Good evening ladies and gentleman, my name is xxx and I welcome you to the annual Youth Conference for 2017. Within this seminar, we will reflect upon Australia’s unique culture and identity and how it is represented through the nation’s poetic verse.
Australia is renowned for its culture and identity, with war playing a significant role in the development of Australia’s distinctive national characteristics. When most Australians hear the words ‘war’ and ‘conflict’, what instantly comes to mind is: mateship, the ANZAC valour, national pride, comradery and larrikinism, just to name a few. In reality, war brought great hardship and sadness. The memories and impact of war has inspired an abundance of poets to write about its significance and the effect that it had on the nation.
An analysis of poems from two different eras in Australian war time history – Bruce Dawe’s Gallipoli which was written about World War I fought as ‘the war to end all wars’ on the shores of the Gallipoli peninsula, from 1914 to 1918, and Bruce Dawe’s Homecoming, written about the Vietnam War, fought from 1955 to 1975, inside the borders of Vietnam and Cambodia – demonstrate the severity of war and the defining features of the Australian culture and identity that were forged during this time. Each of these poems reinforce the hardships faced, the tragic loss of life and the ANZAC legend that is so significant to the Australian cultural identity.
Australian poet, Donald Bruce Dawe is considered one of the most influential war poets of all time, writing about the tragedy of war in his poem Homecoming in the year 1968. Dawe himself served as a member of the Royal Australian Air Force in the Vietnam War, resigning the year he wrote the poem. The poem has been referred to as “The most highly regarded poem about Vietnam written by any Australian” (Dennis Haskell, Winthrop Professor of English and Cultural Studies at University of Western Australia, 1988). [Read poem].
The word Homecoming is traditionally used as a celebratory term. Ironically, Homecoming is used as the title of Dawe’s poem to reflect fallen soldiers being shipped home to Australia, after the hardships endured on the frontline. In Homecoming, Bruce Dawe expresses the harsh reality of the Vietnam Campaign by graphically highlighting the war’s significant death toll. The poem powerfully communicates the horror and tragedy of war, positioning the audience to feel sadness and sympathy for the soldiers who unfortunately didn’t return home alive to their families and loved ones.
An empathetic and sad tone is captured in Homecoming, evoking a powerful emotional response from the audience. This tone is clearly evident in the final, moving line of the poem, “they’re bringing them home, now, too late, too early.” These moving words imply that the deceased soldiers were shipped home before the war’s end, but sadly too late because their lives were tragically lost in the Vietnam Campaign.
Homecoming in an elegy for anonymous soldiers, reflecting upon those who lost their lives in the Vietnam Campaign. The poem is not divided into stanzas, not does it feature a rhyming pattern or regular rhythm, however it uses language in a thoughtful and descriptive manner to highlight the message that the poem successfully conveys, that being the tragic loss of life and horror endured by the soldiers. “They’re bringing them home” is an example of repetition that is used continuously throughout the entirety of the poem to express the tragic fact that so many lives were lost, shipped home to Australia in body bags, rather than receiving a celebratory homecoming that is deserved. The language used negatively portrays the Vietnam War, in lines such as “they’re picking them up, those they can find, and bringing them home,” (line 2), describes how they were so many dead bodies that only the ones that were found were sent home. This helps the audience envision the battlefields, covered in dead bodies.
Sights, sounds, actions and feelings are brought to life through the use of imagery. In the poem Homecoming, imagery is used in lines such as, “…green plastic bags…” (line 4), describing the dead bodies being zipped up in bags, before shipment, makes the audience visualise the bodies being placed in the bags. “…knuckled hills…” (line 15), “…mangrove-swamps…” (line 15) and “…desert emptiness…”(line 15), these lines describe the diverse landscape and challenging conditions on the battlefield, helping the reader visualise the surroundings and feel sympathy for the soldiers fighting in the war. The poem skilfully uses similes, “…whining like hounds,” bringing to life the sounds of the jets and the ciaos on the battlefield and “…telegrams tremble like leaves from a wintering tree…” expressing the nervous wait for telegrams from the families or telegrams delivering bad news. The poem incorporates onomatopoeia to enhance imagery. Onomatopoeia used are the words “zipping”, referring to the plastic bags that are used for dead bodies, making the audience imagine the sounds of the bags being closed and feel sorrow for all of the diggers who lost their lives. The word “howl”, refers to the cries of the people back in Australia when they arrive home in the body bags, making the audience to imagine the families standing on the tarmac, seeing their dead loved ones being transported and evoking an empathetic response from the reader. These specific words are used to emphasis the line, making the audience think about the soldiers and feel for the families, ultimately expressing the message.
