Les Murray and His Poems

Poets express their concerns in their work and use language techniques to enhance the poem. This is revealed through the works of Les Murray. Les Murray is a famous Australian poet who was born and raised in the country and is a dedicated Roman Catholic. This is reflected in the poems ‘Driving through Sawmill Towns’ and ‘An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow’. His laconic and personal poetic style reinforces the messages he attempts to convey to his audience through the use of rich symbolism and imagery.
The poem ‘Driving through Sawmill Towns’ describes the people and the scenery of a rural town. In the poem, Les Murray writes from the perspective of a person driving a car through a rural town. Throughout the poem Les Murray uses imagery such as ‘glide’ and ‘speed away through the upland’ implying the elite are people who don’t pay attention to or care about the countryside. In the poem, Les Murray purposely slows down the pace of the poem so that he could describe the town in more detail and to let readers see it in the way that the ‘elites’ never would. Les Murray successfully creates this slow pace through the use of words and alliterations such as ‘trickle, distant, calendared kitchens and tilting road’ which all emphasise the slow passing of time. Throughout the poem Les Murray describes the country as a place which is living through imagery. For example, “a little sidelong creek alive with pebbles”. Personification is also apparent in the text, which contributes to the liveliness of the country. These include “the houses there wear verandas out of shyness”, “the half-heard radio sings” and “as night comes down, the houses watch each other”. With the combination of these word techniques, Les Murray creates a tranquil image of the rural town.
In contrast to ‘Driving through Sawmill Towns’, the opening stanza of ‘An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow’ sets a different scene, tone and style. It is set in Sydney and describes the place in which the elite spend time. The