Homecoming By Bruce Dawe

Poetry is the written expression of feelings and ideas which is given passion by the use of distinctive language style. War poetry is written to communicate experiences, or a pacifist who write poems about war. The severe poem Homecoming by Bruce Dawe and the empathetic ‘The Falling leaves by Margaret Postgate Cole are both written from the perspective of someone who is not on the battlefield. They utilise a variety of imagery and literary features to further emphasize the deeper significance of war while conveying the message that war is wasting young soldiers lives and brings much suffering and grief to family and friends. Dawe and Cole have similar perspectives of death and delve into how war affects others. However, the gender of the poets

differ which lead to a comparison of the views presented to the reader as well as their use of language and stylistic features.
Homecoming was written in 1968 whereas The Falling leaves was written in 1914 during WW1. Both are which written in different time periods of the war. Cole wanted to speak out in contradiction of the inequalities she saw in the world and used poetry as a means of doing so. The Falling Leaves captures her spirit as she sees the altering world, and the change in attitudes and beliefs concerning the Great War. Dawe's poetry revolves around Australian society, politics and culture. Bruce Dawe writes of his experiences in the Vietnam War in the poem “Homecoming”. By using many different language techniques, he conveys his sympathy and sadness for the loss of lives of the soldiers.
Cole has written her poem in the first person which gives a personal understanding to the reader.

The poem deliberates a narrator who watches as leaves fall from a tree. Dawe’s poem is written in the perspective of third person which gains an emotional detachment; the poem allows the reader to view and understand of the tragedy in its total. Retelling “home, home, home” highlights the emotional bonds of the soldiers, which is a technique revealing the monotony of the experiences involved in war. Dawe uses vivid visual imagery to emphasise the emotional damage caused to friends and family through the loss of a loved one in war “The spider swings in his bitter geometry” and “Telegrams tremble like leaves from a wintering tree” illustrate the arbitrary grief that affects those who receive notices of those who have died. Dawe also repeats the use of the pronoun “they’re”, which hints at the impersonal connection between the bodies and their trainers. Repeating the same suffix “-ing” in “bringing”, “tagging”, “zipping”, “picking”, and “giving”, describes the actions of processes and therefore establishes irony. These verbs infer life and strength, in plain contrast to the lifeless, emotionless body that is handled each day. Dawe use of repetition is effective to highlight the shocking brutality that has been well-known in all wars throughout history. Cole addresses a similar meaning with different images and language. “I saw the brown leaves dropping from their tree in a still

afternoon, when no wind whirled them whistling to the sky” This clearly says that there is no breeze as the leaves fall, so they simply drop to join the rest of the leaves on the ground. Given the historic nature of the poem (during WW1, “November 1915”), it is likely that the fallen leaves represented soldiers of war who fell one by one only to collapse into a field of dead bodies (the leaves already on the ground). Cole does not include repetition but is a written as an extended metaphor. The poem describes the leaves as having died, “like snowflakes wiping out the noon.” This is an example of imagery. It represents when it is winter snow begins to fall and cover “wiping out” the metaphorical sunny afternoon. Except instead of snowflakes covering the fields, it refers to bodies of soldiers covering the fields.
The Fallen Leaves form follows a brief rhyming pattern. Each line has a rhyming line that follows three lines later, resetting after six lines whereas Homecoming is written in the free verse style. However, Homecomings structure is still substantial because it is an image of the idea that war is free with practically no structure like free verse.
Homecoming and The Fallen Leaves are both poems portraying the tragedy of soldiers dying in war. Through the further use of imagery, Dawe succeeds in writing poetry that has universal appeal by emphasizing the unrestrained nature of war and with the support of poetic techniques he produces sympathy, wisely manipulating the audience to reflect upon his own views to war. Cole