Oodgeroo Noonuccal We Are Going Poem Analysis
1800 StoneRidge Street Los Angeles CA 91000 16th March 2011
Mrs Oodgeroo Noonuccal Australia poet centre 344 Western Lane Sydney 2212
Dear Oodgeroo Noonuccal,
Oodgeroo Noonuccal, all your poems are very descriptive, inspirational and portray emotion skilfully with merely the use of words. I write to comment on one of my favourite, your poem of We are going. I believe this poem is extremely moving and communicates a clear message of change of environment as you and your people have been deprived of all things by the Europeans. The many techniques you utilized contributes immensely to create the unhappy feeling towards the change.
Your poem is written like a recount as it gives us a sense of happening now. Being written in present continuous tense, it emphasises that your people are still being marginalized today. “Subdued and silent” in the first stanza, is an alliteration in the first stanza which significantly accentuates the melancholy mood. This mood clearly identifies your position as unhappy and unwilling for the change. Your well thought out use of exclusive language gives an effect of difference in the white community and your people. It conveys their disrespect for your race and disregard for your culture. The insults that you have provided are very insightful as they speak the truth of the Europeans and their life. A simile of “white men hurry about like ants” underpins the fact that the
Mrs Oodgeroo Noonuccal Australia poet centre 344 Western Lane Sydney 2212
Dear Oodgeroo Noonuccal,
Oodgeroo Noonuccal, all your poems are very descriptive, inspirational and portray emotion skilfully with merely the use of words. I write to comment on one of my favourite, your poem of We are going. I believe this poem is extremely moving and communicates a clear message of change of environment as you and your people have been deprived of all things by the Europeans. The many techniques you utilized contributes immensely to create the unhappy feeling towards the change.
Your poem is written like a recount as it gives us a sense of happening now. Being written in present continuous tense, it emphasises that your people are still being marginalized today. “Subdued and silent” in the first stanza, is an alliteration in the first stanza which significantly accentuates the melancholy mood. This mood clearly identifies your position as unhappy and unwilling for the change. Your well thought out use of exclusive language gives an effect of difference in the white community and your people. It conveys their disrespect for your race and disregard for your culture. The insults that you have provided are very insightful as they speak the truth of the Europeans and their life. A simile of “white men hurry about like ants” underpins the fact that the