The Meat Works

In the poem "The Meat Works" by Robert Grey. A man is working in a meat works and does not like his job but it is necessary so he can make money. The purpose of this poem being written was to show that people have to sacrifices and put up with things they do not enjoy to survive. One emotion witch comes up in the meat works is despair.

Robert Grey has formed a free versepoem. An example of this is "but I settled for one of the low paid jobs, making mince sigh the furthest end from those bellowing." Grey has used this form of structure to create a conversational tone. The poem was a recount of the day. The poet has done this so that the reader would think that the man that worked at the meat works was having a conversation with him.

The words used in this poem are quite effective. Example "hang them by there heads on hooks or fill a long intestine." Also the language used does very well to portray the person's emotions and feelings. Enjantment is used to create a conversational tone. "We would watch then, on the blue metal." This is effective because it gets the reader more involved; because the reader thinks that he is rely there having a conversation with the man.

There was descriptive language was used to create imagery. "The shiny, white, bruising beach in mauve light." There is a slight sent you cal smell. "Sticky stench of blood." This quote gives the reader an image that the factory would smell and look bad inside. There is a good image which is the high point of the mans day. "The beach, and those starting storm cloud mountains, high beyond the furthest fibro house I would come to be with." This was used to say that not all things are bad. Things that are bad almost always have a good side to them.

There is not much rhythm in the poem. But it is medium paced. By the way it is not always stopping and starting.

The free versepoem "The Meat Works" by Robert Grey was about working in bad jobs so that you can get money to survive. The purpose that Grey wrote this poem was to show that people have to make sacrifices and put up with things they don't enjoy to survive. With the descriptive language and medium rhythm speed the poem was quite flexible to read and understand.