Migrants by Bruce Dawe
By Nahla Issa
Essay-Why Should Dawe’s poem ‘Migrants’ be included for the text for Journeys.
The poem ‘Migrants by ‘Bruce Dawe ’should be included for the core text for journeying as it portrays journeying through the perceptions and experiences of a migrant group. This poem depicts feelings of ignorance and disrespectfulness encountered by the migrant group as they are treated with a lack of concern by people living in Australia.
The poem migrants explore a physical journey of a migrant group settling in a new place, Australia. We know this because the poet quotes ‘in the fourth week the sea dropped clear away And they were there ...’ in this line it contains a metaphor, imagery and ellipses. In that line the ellipses is use to capture the reader’s attention and a metaphor was used in that line to draw the readers attention to it and trigger emotions. Also the quote says ‘in the fourth week…..’ shows a passing of time in this journey and it reinforces the idea of it taking a long time to get to Australia. That quote tells us that the migrants had come by boat. These techniques work together to give the reader a sense that a journey has begun.
Another reason why this poem ‘Migrants’ should be included for the core text for journeys is because it also conveys an emotional journey. The group of migrants go on an emotional journey to try and settle in and be accepted by the current citizens of Australia. The poem is structured in order showing the gradual acceptance of the migrants from beginning till end. At the beginning the group of migrants were seen as displaced and ‘different’, this is evident in the quote, ‘Indifference surprised them’. That line reinforces the lack of concern people had and were surprised because they were culturally shocked, people didn’t accept them straight away. We know this because of the reaction the citizens gave the group of migrants when they first seen them, it is shown in the quote ‘At first the people’s slurred…’ This means
Essay-Why Should Dawe’s poem ‘Migrants’ be included for the text for Journeys.
The poem ‘Migrants by ‘Bruce Dawe ’should be included for the core text for journeying as it portrays journeying through the perceptions and experiences of a migrant group. This poem depicts feelings of ignorance and disrespectfulness encountered by the migrant group as they are treated with a lack of concern by people living in Australia.
The poem migrants explore a physical journey of a migrant group settling in a new place, Australia. We know this because the poet quotes ‘in the fourth week the sea dropped clear away And they were there ...’ in this line it contains a metaphor, imagery and ellipses. In that line the ellipses is use to capture the reader’s attention and a metaphor was used in that line to draw the readers attention to it and trigger emotions. Also the quote says ‘in the fourth week…..’ shows a passing of time in this journey and it reinforces the idea of it taking a long time to get to Australia. That quote tells us that the migrants had come by boat. These techniques work together to give the reader a sense that a journey has begun.
Another reason why this poem ‘Migrants’ should be included for the core text for journeys is because it also conveys an emotional journey. The group of migrants go on an emotional journey to try and settle in and be accepted by the current citizens of Australia. The poem is structured in order showing the gradual acceptance of the migrants from beginning till end. At the beginning the group of migrants were seen as displaced and ‘different’, this is evident in the quote, ‘Indifference surprised them’. That line reinforces the lack of concern people had and were surprised because they were culturally shocked, people didn’t accept them straight away. We know this because of the reaction the citizens gave the group of migrants when they first seen them, it is shown in the quote ‘At first the people’s slurred…’ This means