Journey: the North Coast Analysis Essay

The use of consonance in this poem encourages the reader to view modern Australia as an inhospitable home for indigenous Australians. Noonuccal describes the Aborigines as, ‘A Semi-naked band, subdued and silent’. The alliteration of the soft, drawn out “s” sound in the words “subdued” and “silent” conveys to the reader an atmosphere of silence and forlorn resignation. In particular, the word “subdued”, with its connotations of unresponsiveness and being withdrawn, further emphasises the conflict between the white and indigenous Australians. This conflict ultimately separated the Aborigines from their land, resulting in Australia becoming a hostile home for the original

Even though Australia is known for its beautiful landscape, it is also known for its harsh climates. This includes the Queensland floods, the Victorian bush fires, the South Australian heat waves or the Newcastle earthquake. Henry Lawson highlights the harsh climates of the outback in his poem ‘Up The Country’. The line ‘barren rights, gullies, ridges’ highlights the fact that Lawson is not impressed with the pitiless sky and that the outback is extremely dry. The line ‘dreary land in rainy weather with the endless clouds that drift’ means

Bruce Dawe cleverly uses Australian language and the poetic form in his poems “Enter Without So Much as Knocking”, written in 1959 and “Homo Suburbiensis”, written in 1969, to reflect his views of suburban Australia in the 1950s and 1960s and its culture. Dawe’s ideas and attitudes are formed from his personal experiences of post-WW2 Australia which includes the modern living introduced in the suburbs and the commercialism and isolation that it formed. His poem “Enter without so much as knocking” closely links Dawe’s ideas of the new environment suburbia created with the commercialism power structure that came with it. In his poem “Homo Suburbiensis” he effectively explores the isolation and escapism the newly established suburbs post-WW2 Australia thrived on. These views Dawe shares in his poems show the Australian culture of the suburbs post-WW2 including the commercialism, isolation and escapism it brought.

Robert Gray is an Australian poet whose work is closely linked with nature. He grew up in the post ww11 era, and lives on the north coast. The poems ‘The Meatworks’, and ‘Flames and Dangling Wire’, express how he feels about life, his experiences and his beliefs. His poetry has such an enduring nature because it can be understood in so many different contexts, and includes universal themes which remain relevant to societies past, present and future.

Australia has a prolonged tradition in portraying and illustrating the complex and breathtaking landscape which surrounds it. The landscape representation has been extrapolated along time in different backings as painting, literature or cinema and embodies the post-colonial performances. According to the Tweed River Art Gallery (2009), Macleod is influenced and astonished by the greatness and sharpness of the Australian landmass and this is what he intends to represent in his pieces. His sources of inspiration embrace such impressive dissimilar environments as New Zealand, the central Australian desert, and Antarctica. Euan Macleod’s work suggests an utopic world where the countryside is prosperous and wealthy and the human manifestation is

For the men who came from ‘over the horizon’ (Kim Scott, 61), the Australian landscape was vast and yet Gothic—it was a strange, harsh environment.

Paterson’s Bush Poetry and his love of the bush, seen in his tendency to romanticise rural Australia and the stereotypical outback “Bushman,” assisted in immortalizing many of ideals and values that Australia’s felt they possessed and hence the formation of an Australian identity that people were proud of.

His integration of various traditional symbols elevates the poem’s overall meaning to his audience. The garden signifies the speaker’s relationship to another that soured, “The sunlight on the garden / Hardens and grows cold,” (MacNeice, 1-2). This is associated with “Our freedom as free lances / Advances towards its end; / The earth compels, upon it” by describing their relationship as something that was healthy and vast that has ended (MacNeice, 6-8). The nature theme is continued with garden paired with sunlight in the repetition of “The sunlight on the garden” (MacNeice, 1, 24).

The poem puts an uncomfortable spotlight on an unwelcoming attitude in Australian culture and deals with the thoughts and feelings that this typical migrant woman feels about her new country. She personifies Australia and all of its people and the country itself and the population as ‘you’. The use of the latter is also aggressive and powerfully accusing in its nature and thus a very effective device. However, many Australians would disagree with the point of view, still believing in their pride for their country, that she portrays as it does not reflect positively on Australia, even though it may have been the truth at the time. Walwicz purposefully conveys her emotions about Australia; her loneliness and unhappiness has led to a voice of anger. To convey her message simply she uses short sentences and does not elaborate on them. She also does not repeat the same idea more than once. The poem ends very abruptly, ending with a “You shiver on a tram”, making it seem as if the ending was interrupted and she wanted to say more. Walwicz uses a lot of repetition, as Blake once did so effectively, to put more emphasis on certain ideas, “Beach beach beach. I’ve seen enough already.” In this quotation, it emphasizes how there is nothing but beach and that she has already seen all Australia has to offer. There are in fact many poetic devices used in the poem. Walwicz unleashes

In “To Paint a Water Lily”, Hughes illustrates the process of an artist observing nature at a pond and painting a lily. While the speaker thoroughly observes all kinds of scenes in the pond, the painter only focuses on the lily. At the end of the poem, the painter resolves on painting only the lily, ignoring the other aspects of the pond. The speaker critiques the painter’s lack of attention to the surrounding and the desire to capture only the beautiful part of the pond. The poem contrasts the beauty and the violence created by the creatures around the lily and conveys that the calm appearance of the pond is not necessarily the reality.

Humans rely on their vision to understand the world around them. Over the many years people have changed their idea of what Australia must have looked like back in the nineteenth century. Short Stories by Henry Lawson and Clancy of the Overflow by Banjo Paterson, display what contradictory views of the atmosphere and situation of people in the ‘bush’ at that time through mental visuals formed in the responders mind affecting the responder’s perspective. Past writings can be authentic records giving a better mental picture of Australia’s past.

These bush ballads, and many others, are full of different stories and experiences portaying this bushlife in many different ways. From The Man From Snowy River, telling thestory of thrilling adventrues, to more common bush ballads that reflect the harships of the bush and emphasise the isolation. Its both of these perspectives that I believe truly capture the life, character and scenery of the Australian bush. While this land can be beautiful and rich as seen in Kendall’s poem Bell Birds, it can also bring misfortune and suffering. A combination that in my opinion creates a deserving respect for this land, and in turn making me proud to be part of it.

The imagery in this poem reinforces the mood and appeals to the senses of sight and sound. Night, the setting which takes place in the poem is dark, depressing, and lonely. For example, when the speaker looks out the city

The location of the poem is described through colors and sites common to certain areas: “Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets… one-night cheap hotels… And sawdust restaurant with oyster shells”; this presents the location as an almost empty rural area. Also, the poet engages the use of color in the

The “Great Australian Loneliness” describes the strangeness and displacement felt by many nineteenth century Australians due to the lack of civilised landscapes. Nowadays, living in cities and populated areas, this may not be an active part of our psychology, however, it is said that all Australians due to the history and geographical location of the country, feel this loneliness to some degree. Poetry has played a significant role in capturing these emotions. Good morning/ afternoon fellow students and teachers, I am Soobin Lee and welcome to my seminar in this year’s Poetry week. I’ve chosen to share the poem “Last of His Tribe” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal. Today I will be examining the Indigenous representation of cultural loneliness, giving you