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…
relationships, represent the concept of journey. All these texts are dealing with people’s life journeys as both composers are commenting that people should live in the moment and not waste time in our life journey. All these texts emphasise that journeys have a substantial impact on the traveller. The main point that both Slessor and Stenders are commenting on is to make the most of your life journey and to not waste it. This can be seen in ‘Out of Time’ as Slessor remarks through a simile that “time flows like a hundred yachts” making it impossible to stop time, therefore commenting that if you waste time in life, it is gone forever. The idea of being drowned and lost in time is portrayed in ‘Five Bells’ where “The tide is over you, the turn of midnight water’s over you,” and the poem ‘Beach Burial’ where there are “convoys of dead sailors”. Both texts capture the aspects of remembering dead mean lost at sea where they have run out of time to live. In the very last stanza of ‘Out of Time’ Slessor comments on the fact that “The gulls go down, the body rots, and time flows past like a hundred yacht.” Here Slessor repeats and emphasises what he says in the beginning of the poem demonstrating how time can’t be stopped and the cyclic nature of journeys. The physical body decays in the relentlessness of time but time does not stop for anyone, it keeps going even after death. In ‘Red Dog’, John Grant, Red Dog’s owner, tragically dies in an accident. Here Stenders highlights that death is unpredictable, therefore one must make the most of every moment in their life journey and one should never waste time as all they are doing is wasting their life. This has a substantial impact on the traveller as it highlights that in all three texts that life is precious and that it should not be wasted. Another major point that both composers are highlighting is the impact of relationships and the common humanity that we have. Slessor remarks in ‘Beach Burial’ that “someone, it seems, has time for this, to pluck them from the shallows and bury them in burrows”. This shows that people are risking their life just to respect the fallen in war zones, showing how common our humanity is. This is further emphasised in the last stanza “whether as enemies they fought, or fought with us, or neither; the sand joins them together,”. Here the tone is very sombre and reflective as the reader contemplate the effectiveness of war if all it does is kill on both sides. In ‘Five Bells’ the relationship Slessor has with Joe Lynch is one of sorrow, where he is in a reverie of memories between the bell strokes. Here the emphasis is on the relationship these two good friends had before Joe Lynch died. In ‘Red Dog’ it is clearly seen that when Red Dog’s owner John Grant dies, Red Dog’s relationship with him ensures that he goes on an expedition to find him. In the film the traveller is impacted by the expedition he goes on to find his owner, but eventually returns to the place where he started to find out that his owner is dead. This emphasises again the cyclic nature of journeys. In the poems, Slessor emphasises that impact on the traveller is the realisation of the common humanity that we have. The last point that both composers Slessor and Stenders draw attention to, is the inevitability of death.
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
strong. Journeys definitely do have substantial impacts on the traveller as the gain insight and knowledge about themselves and others surrounding them. Both Slessor and Stenders, represent the concept of journey, through imagery and the exploration of relationships. Both composers are commenting that people should live in the moment and not waste time in their life journey as all texts mentioned are dealing with people’s life journeys. Also Slessor and Stenders comment that journeys have a substantial impact on the traveller as the impact of relationships and the common humanity that we have as well as the inevitability of death is explored in these texts.
This poem captures the immigrant experience between the two worlds, leaving the homeland and towards the new world. The poet has deliberately structured the poem in five sections each with a number of stanzas to divide the different stages of the physical voyage. Section one describes the refugees, two briefly deals with their reason for the exodus, three emphasises their former oppression, fourth section is about the healing effect of the voyage and the concluding section deals with the awakening of hope. This restructuring allows the poet to focus on the emotional and physical impact of the journey.
“Like cattle bought for slaughter.” this simile reveals the awful and crowded conditions that the immigrants are experiencing. The third stanza tells us about the family groups and that they huddled together with blankets ‘Families stood with blankets’ with the parents having to keep a close eye on their children ‘Keeping children by their sides’. ‘Watching pigeons that watched them’ this suggests that the immigrants are fascinated by the natural wildlife, it could be a metaphor for the local people at the station who just stare at the immigrants as they wait for their train. The fourth stanza portrays the fear and uncertainty of these immigrants and also reveals the impact of the whistle. “It was sad to hear” this is the repetition of the opening line of the poem. It seems like this journey was a forced journey that is controlled by man made machines “like a word of command” this represents the whistle, “like a guillotine” the use of simile suggests being cut off a kind of death as a guillotine is an instrument of
Experiences of journeys provide insights into the lives of individuals and the world around them
In conclusion, I have found that both poets are successful in presenting their particular ideas about what a journey is to them. For Plath, a journey represents a desire for freedom and a metaphorical escape from the insecurities within her own life and it is clear to us that her escape is pivotal in her journey of self acceptance. Larkin has also shown that journeys are an escape from life, but unlike Plath he is running away from society and the oppressions he feels bound by, whereas Plath wants to escape from the shackles of her thoughts.
Throughout all texts discussed, there is a pervasive and unmistakable sense of journey in its unmeasurable and intangible form. The journeys undertaken, are not physically transformative ones but are journeys which usher in an emotional and spiritual alteration. They are all life changing anomaly’s that alter the course and outlook each individual has on their life. Indeed, through the exploitation of knowledge in both a positive and negative context, the canvassed texts accommodate the notion that journeys bear the greatest magnitude when they change your life in some fashion.
