Essay on 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

     Although the men are pitted against an uncaring sea, they still at this point seem to think their destinies are controlled by some outside force. Their collective thoughts are given: 'If I am going to be drowned--if I am going to be drowned--if I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and trees?...If this old ninny-woman, Fate, cannot do better than this, she should be deprived of the management of men's fortunes.'(6) It soon dawns on them, though, that there is no 'fate,' no purpose for their being where they are. It is the realization of this fact that brings the men to the brink of despair: 'When it occurs to a man that nature does not regard him as important, he at first wishes to throw bricks at the temple, and he hates deeply the fact that there are no bricks and no temples.'(6) It seems to them that their

There is also a shark that is “playing around” near the boat; curiously, it does not seem to even acknowledge their presence. The realization that they have no purpose brings them to the brink of despair. In the beginning of the story, the author describes the “dawn of seven turned faces.” These are faces of the “seven mad gods” who are apathetic towards the men; moreover, they are part of nature. Towards the end of the story, the correspondent recalls a childhood verse that helps him to understand nature’s indifference. Through their experience together, the four men realize that all they have is each other. The correspondent feels sympathy suddenly for a dying soldier, one who does not even exist, “The correspondent, …dreaming…was moved by a profound and perfectly impersonal comprehension. He was sorry for the soldier of the Legion who lay dying in Algiers.” Being in the current situation, the correspondent finally understands the tragedy of the dying soldier. He realizes what it is like to be alone in a cruel world and more importantly, he realizes he does not have to be alone. When he first heard the story, he was also indifferent towards the soldier, just as nature is indifferent towards the rest of the world. He now understands what it is to be human. Crane opens a view of reality that first seems bitter, but in the end, stands as

Even though the oiler suffered on his journey on the open boat all of the characters were victims of life’s unfortunate and twisted series of events. These four men have possibly gone through a shipwreck that left them stranded in the middle of the ocean without any tools for survival aside from a small dinghy. This event in itself is unfortunate enough, but for these men it is barley the beginning. They endure rough seas, fatigue and endless rowing alongside several other complications during their desolation at sea. Nearing the end of the story a large and furious wave completely runs

cruising through those small towns with souvenirs shops to each side, seafood restaurants mixed in and public access trails to the beaches spotted along the route you will notice that the buildings directly on the beach are on stilts.

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.

A possible passage through the American continent to the indies was earnestly being explored just as the poet's body was probably being probed and prodded to seek enlightenment or a successful path. This analogy is made clear by the clever extended pun on 'straits' as both a trade route and a personal dilemma. They are itemised so that the link is not missed for the Western Sea, to which all the straits led, also represents death and entry into the next life: "So death doth touch the Resurrection

With every journey comes a destination which is dependent on the degree of the individual and their will to potentially better themselves. A journey offers travelers the opportunity to extend themselves physically, intellectually and emotionally as they respond to challenges. Ruby Moon by Matt Cameron is a contemporary fractured fairytale in the form of a play that explores the grim, Australian legend of the missing child. This text portrays real issues in an absurd representation which forces the reader on an imaginative journey as well as the characters in an inner journey to establish an identity. Beach Burial by Kenneth Slessor is a distressing elegy about loss of life through war. Slessor’s sophisticated language, allows the responder to empathise and mourn the wastefulness of life in war while also to appreciate the commonality of human existence. This text highlights the concept of journeying of the soul from both the reader and the responder. Through the use of a variety of visual and written techniques, these texts portray the concept of an existential journey, the indefinite search for true self and true personal meaning in life. Deep loss of an individual or one others’ individuality triggers an existential crisis and without journeying imaginatively, the chance to create one’s purpose becomes absent.

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.

It’s easy to tell that the ocean is a mysterious and isolating place from all of the tragic tales we hear from sailors both real and fictional. Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and an anonymous author’s “The Seafarer” are quite similar in that they both revolve around said tragic tales told by sailors. However, there seem to be more commonalities between their themes, tones, and messages rather than their seaward-bound settings. But before we can discuss these similar settings and deeper themes, we have to tackle their origins.

Using the simile “like a man in fire or lime” (line 12) the author describe the torture being inflicted upon this man, “floundr’ing” (line 12) as if he were burring alive. Two lines later the dying soldier is said to drowning “under a green sea” (line 14), underlining his extreme pain and misery as he is described as drowning and being burned alive simultaneously.

He illustrates his belief that he does not need the good luck of the Albatross. He decides to severe his bonds with the universal cycle of life and love. Following the execution of the Albatross, the Mariner’s luck suddenly changes. He experiences the punishment that comes with the moral error of killing the Albatross. The punishment is isolation and alienation from everything but himself. Thereafter, the "Nightmare," the life in death, kills his crew. He is lost at sea, left alone in the night to suffer, and he has detached from his natural cycle. The Mariner proclaims his misery when he says, "Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on a wide wide sea! / And never a saint took pity on My soul in agony". To the Mariner, nature has become foreign. The execution of the Albatross causes physical and spiritual decay.

The lines that follow deal with death and punishment.  Part 3, describes how the sailors' "throats unslaked, with black lips baked, We could nor laugh nor wail; Through utter drought all dumb we stood!  I bit my arm, I sucked the blood, And cried, A sail! A sail! "  Then all the shipmates die "Four times fifty living men, (And I heard nor sigh nor groan) With heavy thump, a lifeless lump, They dropped down one by one."  And so the ancient mariner was "Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on a wide wide sea!  A never a saint took pity on My soul in agony."  He sat

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

Descriptive Essay on the Ocean .... hold in its deeps? Many a tale has been told by the ocean, whether released from the depths or cast upon the beach. Some of my most ....