Poem Analysis – Bruce Dawe’s “Life Cycle and Rod Moran’s Essay Example

'Their stumped teak-log legs' and later, 'breezy as balsa wood', in these lines, Moran uses binaries, the heavy timbered legs eve gracefully as though made of the lightest of wood. He uses such comparison and contrast metaphorically to define the nature of the elephant moving like dhows of older across the Savannah that seems to shimmer in the African sun like a sea. The flesh of the animal is likened to 'ancient rock and the head is said to 'mimic the Niles delta' in this way the animal takes on a kind of.... F the ancient landscape. 'Life Cycle' shows how the game of FALL takes on a sacred status in Victoria, the poet presents a sporting life which seems to live and breathe a life of its own. This critique mocks the mania and zeal of these 'barracker' who would indoctrinate a small child into their team as a type of religious convert. Dade uses ironic revelation where offspring, "are wrapped in the club colors, laid in beribboned cots, having already begun a lifetime of barracking", to describe the mad passions of the followers in Victoria.

These innocent babes are "Hoisted shoulder - high at their first League game, they are like innocent monsters that have been years swimming towards the aligners roaring empyrean"; tens releasing AT enamel CNN learn Trot evicted through oxymoron, to highlight these babes as both 'innocent' and 'monster' like, as paradox to underline the mad footy fever as an addictive ecstasy. The poet uses a variety of poetic devices to underpin this story for the reader.

Literary devices within each of these poems present a rich treatment of subject

matter. For example each poem plays with the style and sound of language to offer an emotional insight into the experience being described. In "Life Cycle" colloquialisms like 'little Tiger', 'barracking 'Carr' and Wind advantage' suggest a lingo unique to this religion. The sound of the crowd 'like the voice of God' is mirrored through alliteration, 'club-colors' and feebly at first' to give an almost chant like quality to the verse.

Similarly, in the poem "A Homage to the Elephant" by Rod Moran assonance has been used to give a sinuous and vibrant portrayal of the elephant, the use of soft 'a' and '00' sounds open a window to the serene and peaceful life of these graceful animals on the Savannah in Africa. Moran invites the reader to imagine the elephant as a kind of prince of beasts, grazing majestically in its home and habitat on he open plain. Ultimately, there are no hidden meanings in poetry.

The intended reading of a poem can be gathered by analyzing the denotation and connotation for both literal and figurative meanings. The Australian poems "Life Cycle" and "A Homage to the Elephant" are examples of how poets convey meaning and ideas indirectly through the use of poetic devices and techniques. They open a window on worlds, worlds like the African Savannah, or the mad world of FALL footy to evoke the essential quality of these experiences.