Aboriginal poet, Kevin Gilbert’s ‘The New True Anthem’ (1988), challenges and questions Dorothea Mackellar’s famous poem ‘My Country’ as well as other patriotic Australian poems. Whilst typical Australian poems depict the country’s identity under a positive light, Gilbert criticises its flaws and defects rather than appreciating its culture and beauty. The poet utilises high modality language and personification to portray what he believes to be the ‘true’ identity of Australia. Australia’s sense of pride and admiration that is declared by Dorothea Mackellar in ‘My Country’ is challenged and questioned by Kevin Gilbert. The title of the poem ‘The New True Anthem,’ suggests Gilbert’s position from the very beginning and implies the fact that this poem is going to be rather bitter and pessimistic. Gilbert criticises Mackellar’s point of view, “Despite what Dorothea has said,” through the use of high modality language such as “hate and tyranny”, “bitter anguish” and “writhing bodies.” The negative connotations in these phrases emphasise the poet’s disgust …show more content…
Additionally, the poet utilises short sentences to emphasise the sharpness in his tone and the mood of the poem. The short phrases also create tension and drama for the audience throughout the anthem. However, in addition to the pessimism in the poem, Gilbert creates a sense of hope in the reader’s mind through the repetition of the quote “Australia oh Australia you could stand tall and free.” This reflects Gilbert’s desire for a beautiful and plentiful land of his heritage as it used to be before the arrival of the First Fleet. In conclusion, Kevin Gilbert’s composition, ‘The New True Anthem,’ presents the audience with an original and ‘new’ perspective on Australia and its identity. The poet effectively communicates these ideas through the use of high quality language and a range of literary
The voices of individuals in shaping the perspective on Australian issues are presented in Bruce Dawe’s poetry. Dawe's ability to express the drama and beauty of everyday life has made his work readily accessible to the general public. Bruce Dawe’s primary purpose in his poetry was to depict the unspoken social issues, concerning the typical Australian suburban residents. His concern for these matters is evident through his mocking approach to the issues he presents in his poems. The poem “___” and the related text help shape our perspective on Australian issues through Dawe's use of techniques and context.
Without the use of stereotypical behaviours or even language is known universally, the naming of certain places in, but not really known to, Australia in ‘Drifters’ and ‘Reverie of a Swimmer’ convoluted with the overall message of the poems. The story of ‘Drifters’ looks at a family that moves around so much, that they feel as though they don’t belong. By utilising metaphors of planting in a ‘“vegetable-patch”, Dawe is referring to the family making roots, or settling down somewhere, which the audience assumes doesn’t occur, as the “green tomatoes are picked by off the vine”. The idea of feeling secure and settling down can be applied to any country and isn’t a stereotypical Australian behaviour - unless it is, in fact, referring to the continental
Australia is a very unique place, along with our multiculturalism there is also a strong heritage surrounding us. At first thought of Australian heritage we think about such landmarks as Uluru, The Sydney harbour bridge and The Sydney opera house, The Great Barrier reef and other internationally recognised places. But our heritage goes much deeper than that; it is far more than outstanding icons. Along with these icons there are also unsung places like the old cattle stations, Aboriginal missions, migrant hostels, War memorials, our unique wetlands and the towns and cities we have built. Adding all of these things together, helps to tell the story of who we are and how we have shaped this land in the unique identity it has today.
The Australian flag was chosen in 1901, when a competition was held to design our country’s flag. The guidelines of this competition included that the Union Jack and Southern Cross should appear on the flag. However, I believe that in the year 2001, the Australian flag needs to be changed. During the course of this essay, I will show that the Australian flag does not represent all Australians, in particular, Aboriginal Australians and that the symbols on our flag are no longer relevant and are not unique to Australia. I will also show that the present flag is not instantly recognisable and is too similar to flags of other countries.
Nearly four decades after the events at Eureka Stockade, Henry Lawson marked the death of the battle's leader, Peter Lalor, with an anti-establishment piece of verse, 'Eureka!'. In this and other poems such as his first, 'The Republic', 'The Fight of Eureka Stockade' and 'Freedom of the Wallaby', Lawson may well have been trying to light the fire of Australian nationalism and a move to independence with our own flag, The Southern Cross.
Peter Weir’s 1981 film Gallipoli can in every sense of the phrase be called an ‘Australian classic’. The impact and effect this film has had upon the psyche and perspective of several generations of Australians has been significant. Whilst it can be argued that every Australian is aware of the ANZAC legend, and the events that occurred on the Turkish beaches in 1915, Weir’s film encapsulates and embodies a cultural myth which is now propagated as fact and embraced as part of the contemporary Australian identity. The film projects a sense of Australian nationalism that grew out of the 1970’s, and focuses on what it ‘means’ to be an Australian in a post-colonial country. In this way Gallipoli embodies a sense of ‘Australian-ness’ through the depiction of mateship and through the stark contrast of Australia to Britain. A sense of the mythic Australia is further projected through the cinematic portrayal of the outback, and the way in which Australia is presented in isolation from the rest of the world. These features combined create not only a sense of nationalism, but also a mythology stemming from the ANZAC legend as depicted within the film.
Bruce Dawe is considered to be one of Australia’s most influential poets of the 20th century. Dawe’s poems capture Australian life in numerous ways, whether it is our passion for AFL in Life-Cycle or our reckless nature towards war as in Homecoming. Dawe creates very complicated poems reflecting the author’s context relevant to the time period, your context is based upon your reading of the poem, where you may gather different meanings, to that of the original intent, hidden within the text.
