Comparing Drifters 'And' My Father's Anger

‘Drifters’ by Bruce Dawe and ‘My Father’s Anger’ by John Griffin have many key similarities but also differences. These are both Australian poems and help us, when analysed, to better understand the Australian voice. Drifters focusses on a family that never settles down whereas My Father’s Anger focusses on the anger of a farmer. Drifters depicts a family that never settles down. To understand the context of the poem, we must know when it was written. Drifters shows a family just after World War II where it was difficult to find work. Because of the lack of positions, families moved around frequently and could never settle down. Similarly, My Father’s Anger is about a farmer struggling to keep his livestock alive during tough droughts in Australia.

In contrast, Drifters is written in free verse. This poem flows throughout the lines and follows fewer rules. Both poems contain no end-stopped lines and show a better insight into the Australian voice. These poems show different families in parts of Australia going through different circumstances. She structures of these poems affectively convey the message that is portrayed.

These two poems use very similar language techniques. They both use multiple techniques such as repetition to show and inform the audience of the topic they are written about. In both poems, repetition is used in mass. Drifters uses the word ‘And’ as a way of showing that it will happen again ‘And’ again ‘And’ again. This refers to the family moving around continually. My Father’s Anger uses repetition to emphasise the topic. It emphasises the anger of the character’s father and uses this with the help of metaphor, personification and similes to convey the extent of this topic. Personification in ‘My Father’s Anger’ creates an insight as to what happens to make the feeling of frustration and of course anger. ‘…Droughts hands on the throat of his farm,’ shows that there are reasons to the anger that is portrayed. The father is a farmer who is

My Father’s Anger is written in first person, which connects us to the poem and also the poet. This technique makes us feel a connection and almost as if we are part of the story. ‘My’ Father’s Anger makes us believe we are there and being spoken to. It is also written in present tense but is reflecting on what has happened. This poem is a mixture of present (My father’s anger ‘is’) and future (My father’s angers is ‘to’) tenses. In contrast, Drifters uses a third person narration voice. They use this to create a sense of distance and separation. When the poem is read, we feel as if we are simply observing what is happening, unlike My Father’s Anger where we feel as part of the poem. Drifters is also written in future tense, using phrases such as ‘One day soon’ thus creating distance. When these poems are compared, their narration style is very