Analysis Of The Poem Driving Through Sawmill Towns By Les Murray

The atmospheric conditions may represent the hardships that the couple had to go through in their relationship, and may also be used contrast the unpredictability of the outside world compared to the steady relationship that the couple have. ‘A Youth Mowing’ is also a poem about relationships, this time it is between a younger couple. The river ‘Isar’ is a symbol of freedom, it represents the way that the men’s lives are. However, this sense of liberty is broken by the ‘swish of the scythe-strokes’ as the girl takes ‘four sharp breaths.’ Sibilance is used to show that there is a sinister undertone to the freedom that the boy has which will be broken by the news that his girlfriend is bringing. She feels guilty for ‘what’s in store,’ as now the boy will have to be committed to spending the rest of his life with her, and paying the price for the fun that they had.

As Murray describes the life of a sawmill person and in general anybody who lives in a rural region. He acts as a voice for them as society grows in urban towns and many forget there are people who live in rural areas and that they live two completely different lifestyles. As from the poem you drive into the town “without haste” then after observing the town “You speed away through the upland” showing the person in the car obviously from a city area completely stunned and feels alien in the

The loss of Aboriginal ethnicity is also highlighted when the land asks “Where are the laws and legends I gave?” This dates back to the Aboriginal culture, as their spirituality is inextricably linked to the land. They believe everything on the vast landscape has meaning and purpose. As long as they look after the land, the land will thereby return the favour. However, through time, Aboriginals have begun shifting away from their original beliefs as their world collides with the Western world. Different meanings could be made out of this; such as the more Aboriginals walk away from their culture, the less inclined the land will be to look after them, thus breaking the chain of their spirituality and beliefs. Caesuras such as full stops and question marks are used are pauses for a moment of reflection. Through the reader’s understanding of the poem’s structure, they are able to not only understand how the poem is to be read but also get the feel and emotions coming across from the poet.

Steven Herrick’s verse novel “By the River” is very successful in conveying the significant ideas about human nature. He uses key themes such as grief, environmental influence and coming of age to explore these ideas. To convey the themes Herrick uses multiple techniques such as imagery, repetition, personification and positive and negative influence throughout his text.

Robert Grey is an imagist who paints with words. Using imagery in his poems, Grey is able to visually communicate emotions and ideas. His poetry is concerned with the urbanisation effects on Australian nature and changes it brought within the lifestyle. This is metaphorically expressed in the poem ‘Journey: The North Coast’ as he dwells on the sheer beauty that can be found in the natural world in contrast to the alienated environments manufactured by men. In contrast to the idea of modernisation, Grey also expresses values of love and respect for the environment and nature through the physical and emotional journey. Additionally, the idea of Australian landscapes and strong sense of

Before we pass on from this world it would be nice if we had left our mark, given our contribution, made our claim in the history of human civilization. Wouldn't it be wonderful to achieve such a goal? Wouldn't it be horrible to have attained that level of recognition and yet be recognized for things you deemed inferior? In the poem "The Poet", Paul Laurence Dunbar expresses his remorse at having written superior Standard English literature and yet only be known and praised for his Dialect works.

Visual plays a great factor in the passage, Marquarts want to describe how the Midwest gets looked down. Marquart uses visuals “ .. through the state of North Dakota, you’ll encounter a road so lonely, treeless and devoid of rising and curves in places that it will feel like a long-held pedal steel guitar note”. The visuals are used to print a picture in the reader's mind showing the reader that long rides are boring and driving through the Midwest is boring because there is nothing to see. She also used a simile to describe how it just one big long road of nothing. The long guitar note is used to show the reader that a single note is dull when a single note is playing the audience waits in suspense to find out what is happening next later to find out nothing going to happen. By focusing on what the visual mean Marquart is able to how the reader an understanding of what the Midwest means to her as well a in showing the characteristics of the Midwest.

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.

This first stanza from the poem, explains the journey of a man driving through a sawmill town and his observations. Murray describes his journey through a small sawmill town in New South Wales whilst using strong, vivid imagery and emotive language.

In “The Poem You Asked For” by Larry Levis, he is comparing writing a poem by comparing it to a plant, stubborn person, and toad. Larry Levis, a 20th-century writer is well known for his brevity and surprise approach in poetry. This poem magnifies the complications that authors may face while trying to write something of such importance. The speaker uses an abundant amount of figurative language to personify how writing is so difficult, and can lead to many difficulties and dead ends. The author uses figurative language to portray the theme of difficulties in the writing process such as: difficulties prewriting, writers block, and how hard it is to let go of writing as an author.

In his poem, "Traveling Through the Dark," William Stafford presents the reader with the difficulty of one man's choice. Immediately, the scene is set, with the driver, who is "traveling though the dark" (line 1) coming upon a recently killed deer. At first, his decision with what to do with the deer is easy; he knows he must push it off the edge for the safety of other motorists, but then, a closer examination of the deer reveals to the man new circumstances. His decision is now perplexing, and his course of action is unclear. Through his use of metaphor, symbolism, and personification, Stafford alludes to the difficult decisions that occur along the road of life, and the

The theme of emptiness is seen throughout Thomas’ poems. The wartime poet writes of his memory of livelihood and activity in villages, such as the one described in ‘Aspens’, and then how it begins to disappear as a result of war. This is shown as the village is left with a ‘lightless pane and footless road’ causing the village to appear as ‘empty as sky’ and this simile gives a sense of vastness of the effects of the war, emphasising on the emptiness in the poem. Further, the mention of the ‘cross-roads to a ghostly room’ explicates that the village is so empty that it is leading nowhere. This metaphor is ironic as cross-roads are suggestively open gateways and a sense of choice in direction. However this connotation is altered as Thomas uses the metaphor ‘ghostly room’, to portray the vacant village and this is supported by the cross-roads as they lead to emptiness and isolation. This is also seen in ‘Old Man’ as the paradox ‘only an avenue, dark, nameless, without end’ gives a sense of no lead despite the fact that an avenue should lead somewhere. It is clear here that Thomas’ state of depression is

Poetry has a role in society, not only to serve as part of the aesthetics or of the arts. It also gives us a view of what the society is in the context of when it was written and what the author is trying to express through words. The words as a tool in poetry may seem ordinary when used in ordinary circumstance. Yet, these words can hold more emotion and thought, however brief it was presented.

Poetry has become a symbol of how we express our feelings towards something, Poetry has been used in many cultures and day to day life, whether it's used to express what you feel towards something or to express the beauty of a culture. Poetry connects many people whether you're young or old, poor or rich. Poetry will connect people. Poetry is also a way that a poet expresses itself through words whether it's by rhyming words or by just going with the flow. Likewise a poet named Leslie Marmon Silko uses poetry to describe Native Americans. Leslie Marmon Silko will take us through the rich history of Native Americans and their culture. Therefore we will take a look into Leslie Marmon Silko’s life, analysis two of her poems, and also look into

From the physical journey of driving through a town the reader will experience a second journey, a spiritual journey when they oversee the lives of the people within the town. The composer utilizes a 2nd person perspective to engage his audience and hopefully take them on the same physical and spiritual journey. He uses personification such as “The houses there wear verandas out of shyness” to give the audience a sense of the community and set a harmonizing tone. I believe this poem really captures Les Murrays hypothesized concept of journeys, as it’s much deeper than a simplistic drive.