not adapted. Apirana Taylor’s poem ‘Sad Joke on a Marae’ deals again with the idea of displacement. Like Curnow’s earlier poem, Taylor deals with a people-group who are stuck in limbo between two cultures. Curnow’s claim is that Pakeha in 1941 are clinging to British customs, with relics such as pictures of ‘…the baronet Uncle…’ and other such British relics. Taylor also presents people who are torn between two cultures. The central character, ‘Tu the freezing worker’ is a Maori man, trapped between Maori culture and Pakeha culture. He stands to give his Mihi on a marae, yet it is obvious that he is disconnected from his Maori culture, when he says ‘I said nothing but/ Tihei Maoriora/ For that’s all I knew.’ Taylor’s point is that Maori who have lost sight of their own culture suffer. All elements of Pakeha culture referred to are negative: pubs, jail, repetative manual work.