AWARENESS OF NATIONAL IDENTITY ORAL EXAMINATION BEACH BURIAL KENNETH SLESSOR Softly and Humbly to the Gulf of Arabs‚The convoys of dead sailors come; At night they sway and wander in the waters far under‚But morning rolls them in the foam. Between the sob and clubbing of the gunfire Someone‚ it seems‚ has time for this‚To pluck them from the shallows and bury them in burrows And tread the sand upon their nakedness;And each cross‚ the driven stake of tidewood‚Bears the last signature
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Kenneth Slessor - Beach Burial The title of the poem‚ ’Beach Burial’‚ has an ironic slant‚ as beaches are commonly associated with life and pleasure. Instead‚ the poem consists of the opposite: death and sorrow. Similarly‚ the poem first two stanzas include low‚ soft sounds‚ such as "softly"‚ "humbly"‚ "convoys" and "rolls"‚ with the rhythm and alliteration of "swaying and wandering"‚ which present a calm‚ soothing tone. However‚ this soothing calm is more of a grief‚ as illustrated by the onomatopoeia
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Historical Context. Slessor was appointed official war correspondent by the Commonwealth government in February 1940. He served in North Africa‚ Greece and Syria thus saw a good deal of action. He regarded the position as a great honour and was loyal to the traditions and mythology of the Anzacs. Slessor’s was famous for his war diaries and poetry as his experience of being at the war front directly influence his writing. The futility of war is a common theme and sense carried throughout these
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Kenneth Slessor was a well known Australian poet whom was also an official correspondent during the second World War. Slessor was born on the 27th of March 1901 in Orange‚ New South Wales. Kenneth Slessor was one of Australia’s leading poets. He was notable particularly for the absorption of modernist influences into the Australian poetry. William Street and Beach Burial are the two poems that contain such techniques which shape significant ideas in Slessor’s poetry. William Street is a poem
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In the poem ‘South Country’ Kenneth Slessor adopts a cynical view of the Australian landscape through a series of imagery‚ with a judgemental tone. He takes the reader on a journey from the bushy bushland to the harsh desert. In stanza 1‚ he suggests their departure from the city with “after the whey faced anonymity”‚ metaphorically referring to the idea of a crowded city of white people‚ undiluted and without any other races and colours mixed into the scene‚ perhaps signifying his sympathy towards
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anxiety regarding the inescapability of death. The techniques used in the poems ‘Five Bells’ and ‘William Street’ by Kenneth Slessor and ‘From Little Things Big Things Grow’ by Paul Kelly give us insight into the human condition. The poem ‘Five Bells’ is about the death of Joe Lynch‚ the poet’s colleague who drowned in the
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The theme in the poem “Homecoming”‚ by Bruce Dawe‚ is the feeling and belonging of home and how you can die for your country‚ yet receive inhumane like treatment. The theme in “Beach Burial”‚ by Kenneth Slessor‚ is the pointlessness of war. The two poems are very similar‚ yet very different‚ in meaning and tone‚ through their subjects‚ themes‚ techniques and structure. Both poems relate to the same post-war event; bringing the corpses of soldiers back from war. However‚ in “Homecoming” the corpses
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Television Interview with Kenneth Slessor 8:00a.m‚ Friday morning on ‘Groovy Artist in the Big West’ with James Baxter. Theme tune music plays. Singular light appears on host‚ James Baxter‚ standing centre stage‚ camera zooms in mid-shot of Baxter. Music fades. JB: Good morning Australia and greetings to Groovy Artists in the Big West. Today we are honoured to welcome a very special guest on the show. He is arguably the most beloved Australian poet; his works are renowned for their vivid
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The Individualism and Collectivism of Memory in Gail Jones’ Five Bells and W.G. Sebald’s The Emigrants Introduction “What is past is prologue‚” from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest adorns The National Archives in Washington D.C.‚ where the United State’s foundational‚ formative documents are housed. Within the walls of the Archives‚ the nation’s past are housed for today and tomorrow’s citizens to view‚ analyze and reflect on the way these documents and the nation’s history have led to the
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DISCUSS SLESSORS USE OF TIME AND OUT OF TIME IN HIS POETRY Slessor’s compact oeuvre details his struggle with time. However‚ his longing to be out of time merely highlights the supremacy of time over human life and nature. Slessor utilises familiar elements in an attempt to gain a better understanding of what he cannot comprehend. Moments captured out of time are short-lived illusions‚ though despite their brevity Slessor believes they are beautiful. In Out of Time‚ the first two stanzas in
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