Analysis of ‘Beach Burial’ Kenneth Slessor’s poignant poem, ‘Beach Burial’ contemplates on the improper and unfair burial that the Australian soldiers, who were at war with the Germans during World War 2, receive as a result of the fact that they could not get back home. The main idea that the poet was trying to get across was that as a result of the soldiers not being able to get a proper burial, they are not able to be recognized and are considered to be just another casualty of war: without honor or recognition. The poem emphasizes sadness on the completely useless waste of life; they are simply left how they had died and are now cared by only nature. In the poem, it appears as if these men are soldiers fighting a war at …show more content…
Even though they do this in “bewildered pity,”(11) because of their lack of understanding for the purpose of war, they have the decency to show respect for the men by making tombstones from “crosses”(9) and “tidewood”(9) without questioning it, this showing how Slessor has not completely lost faith in mankind. He contemplates on the
In Kenneth Slessor’s Beach Burial and Wilfred Owen’s Exposure both poets create pathos for the soldiers not in gunfire to highlight the most harmful pat of war is in fact not direct violence. Slessor personifies “words [to be] chok[ing]” and the seasons to have “breath” in order to dehumanise the soldiers, making them less than objects. This consequently, creates pathos for the soldiers as the natural world damages them more than violence. Similarly, Owen depicts the soldiers “cring[ing] in holes” to disempower the soldiers and create
The poem “Hhomecoming” written by Bruce Dawe in 1968 is about the dead and their neglectful treatment by their living comrades. The poem effects its audience deeply by giving them a view into how the dead soldiers were treated like objects, which comes out through the poem in lines such as ‘...rolling them out of the deep freeze lockers…’ and ‘they’re tagging them…’. The poetic techniques used throughout the poem was repartition by using these poetic technique it gave the reader a deep understanding into how the poem portrays war as terrible, harsh and depressing and the mistreatment of the dead by repeating. By using the simple word ‘they’re’ it gives the audience the understanding that it wasn’t just one person it was many. ‘they’re zipping
In Kenneth Slessor’s 1942 poem ‘Beach Burial’ he also comments about survival in war and the power in distinctively visual ways through particular words. He relies upon adjectives, personification and the use of imagery to describe the suffering.
Thus soldiers used the ANZAC mythology to ignite guilt within the public consciousness. An example of this was the story of the ‘Man in the Bath.’ Published in 1924 in the Sydney Morning Herald the piece depicted the eulogy of Trooper Rolph. The odd placement of the eulogy within mainstream new content demonstrates an active attempt, on behalf of the soldier writing the piece to bring the consciousness of service men’s suffering to the forefront of public discussion. The piece was written by a fellow solider and the article tells the horrific story of the soldier who was ‘flayed alive by barbarous Huns’’. These lines play on the ANZAC myth of the Australian for example the brave Australian hero battling a vicious enemy. The article details Rolph’s return home, as a result of gas poisoning, suffered inflictions that caused daily suffering until in the years leading up to his death. The article written by one of Trooper Rolph’s fellow servicemen uses the graphic imagery of Rolph’s physical afflictions, such as ‘his skin peeled off and refused to grow back’ to elicit concern and a guilty conscious of the public. The discourse relating to veterans suffering is one means soldiers used their role as a powerful symbol to attack the bureaucratic system. Garton argues that this
As Tim O’Brien states in his short story book, The Things They Carried, the only true thing about war is its allegiance to evil and obscenity. One example of this faithfulness war has to stick to its truth is the inevitable death of many soldiers. War consumes. It consumes a large amount of resources, money, energy, time, but most of all it consumes human lives. The ones who don’t pass must bear the witness of the death of the others. “In the Field”, one of the short stories in O’Brien’s book, explores the way death is handled by soldiers and the process by which absorb the emotions that come along with it.
