Bruce Dawe, an Australian known poet, born 1930 is still one of the biggest selling and most highly regarded poets of Australia. His ability to write such influential poems has made an impact on a number of people, as each poem can be related to the ordinary living lives of Australians throughout the years. Bruce Dawe's poems are interesting because they comment on the lives of ordinary people. This statement is agreed on. In relation to the statement, three key poems can be linked being Enter Without So Much as Knocking (1959), Homo Suburbiensis (1964) and Drifters (1968). In the first poem mentioned: Enter Without So Much as Knocking, Dawe shows the living of a child in the Baby Boomers period, and the era after World War 2 (1950's
Written in 1964, in the midst of the ending of the baby boomers period and a time of peace as women start finally getting their rights heard and the Australian government take a new leadership, this poem written by Dawe is a representation of an old man’s mind. The world he lives in is chaotic when wild, yet when in peace is of surpassing beauty like a well-kept garden. The man’s thoughts are shown by the garden. Homo Suburbiensis is also referred to as the modern day Garden of Eden. Another side note worth mentioning is the fact that the title is a parody of scientific classification, as if stating that the garden is also an experiment on the observations of men overtime. Techniques used in this poem include alliteration, symbolism and onomatopoeia.
The first two techniques explored are alliteration and symbolism. The way Dawe has written this poem is vital to his audience, as the lines represent the continuation of life, crucially emphasising this point entirely. The alliteration is then used in the third/fourth stanza stating: ‘’He stands there, lost in a green/ confusion, smelling the smoke of somebody’s rubbish.’’ The alliteration technique shows the continuous, ominous feeling. Almost repetitive, as Dawe gets his audience to relate to the sense of repetition. Also, back in this time period, rubbish was only collected once a week. Households would set their wastes alight and pour in the ashes weekly. This