Beach Burial Kenneth Slessor Analysis

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A journey, whether it is forced or enforced, involves obstacles and movement from point A to point B either physical, mental and/or spiritual and they provide travellers with the opportunity to extend themselves in these three aspects as they respond to challenges and learn more about themselves and the world around them. This shows that travellers are very much impacted by the journey they go on as they gain insight into themselves and their surroundings. ‘Out of time’ , ‘Beach Burial’ and ‘Five Bells’ are all poems by Kenneth Slessor that deal with this concept of journeys impacting the traveller substantially. Another text that deals with this, is the film ‘Red Dog’ by Kriv Stenders. Both composers through imagery and the exploration of …show more content…

In ‘Five Bells’ Slessor is at the harbour when he hears “Five bells coldly ringing out,”. These bells are an allegory as there are two meaning to it. First off the literal ships bells, but there is also symbolism for funeral bells as Slessor mourns Joe Lynch’s death, which in turn reminds Slessor of his own inevitability of death. The language used in this poem reinforce this inevitability of death. The repetition of “Dead”, death”, “dies” and bones” emphasise this foreshadowing nature of death. In ‘Out of time’ Slessor is mourning his own life commenting that “Time takes me, drills me, drives through bone and vein”, highlighting that “time flows, not you!” Here, Slessor emphasises his concept of the traveller being impacted by their own life journey as they trek through time, but it all leading to death in the end. In ‘Red Dog’, John Grant, Red Dog’s master, dies suddenly in a motorbike accident, showing how death can come to anyone at anytime. Here Stenders highlights that death is unpredictable and inevitable and also draws attention to the effect this has on others around them. An example of this would be Red Dog. Through the point of view and body language of Red Dog it is clear that he is waiting for John to come home as he gazed at the road longingly. This impacts travellers as they don’t know when they will die so must always be prepared for anything. It also impacts the people around them as the effect of death is bigger especially if the relationship is

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