Theme Of 10 Mary Street By Peter Skrzynecki

Initial picture of a man detached from the world that surrounds him-shows immigrant isolation but also Feliks strength of character.

White Australians state “shame when [their] kids they die from colds or from sheer neglect. Shame when [they] live on the river banks. While collectin' [they’re] welfare cheques. Shame when [they’re] blind from trachoma. Shame when [they’re] crippled from blights.” The rhyming scheme in the stanza makes poem flow seamlessly constructing a conversational tone as if the narrator is speaking directly to the audience. This feature purposefully lulls the reader into agreeing with the white Australia’s arguments as it constructs an image that the Indigenous people are refusing to integrate themselves with modern society and suffering the consequences of those decisions. The mention of welfare cheques also contribute to the perspective that white Australians are attempting to mend the lives of Indigenous individuals, however this could not be further from the truth and message of this

The slowly widening generational gap between father and son and between cultures is explored in “Feliks Skrzynecki”. Although full of tender admiration for his father, who spent “Five years of forced labour in Germany”, the poet comments on his father’s strong need to focus only on his pre-war Polish culture, choosing to purposefully exclude himself from main-stream Australian society. Ironically, this caused a growing distance between father and son, as although his father feels he does belong and is content in his exclusion from Australian culture and society, Skrzynecki

Our knowledge of the generic conventions used in poetry influences our understanding of the text. “The Firstborn”, a poem by Aboriginal author Jack Davis, enables the reader to determine the poem as a graphic protest about the extinction of and discrimination against the Australian Indigenous people, and the loss of their ethnicity, as their world collides with the Western culture. By focussing on my understanding of both generic conventions and author’s context, I am able to conclude that the poem concerns a tragedy within the Aboriginal community.

The migrant experience varies for each person, some will have endured traumatic episodes in their life and these experiences are explored in Skrzynecki’s poetry. Through thorough interpretations of Peter Skrzynecki poems, ‘Crossing the Red Sea’, ‘Migrant Hostel’ and ‘Immigrants at Central Station’ the responder gains insight into the emigration experience which encompasses the physical and emotionally draining journey which is a result of the grave uncertainty and doubt lingering around the migrants future. Despite this, through each of his poems the composer also alludes to a future filled with hope and a sense of belonging.

Through the use of poetic devices, the author has successfully encouraged the audience to explore their thoughts on Australian identity and to reflect on our nation’s history.

Gilbert’s poem portrays many Aboriginals plight’s within Australia and conveys notions of despair, anguish and anger for his fellow Aboriginal comrades. Again, Gilbert uses strong visual imagery in “the anguished death you spread” which helps convey the persona’s feeling of horror and anger at the Europeans. This is further emphasised through the poet’s vehement and repetitive use of second person pronouns in “you” which conveys a sense of blame and accumulates into an accusatory tone and generates a strong sense of detachment between the author and the European settlers. Furthermore enjambment enhances the accusatory tone in “you pollute all the rivers and litter every road” because the lack of punctuation and pauses makes the lines sharp and quick, creating a sense of anger in the author. In addition the author’s use of metaphors in “humanity locked in chains” creates a sense of struggle and inability to escape the oppression the Aboriginals are in, whereby the word “chain” is symbolic for trapped and lack of freedom. Kevin Gilbert’s emotional poem brings light to the pain and suffering Aboriginals are going through, which is a stark contrast to the image of Australia, being a free and accepting

Belonging requires an individual to build a connection with another person or group over time, these connections are often developed through shared experience and understanding. Peter Skrzynecki’s poems; “Feliks Skrzynecki” (1975) and “Migrant Hostel” (1975) offer various perspectives and representations on this concept. Ernest Hemingway’s short story “A clean well lighted place” (1926) and the picture “Berlin Wall” by unknown (1973) compliment these perspectives and representations further.

