Man vs Nature

This poem “Kangaroos near Hay” by John Foulcher is a poem that represents man vs nature, this concept is shown through the image of a kangaroo being horse like, through the opening lines “head like a horse.” This reinforces an image of power and full of strength, to being twisted by the back bone into a coil which gives a very powerful, violent and gruesome image in the mind of readers.
In the opening line “into a coil, a scythe”, this juxtaposition between “head like a horse”, refers to a majestic horse being nature killed by the forces of mankind, industrialisation and mechanics of the modern day society.
“Kangaroos near hay”, feature road side caresses of kangaroos tat vividly emblematise the cruel killing of nature by man, having once been ,majestic and fully poise, but now a disrespected pile of bones. This is shown in the third stanza, “but mostly morning lays them at the roadside” the ‘but’ is used to show contrast. There is a pun used on the word ‘morning’ as morning means a new begging or it could be perceived as mourning which is the expression of deep sorrow for someone who has died. ‘Morning’ is given human characteristics and is personified, as it represents mother nature respectfully laying it down, nature being sympathetic to its own elements. The impact of man is clearly evident in the poem, “wrenches them into angles”, this line shows human impact on nature and the use of the word ‘wrenches’ reflects on the violent, discordant verb showing mans impact on nature. Symbolism of man is shown through the ‘angles’ as we make things structured this refers back to industrialisation in mankind.
The use of sound imagery in the poem is clearly evident in stanza three, as well as brutal imagery, onomatopoeia, the sound of the body hitting the car which produces the ‘be’ sound used constantly as repetition. The ‘b’ sound could also be the sound of the kangaroos jumping or the beat of the kangaroo. The sharp sounds represent the death and the lack of power