On the first line, Sandburg starts his poem by giving us a disturbing image of the aftermath of war. The line “Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo” tells us how there were many casualties during these two wars. The battle of Austerlitz left more than fifteen thousand casualties not to mention the Battle of Waterloo which left more than twenty-five thousand casualties. Although these wars occurred more than two hundred years ago, it is something still remembered in history, and at the time when all the tragedies occurred we can infer that it left many people grieving for the loss of their loved ones. Wars have always been disastrous, tragic events that end physically and emotionally the lives of many people, including adults and children. Going back to the poem, the grass is the narrator of the poem and by reading the first line we can deduce that it, the grass, tells the remaining soldiers, or the people taking care of the dead bodies, to pile them up because having them spread out across the field would probably would take up a lot of space that could be needed for other soldiers or medics. Now,
The poem Sorrow by Martin Dejnicki shares many similar themes with The Things They Carried by Tim O'brien. Both works of writing display war as a painful and and traumatizing experience. However, this poem reflects the message in The Things They Carried chapter, “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” most accurately. Both the chapter and the poem share the theme that war can take away a person’s humanity. In the lines, “We've dug a hole, called a trench, Humanity is gone, replaced with stench” (Dejnicki) the author is trying to convey that a soldier in war can have their humanity striped away and uses the symbolism of “stench” to describe the foul persona that may replace it.
Slessor is without doubt one of Australia’s great poets as his poetry invites us to feel and think about human experience in new ways. He shapes meaning in his poems through the use of sophisticated and appropriate language. Within the poem “Beach Burial” Slessor provides various insights on how the human condition is questioned and allows the reader to experience personal encounters with death, loss and grief that he laments throughout this poem, thereby underlining the futility of war. He also demonstrates the everyday struggles during the Great Depression in Kings Cross within the poem “William Street” during the financial state in the 1930s.
This passage helps the reader understand how the emotional burden of uncertain death weighed on the soldier. However, it also acts as a symbol by giving light to the fact that the emotional baggage they carry was brought about by their own fear of humiliation and shame. Many of the soldiers are there only to avoid the persecution that ensued those who evaded the draft. Through the use of symbolism, O’Brien is able to effectively highlight the burdens faced by the soldiers who conformed to the expectations of society.
I am intrigued by Yale’s eccentric communal environment. Furthermore, the diverse student body creates a fascinating and engaging atmosphere throughout campus. Also, I appreciate the overall ethnic, religious, economic, and geographical diversity because it will expose me to endless perspectives. Aside the diverse campus, the rigor of the academics definitely corresponds to my significant academic interests, specifically in social issues and their effects on all other aspects of a population.
Chapter one, Dying, explained the process of an individual soldier’s death and “the concept of the Good Death.” Following, the second Chapter, Killing, talks about the force of the war on the people who were involved and the how “killing was a battle’s fundamental instrument and purpose.” In Chapters three and four, Burying and Naming, the challenges of establishing names of the dead and giving them an adequate burial is debated. The question, “What should be done with the body,”
Matthew Arnold is one of the many famous and prolific writers from the nineteenth century. Two of his best known works are entitled Dover Beach and The Buried Life. Although the exact date of composition is unknown, clearly they were both written in the early 1850s. The two poems have in common various characteristics, such as the theme and style. The feelings of the speakers of the poem also resemble each other significantly. The poems are concerned with the thoughts and feelings of humans living in an uncertain world. Even though Arnold wrote Dover Beach and The Buried Life around the same time, the
How would you feel to have a father, mother, sister or brother taken away because of the treachery war .Good morning Mrs Naidoo and fellow classmates, today I will be analysing Christopher Wallace-Crabbe’s Australian War poem Other people and how it highlights how it has impacted the reader in offering insights on the Australian context. This poem discuss the futility during the First World War and war in general. I find this poem ‘other people’ is interesting because it foreshadows the darker side to war.
An anti-war poem inspired by the events of the Vietnam War, Homecoming inspires us to think about the victims of the war: not only the soldiers who suffered but also the mortuary workers tagging the bodies and the families of those who died in the fighting. The author, Australian poet Bruce Dawe, wrote the poem in response to a news article describing how, at Californian Oaklands Air /Base, at one end of the airport families were farewelling their sons as they left for Vietnam and at the other end the bodies of dead soldiers were being brought home. Additionally, he wrote in response to a photograph, publishes in Newsweek, of American tanks (termed ‘Grants’ in the poem) piled with the bodies of the dead soldiers as they returned to the
The poem starts with similar word choices as ‘The Soldier’ but written in the perspective of the mother. The mother tells his son that when he dies he will be in a place of ‘quietness’ and free from the ‘loss and bloodshed’. This reinforces the fact that the battlefield was full of horrors and death. The poem then moves onto how ‘men may rest themselves and dream of nought’ explaining that the soldiers do not have to fear for their lives after their death. This illustrates how they feared for their lives and had negative connotations.