Henry Lawson is a well-known Australian author, who has written a number of short stories.

Most of his stories are about the harsh conditions, in the Australian bush. The Drovers Wife, one of Lawsons short stories, is about a woman who lives in the bush with her 4 children while her husband is away for varying, prolonged periods of time, droving. During this story, she is portrayed as a tough, determined woman facing many difficult challenges by herself including floods, drought and disease. This gives the reader an impression of her courage and strength. Lawson describes the Drovers wife as a gaunt, sun-browned bush woman. This makes us as responders, imagine a woman who has had a hard life and been struggling. The Australian bush is effectively described throughout the story with the use of visual imagery. The harsh conditions of Australia are brought to our attention by Bush with no horizon, for the country is flat. The author describes how there are no distinctive features. The bush is portrayed as an unfriendly place nothing to relieve the eyes. The author also illustrates how hard it is to survive in the outback the bush consists of stunted rotten apple trees. Lawson uses descriptive language and adjectives to illustrate the house the family lives in. the two roomed house is built of round timber slabs and stringy bark it describes how the primitive house is small and home-made. Throughout the Drovers wife, Lawson uses a number of language techniques. The use of visual imagery, descriptive writing and adjectives, creates strong images of the Australian bush and highlights how tough life is, to live there. The vision of the Drovers wife is one of a protective mother, and a hardened battler against the disasters of the Australian bush. The use of alliteration no undergrowth, nothing to relieve the eyenineteen miles to the nearestcivilisation emphasises how isolated the drovers wife and that she is alienated from the rest of the world. The personification Big black yellow eyed dog of all breeds conveys that only rough, and masculine characteristics can thrive within the outback of the Australian bush. Furthermore the Young Ladys Journalfor her surroundings not favourable of the development of the womanly side of nature conveys the journal as a symbol of the drovers wife leaving her womanhood in the past in order to brave the rough and terrible conditions of the bush. The hardships faced by the people in the bush can be seen in the juxtaposition, Thunder rolls and rain comes in torrent/the drought of eighteen ruins him which illustrates the unpredictability of the outback lifestyle. Finally the extended imagery that portrays the wife and her children as ragged dried up looking childrengaunt sun brown woman conveys the stoic vision of both the land and its inhabitants as worn and exhausted. In addition the powerful setting of the outback itself is seen to create the image of the settlers. The endless travel motif in That monotony that makes a man longing to break away, travel as far as a train go, sail as far as ships can sail shows that the land is larger than life and that the inhabitants are helpless within it. The personification of Alligator He hates snakes and killed many, but he will

be bitten some day and die; most snake-dogs end that way again reflects the inevitability of death and failure in such a landscape. The anecdotal humour of They are cunning but a womans cunning is greater further emphasises the shrewd mentality that bushman need in order to live a life in outback. Shakes the snake as though he felt the original curse with mankind is a biblical reference for the dog creating a sense of mateship for the hound as well as putting it in the same family as its handler.