How Does Dawe Present The Image Of Life And Death

image of life and death more effectively. Through extensive use of techniques and dramatised events, the poet explores his view of life and death as throughout different aspects of the timeline of a person, place or event. Additionally, Dawe expresses the importance of the beginning and the end by using different settings and in his topic, but also connecting the poems. As these poems are based on real-life occurrences, Bruce Dawe dramatises his poems to twist his image of the reality to exaggerate the event.

“Homecoming” is the time of reunion and joy, the title is used effectively to contrast the traditional meaning of the word with the shocking reality of dead soldiers flown home to grieving families, Bruce Dawe ironically uses the “homecoming”

Dawe uses the words "deep freeze lockers" instead of morgue because he is illustrating how the returning soldiers are treated as if they are meat. Dawe uses repetition and contrast in the verse "Home, home, home" as home has connotations of love and warmth yet their greeting was cold and unwelcoming. Similarly, in “A Victorian Hangman Tells His Love” the poet also depicts the event of death by metaphorically describing a marriage-related bond between man and his job of hanging people. It is 'too late' due to the fact that the soldiers' lives can no longer be saved and 'too soon' implying they passed away at an early age, leading an unfulfilling life. Furthermore, this quote can also be said for the criminal being hanged in “A Victorian Hangman Tells His Love” they're also “too late”, but not “too soon” as in comparison to the dead soldiers, the criminal is put to death for the crime he had committed. Alternately, “A

Life is the most precious gift we humans are given and in two of Bruce Dawe’s poems, “Life Cycle” and “Katrina” the poet dramatises the gift of life and almost losing it all to comeback. "Katrina" as the poem is about his daughter Katrina who was born prematurely. He projects very vivid imagery of Katrina and the unknown that is going to be of her life. In the first verse Dawe says "now you are suspended between earth and sky", this is a metaphor used to explain how she has a 50% chance of living and hangs in the balance of life and death, this technique is very effective because it allows the reader to think deeper and find a more fathomless meaning to what is being said. In the stanza where it says "although we know there is no conditioning process which can nothing can prepare him for the death of Katrina or soften the pain that will come with her loss. This technique works so well because it gives a good representation of the emotional grief-stricken parents. Besides, the outcome of using this technique is very effective as it gives the reader a true representation of what Dawe is feeling emotionally. Children of die-hard fans are born into the Victorian lifestyle “they are wrapped in club-colours, laid in beribboned cots” Bruce Dawe exaggerates the love for the Aussie Rules. The young have “already begun a lifetime’s barracking”, meaning they have already begun to support their team,