Analyzing Dawe's 'Enter Without So Much As Knocking'

Bruce Dawe is an Australian poet who uses the voice of ordinary Australians in his poetry. He uses universal concepts to create challenging themes and highlight the concerns of life and society. Distinctive ideas and techniques are presented in Dawe’s poetry and this is evident in the poems “Enter without so much as knocking” and “Weapons Training”.

Theme: Life Cycle
In ‘Enter Without So Much As Knocking’ Dawe especially develops the central theme of life as a cycle. He conveys the cycle of life as being born into this world pure-minded only to become tainted and die tainted. The epigraph begins the cycle by expressing the notion of death. The poem then begins with “Blink, blink, hospital, silence.” and ends with “Blink, blink, cemetery, silence.” By bordering the poem with two similar processes, it gives the impression of a cycle and the possibility of reoccurrence. The voice of the baby changes and becomes aggressive and sadistic implied by “hit wherever you see a head and kick whoever’s down.” This indicates that he has grown up and inherited his moms’ habits, suggesting the once pure child becoming tainted by his mom.
Dawe uses the act of conforming, as the baby’s change. “Anyway, pretty soon he was old enough to be like every other godless, money-hungry, back-stabbing, miserable so-and-so.” is the stage where he was overcome by the materialistic influence and conformed to society. “I’m telling you straight, Jim, it’s number one every time for this chicken”, “I’ve had enough for one night” portrays the new attitude he has conformed to. This conformity starts his life cycle on the side of