Judith Beveridge
Judith Beveridge challenges our understanding of the world by revealing hidden sides of our society through confronting images throughout her poems. The reader is revealed with number of issues such as animal cruelty and psychological torture. These issues are related to the gender of the character with the cruel attitude toward nature and the society. This is evident in the poems “The Two Brothers” and “Fox in a Tree Stump”.
“The Two Brother” is a poem which uses natural speech rhythms, tone and informal language is used to create an understanding with the reader. Reader is shown the brother’s cruelty but is also shown their brittleness and insecurity. The brothers’ cruelty is connected with their gender. This is shown in line 3-5 which says, “Had shown me themselves, grinning queerly as when they’d shown me lizards they’d killed, or sparrows they’d slowly bled with a needle.” These lines show vivid and disturbing images of boys’ violence, this is then enhanced by alliteration of the word ‘S’ in “sparrows they’d slowly bled.” In the lines, “shown me themselves” implies that such violence is a characteristic of being a male in our society. This idea of cruelty being a part of male’s characteristic in our society is shown again in line 13 which says, “Would dare each other any taste, any soft clot, any ugly act.” This line tells the reader that the brother’s would do anything and challenge each other for dominance which also implies that these characteristics of challenging each other for dominance is a part of a male’s life. In the last stanza the reader is given the idea that the brothers haven’t achieved anything and that the reader should feel pity for the brothers rather than looking at them as wrong, heartless human beings. This is shown by persona saying “Touched themselves through the emptiness of their pockets, scared they’d find the prize of nothing.” This quote evokes sympathy for the brothers through the word choice “emptiness” and “prize of nothing”.
“The Two Brother” is a poem which uses natural speech rhythms, tone and informal language is used to create an understanding with the reader. Reader is shown the brother’s cruelty but is also shown their brittleness and insecurity. The brothers’ cruelty is connected with their gender. This is shown in line 3-5 which says, “Had shown me themselves, grinning queerly as when they’d shown me lizards they’d killed, or sparrows they’d slowly bled with a needle.” These lines show vivid and disturbing images of boys’ violence, this is then enhanced by alliteration of the word ‘S’ in “sparrows they’d slowly bled.” In the lines, “shown me themselves” implies that such violence is a characteristic of being a male in our society. This idea of cruelty being a part of male’s characteristic in our society is shown again in line 13 which says, “Would dare each other any taste, any soft clot, any ugly act.” This line tells the reader that the brother’s would do anything and challenge each other for dominance which also implies that these characteristics of challenging each other for dominance is a part of a male’s life. In the last stanza the reader is given the idea that the brothers haven’t achieved anything and that the reader should feel pity for the brothers rather than looking at them as wrong, heartless human beings. This is shown by persona saying “Touched themselves through the emptiness of their pockets, scared they’d find the prize of nothing.” This quote evokes sympathy for the brothers through the word choice “emptiness” and “prize of nothing”.