A link here ... Perceptions of belonging can change and remain constant due to many things; two important causes can include your family and heritage. Feliks Skrzynecki is a poem which highlights Peter Skrzynecki’s admiration of his father but the inability he faced when trying to connect to his heritage. Skrzynecki uses the colloquialism “kept pace with only the Joneses of his own mind’s makings” to metaphorically show how his father hadn’t changed over time and didn’t care to conform to community expectations as he was comfortable in his own surroundings and within his own self. The composer then uses the simile “Loved his garden like an only child” to show his father’s devotion to his home, which establishes a warm, reflective connection. The composer also uses the hyperbole “I often wondered how he existed on five or six hours sleep each night – why his arms didn’t fall off”, which indicates the extent of adoration he held for his father and that he saw him as a very strong figure. However although the poem remains quite positive throughout its entirety, at the end of the 7th Stanza it changes tone

Australia’s identity has always been a complicated one. Starting with Aboriginal genocide, 1800’s cowboys and villains, two world wars and a bunch of poems describing them, it makes it difficult to conclude on what being an ‘Aussie’ really is. Thankfully, the two thought-provoking poems Nobody Calls Me a Wog Anymore by Komninos Zervos, and My Country by Dorothea Mackellar both use their discerning selection of themes to reflect modern attitudes in some extent. Along with their themes, Nobody Calls Me a Wog Anymore and My Country both use their story to capture the attributes modern Australians possess to some degree.

In “My Papa’s Waltz” by Roethke and “Those Winter Sundays” by Hayden, the two narrators speak about their fathers in a way that shows there were two different sides to their fathers. One side was abusive and strict, while the other side was loving and caring. Each narrator has a different attitude toward their feelings for their fathers. Roethke has a more fun and understanding view of his father, while Hayden has a more cold and uncaring attitude toward his father. Both Hayden and Roethke talk about their father’s character flaws in their poems. Even though there are flaws in their fathers, both the narrators learn to over see

In comparing and contrasting the poems, "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke and "Piano" by D. H. Lawrence, the reader could also compare and contrast the childhood lives of the poets themselves. Roethke's father, Otto Roethke, was a drunk and a figure of terror to his son (Seager 26). His mother was an angry woman and Theodore was a desperate child consistently in the middle of his parent's opposition (Seager 28). D.H. Lawrence's father was a drunk, almost illiterate miner (Squires and Talbot 34). His mother; however, was educated, refined, and pious, ruling the lives of her sons (Squires and Talbot 42). Reviewing the form, tone, and imagery of both poems, the attitude of the boy towards his father in Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz" allows

Before introducing any major events, or analysis, it’s important to note that this autobiographical work was only made possible with the aid of written documentation, and tales passed on from the family and the community. This is imperative because a great portion of the piece focuses on events that Edwidge didn’t experience first-hand, so she heavily stresses on the details being re-surfaced through friends and family to complete a holistic emigration story. Family history and the involvement of cherishing family moments is often an overlooked form of communication, but without this, this and many other important minority stories would have never been complied in a way where we can now discuss them in a culturally-reflective academic setting, like this course.

Theodore Roethke’s poem “My Papa’s Waltz” illustrates a nightly ritual between a working-class father and his young son. In the first stanza a young boy holds tightly to his father. The second stanza describes a playful roughhousing between father and son. The fourth stanza shows again the boy’s unwillingness to let go of his father. Roethke’s AB rhyming scheme and waltz-like meter set a light and joyful cadence. The music of the waltz comes through in the reading and with it a carefree and innocent tone for the telling of the short amount of time between a hard-working father arriving home and the time when his son must go to bed.

                Great lengths are taken by Doctorow to empathize with the Eastern European immigrant community.  With great emotion, he describes Father's impression of an immigrant ship, decidedly of a European identity because of the head shawls that the women wore (Doctorow 14).  With an emotion that belies the author's role as "third-person omniscient," he argues eloquently against this ethnic group being wrongly stigmatized as being lost within "moral