Homecoming analysis

The poem Homecoming by Bruce Dawe describes the significance of the strong negative impact the Vietnam War has caused. He portrays the emotions and effects surrounding the homecoming of soldiers who have perished in the war. The main concept extracted from the poem is a moral outrage at the hopeless and senseless aspects of war. The author explores the fact that the soldiers who return from the Vietnam War were not respected or acknowledged in any way and that they’re lives were wasted. The poet uses different types of poetry and language techniques and styles. ‘Homecoming’ is written in free-verse and is compiled into two stanzas.
In the opening phrase of the first stanza the audience is given a strong descriptive introduction. The poet uses figurative imagery in the phrase “all day, day after day, they’re bringing them home…piled on the hulls of grants in trucks, in convoys”. It gives the reader a chilling feeling about the countless bodies that have been affected by the war. Dawe uses the words “they” and “them” which gives the bodies an anonymous identity, objectifying the bodies of people. This gives the soldiers a lack of identity. In this stanza the use of words such as “picking”, “bringing”, “zipping”, “tagging” and “giving” refers to the dead bodies constantly follows the same routine and treating them in a somewhat seemingly cold and offhanded manner. The use of the suffix “-ing” is repetitive. It enhances the effect of developing a strong image into the audience’s visual imagination of the relentless pace. It gives the audience a sense of a methodical production line of bodies. Furthering this effect Bruce Dawe uses the repetition of “they’re” adding to the impersonal relationship between the bodies and their handlers.
The choice of words also gives a vivid imagery and contributes to meaning of the poem about how the soldiers have a lack of identity and that they were depleted of life. With the use of the phrase “green plastic bags” it is referring to