Oodgeroo Noonuccal Then And Now Analysis

Good Morning, Miss Bunyoung and Classmates.
Poetry surrounds us in our everyday life. It can alter people's emotions, feelings and set their imagination free.‘Then and Now’ is a poem written by the poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal. The poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal, known until 1998 as Kath Walker, is a very important figure in Queensland history. She was a leading poet, writer and activist for Aboriginal rights. Hence, why her poem is in relation to the loss of Aboriginal culture/lifestyle in society.

Subject Matter:
Then and Now refers to the desire the poet has for the aboriginal lifestyle to be like how it was before European colonisation. In other words it’s about her expressing the loss of Aboriginal culture, in the point of view of an Aboriginal women, herself.

Purpose:
In my opinion, the purpose of the poem is to bring awareness to the loss of aboriginal culture in society today. This is because the poem gives a perspective on city life and how it has affected her memories of what her life used to be like. It gives us insight to

Imagery is words that appeal to our senses, it then allows us to create a vivid image or sense of idea. A good example of imagery in the poem ‘Then And Now’ can be found in line 8 ‘factory belches smoke’. These words create a clear picture of a factory violently emitting smoke and describes what a modern city would have . Hyperbole was also used in the poem. It can be found in the 3rd line. ‘But dreams are shattered by rushing car’. This line is exaggerating that her dreams are destroyed by the European colonisation. Another strong poetic device repeatedly used in the poem is personification. An example of personification is the phrase ‘...hissing train..’. This is a figure of speech in which the train was given human characteristics as hissing. Theses examples/words help us to create images in our heads, which then helps to interpret the poem they way Oodgeroo sees