The world’s creatures have always yearned for a special peace that would allow all to become equal. This peace may bring about a utopian world but reality may strike and send a message of what life is really about. Some may think of life as a time to form justice and equality amongst all yet, others think of life as a time to become a higher more authoritative person that the rest of the world. The Residential Community at Beacon Hill Friends House provides the sort of utopian community that many imagine achieving. Everything is equal in a small world like this starting from the management of food to the use of the VCR. The Residential Community at Beacon Hill Friends House has set a realistic utopian society and has not yet corrupted the uniqueness of justice and equality amongst the residents as in Anthem.
A young man lives in a place where the word "I" does not have meaning. It is a society where there are no individuals. It is, however, a place where you strive to serve your brothers. Equality 7-2521 was taught from birth that the individual is not important. He is in a crazed society where the only form of government is collectivism.
In many real and fictional totalitarian societies, children live apart from their families. Children live apart from their parents in totalitarian societies because absolutely every parent raises their children differently and totalitarian society leaders do not appreciate that in fact they despise it. If we all individually grow up with our parents they would teach us life lessons differently than others families, this is prohibited in totalitarian societies. The effect it has on the characters in Anthem is they all don’t know who their parents are. It can probably affect how they grow up, knowing they don’t, nor will they ever know who their parents are. The dictator most likely thinks that when a child is born and he or she is raised with their parents, they will experience all sorts of emotions such as love, happiness, joy, curiosity, and excitement. The dictator may also believe if they go through emotions, they can also experience madness, anger, resentment, pain, and fearlessness and that can ruin this type of society because the people would be able to stand up for themselves and begin to rebel against the society and destroy everything that dictator worked hard for. People would also question the society they live in and learn the purpose of this type of government.
In the end of "Anthem", Prometheus comes to the realization that his society's teachings and ideas were not helpful in advancement to the society. Ideas like individuality, that the society tried to squash out of its people, is beneficial to the society as a whole because men are meant to think for themselves. In the book Prometheus made the light bulb back when he was in the society, but once he showed it to the World Council, they but him in jail. After this incidence he realized that no matter what brilliant things he invents, it will never be something that particular society can use. At first he is confused, but realizing that he was acting like an individual made him see that maybe society is the evil one and he is the good one. All of this made him realize that maybe he is not meant for this, and he is thrown out into the uncharted territory. He learns that men are meant to think for themselves, and that if they do society will become more advanced and they will be able to move forward instead of staying at the same spot forever. This is how he realizes his "sins" were actually good and that men are supposed to think for themselves.
Prometheus writes: “The secrets of this earth are not for all men to see, but only for those who will seek them.” (Chapter 3) Why does he think that the secrets of this earth are not for all men to see? If he thinks this, why does he decide to show his glass box to the World Council of Scholars? How do these issues relate to the theme of the novel?
As the novel opens Equality 7-2521 states that what he's doing is a sin. In his society it is a sin to do things that do not involve others, and the words he thinks and writes are for no one eyes to see or hear, but his own. In his society everyone thinks the same, and if you were to be the different one you would be sent to the palace of correction and detention. Equality 7-2521 actually had a mind of his own. As you can see Science fascinated him. For example in chapter 1 while it was dark Equality 7-2521 would sneak into a dark tunnel in which he would spend 3 hours doing scientific research, and experiments. He would also steal manuscripts from the scholars, and every night he would study. This went on for two years. The difference between Equality 7-2521 and his society is that he actually wanted to succeed, while the rest of his society would settle for what they were told to be. The "glass box", can also be referred as a light bulb. After countless nights of experimenting, Equality 7-2521 succeeds in connecting the power of electricity to re-invent the electric light. This invention that he came up with can benefit to society, but he doesn't know how to tell them. Remember, you can't do anything that others can't do. That was the philosophy that the society believed in. He figured that since the council wouldn't appreciate his work, he would rather show his invention to the scholars. When the World Council of Scholars arrives in his city, he will present to them, as his gift, the "glass box with the power of the sky." One night while Equality 7-2521 was working on an experiment in his tunnel, he totally lost track of time. He rushed out, and then the council questioned him on why was he late. Equality 7-2521 refused to answer and therefore he was sent to the palace of correction and detention. He was able to escape and retreat back to the tunnel. He found everything the same way that he had left it. He was then getting prepared for the arrival of the scholars.
Summary of Text: ‘The Redfern Address’ is a speech that was given to a crowd made up of mainly indigenous Australians at the official opening of the United Nations International Year of the World’s Indigenous Peoples in Redfern Park, New South Wales. This text deals with many of the challenges that have been faced by Indigenous Australians over time, while prompting the audience to ask themselves, ‘How would I feel?’ Throughout the text, Keating challenges the views of history over time, outlines some of the outrageous crimes committed against the Indigenous community, and praises the indigenous people on their contribution to our nation, despite the way they have been treated.
Similarly, this paper also emphasized sport or sporty population as Australian symbol (Bruce & Hallinan, 2001; Byrant, 2013). Another perspective is that two major Australian movies of “Australia” and “Rabbit-Proof Fence” demonstrated the wildness, wartime mate-ship and contested history of the nation as a pioneer with beautiful nature of rural Australia. Bush and Aborigine are undoubtedly identified as one of Australianism, which is the sacred symbol of local places in the nation, the resource of life and the location where symbol animals such as koalas and kangaroos settle down (Karanfilović, 2008). Thus, Australian identity, which influentially generated by media represents people are allowed to live under human rights in this country with satisfying equity, people are easy going and welcome, love sports and animals surrounded by great