Poetry Analysis Speech
Deliver a poetry analysis speech that explores the representation of belonging in two Australian poems. The first poem is Drifters by Bruce Dawe (Nomadic people moving around Australia; one sister is sad to leave the stability and the other is happy to leave) and the second poem is Migrant Hostel by Peter Skrsynecki (Immigrants arriving in Australia). Explore how the poetic devices convey and relate to the topic of belonging.
1.Begin by identifying the way each poem relates to the central topic of belonging.
2. The body of the essay should analyse the meaning of each poem in turn by focusing on the poetic devices and how they operate on the reader.
3. The conclusion should extrapolate from the poems to their Australian cultural context.
Your poetry analysis MUST employ specific poetic terminology and focus on the deliberate use of poetic form, language and devices to create specific effects on the reader of the poem. The main poetic devices to be explored is Juxtaposition and Imagery. Other poetic devices that may be explored is Figurative language; Simile; Alliteration; Personification and Metaphor.
Poem 1
Drifters –Bruce Dawe
One day soon he’ll tell her it’s time to start packing
and the kids will yell ‘Truly?’ and get wildly excited
for no reason
and the brown kelpie pup will start dashing about,
tripping everyone up
and she’ll go out to the vegetable patch and pick
all the green tomatoes from the vines
and notice how the oldest girl is close to tears because
she was happy here,
and how the youngest girl is beaming because she wasn’t.
And the first thing she’ll put on the trailer will be the
bottling-set she never unpacked from Grovedale,
and when the loaded ute bumps down the drive past
the blackberry canes with their last shrivelled fruit,
she won’t even ask why they’re leaving this time, or
where they’re headed for
she’ll only remember how, when they came here
she held out her hands, bright with berries,
the first of the season, and said:
‘Make a wish, Tom, make a wish.’
Poem 2
Migrant Hostel –Peter Skrsynecki
Parkes, 1949-51
No one kept count
of all the comings and goings—
arrivals of newcomers
in busloads from the station,
sudden departures from adjoining blocks
that left us wondering
who would be coming next.
Nationalities sought
each other out instinctively—
like a homing pigeon
circling to get its bearings;
years and name-places
recognised by accents,
partitioned off at night
by memories of hunger and hate.
For over two years
we loved like birds of passage—
always sensing a change
in the weather:
unaware of the season
whose track we would follow.
A barrier at the main gate
sealed off the highway
from our doorstep—
as it rose and fell like a finger
pointed in reprimand or shame;
and daily we passed
underneath or alongside it—
needing its sanction
to pass in and out of lives
that had only begun
or were dying.
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