In the first instance, death is portrayed as a “bear” (2) that reaches out seasonally. This is then followed by a man whom “ comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse / / to buy me…” This ever-changing persona that encapsulates death brings forth a curiosity about death and its presence in the living world. In the second stanza, “measles-pox” (6) is an illness used to portray death’s existence in a distinctive embodiment. This uncertainty creates the illusion of warmth and welcomenesss and is further demonstrated through the reproduction of death as an eminent figure. Further inspection allows the reader to understand death as a swift encounter. The quick imagery brought forth by words such as “snaps” and “shut” provoke a sense of startle in which the audience may dispel any idea of expectedness in death’s coming. This essential idea of apparent arrival transitions to a slower, foreseeable fate where one can imagine the enduring pain experienced “an iceberg between shoulder blades” (line 8). This shift characterizes the constant adaptation in appearance that death acquires. Moreover, the idea of warmth radiating from death’s presence reemerges with the introduction to a “cottage of darkness” (line 10), which to some may bring about a feeling of pleasantry and comfort. It is important to note that line 10 was the sole occurrence of a rhetorical question that the speaker
Of the lessons of this course, the distinction made between story and situation will be the most important legacy in my writing. I learned a great travel essay cannot be merely its situation: its place, time, and action. It requires a story, the reader’s internal “journey of discovery.” While the importance of establishing home, of balancing summary and scene, and other lessons impacted my writing, this assertion at least in my estimation the core argument of the course.
The poem is launched by a protracted introduction during which the speaker indulges in descriptions of landscape and local color, deferring until the fifth stanza the substantive statement regarding what is happening to whom: "a bus journeys west." This initial postponement and the leisurely accumulation of apparently trivial but realistic detail contribute to the atmospheric build-up heralding the unique occurrence of the journey. That event will take place as late as the middle of the twenty-second stanza, in the last third of the text. It is only in retrospect that one realizes the full import of that happening, and it is only with the last line of the final stanza that the reader gains the necessary distance to grasp entirely the functional role of the earlier descriptive parts.
I will discuss the similarities by which these poems explore themes of death and violence through the language, structure and imagery used. In some of the poems I will explore the characters’ motivation for targeting their anger and need to kill towards individuals they know personally whereas others take out their frustration on innocent strangers. On the other hand, the remaining poems I will consider view death in a completely different way by exploring the raw emotions that come with losing a loved one.
The poem is an emotional recollection of the tram and everything it stood for. to the narrator; the people and the attitude from a time that has passed. Then the s Whilst this anthology only draws upon a fraction of the poems throughout the time centred around the theme of ‘loss’.
A physical journey occurs as a direct result of travelling from one place to another over land, sea or even space. The physical journey can occur individually or collectively, but always involves more than mere movement. Instead physical journeys are accompanied by inner growth and development, catalysed by the experiences and the decisions that impact the outcome of the journey. These journey concepts and the interrelationship between physical and emotional journeys is exemplified in the text; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, the children’s book Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers and the film Stand By Me directed by Rob Reiner.
Mastery of the material an author writes about is not merely enough to get one’s point across, yet Butor uses his mastery of how to travel wherever you are in life and, in addition, uses language that presents the picture in such a manner that one does not have to delve deep into the meaning behind the words to retain the full idea portrayed in them. The higher arching purpose to his work, though, turns out to be the overall connection of ties between the book and travel ultimately depends on the book’s “literariness” to determine what journey one might have while reading (83). All in all, the tone of voice and writing style that Butor uses in this piece are second to none in their ability to influence a reader of following his procedure of travel transformation, and a rhetorical analysis essay on his work only reassured the authenticity of the section about how Butor chose to entertain the reader as the main purpose behind his essay. His attitude toward the audience was strong enough to elicit advice that originated straight from the heart, and in doing that, he empowered readers with the ability to look at books and reading differently for the rest of their
Even today in reality, the journey is more important than the destination through each of our individual lives. People make choices on their voyage, such as deciding on a college, a job, or even where to live, and all of the choices the adventurer makes is going to affect the future. On the way to their objective, they will gain experience and learn life lessons which will impact their final
... executed in order to set off into the world alone. The influence that independent travel has on an individual is a splendor upon riches because it does so much for a person, and provides humans with a sense of the world. How a person can makes new friends and learn about new cultures and accept other people’s way of living. With its educational purposes traveling alone can bring, offers an endless amount of living data that tops any history book or internet page. Traveling is concrete history that is continuing around everyone. It can provide people to look through different lenses and experience aspects of life that they know they will never experience again in their lifetimes. Traveling alone provides an endless journey and an empty page in the minds scrapbook that is waiting to be filled with new memories and the endless amount of true belonging and bliss.
The main theme of the poem that Frost attempts to convey is how important the decisions that one makes can be, and how they affect one’s future. In lines 2-3, he expresses the emotions of doubt and confusion by saying, “And sorry I could not travel/ And be one traveler, long I stood”, which explains how the speaker contemplated their decision of which road to take. In the closing, line 20 of the poem further reestablishes the theme when it states, “that has made all the difference”, meaning that making the decision of which road to take for themselves is the important key for a successful future. Frost helps to express this theme by using symbolism to portray a road as one’s journey of life. Using symbolism, Frost suggests that the speaker of this poem is taking the harder of the two roads presented before them, because the road the speaker chooses, “leaves no step had trodden black” (12...