The poem has a powerful impact, illustrating the extraordinarily high death rate that occurred in the Vietnam War, whilst Australian soldiers heroically fought for our nation. The poem captivates the audience and makes them feel empathy for the soldiers who lost their lives during the Vietnam campaign. Dawe’s poem evokes emotion from the audience through his vivid description of how the soldiers, if found, are transported back to their homes, to desperate and heartbroken loved ones. In all, the powerful poem portrays war in a negative manner, revealing the tragic loss of life soldiers endured, proudly fighting for their nation.
The second poem we will explore today was also written by Donald Bruce Dawe, in the year 1959. [Read poem] In Gallipoli, Bruce Dawe communicates the hardships the ANZACs faced within the First World War by selectively reflecting upon the hardships encountered on the front lines, the horrific conditions experienced and the unique ANZAC legend. The poem captivates the audience by powerfully conveying the message that the Gallipoli Campaign in World War 1 was an unforgiving and brutal affair, inspiring the ANAZAC valour and national pride. Dawe’s poem Gallipoli, encourages the audience to feel empathy and sadness for the soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice, by capturing a reflective, sombre and sympathetic tone.
Gallipoli is a free verse poem, featuring no stanzas, with a rhyming scheme, where the second and fourth lines rhyme and again in the sixth and eighth lines rhyme, continuing throughout the entire poem. Dawe’s use of language is powerful in describing the harsh conditions encountered and the pride that the soldiers established. “Eight months of bitter pain…” (line 4) and “Unfavourable weather, other delays…” (line 5) are just some of many lines where negative evaluative words are used to express the hardships endured in the Gallipoli Campaign. The language negatively portrays war, conveying it as a challenging battle with horrific conditions, has an empathetic and negative effect on the audience. The poem uses imagery to bring sights, actions and feelings to life by using lines such as, “… a tear-stained face…”(line 28), creating an image of a soldiers dirty, tear-stained face for the audience to visualise and realise the hardships endured by the diggers and “… above that sea of blue.” (line 32), capturing the image of the blue sea that surrounds the Gallipoli peninsula, expressing how the ANZACs courage is significant and highlights that these soldiers still showed great spirit in the rough times of the war.
The ANZAC legend and mateship emerged in World War 1 on the shores of the Gallipoli peninsula and has since defined the nation. War for Australian’s is making sure that each soldier has each other’s back and will always act as a team. The ANZAC valour has become so significant for Australians and is evident in Dawe’s poem, “Pay tribute to ANZAC valour that served to define us, too” (line 29, 30). This line expresses the ANZAC spirit and how the soldiers need to stay loyal and pay tribute to the ANZAC valour and expresses how significant the legend is to, and how it has defined the nation.
The impact of the poem as a whole is strong, communicating the hardships and horrific events that the ANZACs were confronted with and the spirit that these men and women showed. The poem evokes empathy and pride from the audience by describing the horrendous conditions that the soldiers faced. Dawe’s poem successfully captures the emotion and feeling as harsh and unforgiving, evoking empathy for the ANZACs. The message of the hardships faced and evident national pride that the ANZACs displayed, was successfully conveyed in the poem by Bruce Dawe, displaying the national pride that these soldiers had and the appalling conditions experienced.
Both Gallipoli and Homecoming, written by Bruce Dawe, give a powerful insight into what it was like for the Australian diggers fighting on the front line within their respective wars. They represent the hardships faced and the horrendous conditions experienced in battle, through the use of language and poetic devices. Homecoming highlights the tragic loss of life, whilst Gallipoli emphasises the true horror faced by the diggers and the unique ANZAC legend that flourished, becoming a significant characteristic of the Australian culture and identity. These two poems raise awareness, evoking a powerful emotional response from the reader, reflecting the distinctive culture and identity that Australia is renowned for.