Good morning, I’m Phoebe from Itunes University, and in today’s podcast episode we are going to be discussing the relevance of Australian poetry to the 21st-century teenage audience. Poetry is an excellent form of writing which is, in most cases, easy to read and understand. It is a great form of writing to express feelings and share ideas about social issues, particularly issues with self-esteem and self-acceptance. A person’s teenage years are when other people’s opinions matter the most and during this time, it isn’t uncommon for a teenager to struggle with their self-esteem. Australian poetry is an excellent device for informing adolescents about these topics and acknowledging that there are many other people dealing with these in their lives. Today we will be analysing two poems which are vastly different but they both explore relevant issues present in teenagers’ lives today. ‘On Home Beaches’ by Les Murray is a poem that discusses the struggle of being self-conscious, however it also brings a sense of not being alone to the reader. Another poem that brings ideas of self-consciousness and also self-acceptance is ‘People are not Poetry’ by Erin Hanson. Through the …show more content…
analysis of themes presented within the poems, the meanings conveyed and the use of poetic techniques to support these, the relevance of Australian poems to teenagers in today’s society can be seen. The first poem, ‘On Home Beaches’ by Les Murray, conveys ideas of a highly judgmental society. It expresses how peers, strangers and even sometimes our families are constantly picking out our flaws and it also illustrates the anxieties that then develops from this. The poem begins with a personal description of feelings however it incorporates other people when it uses the pronoun she, and later, the singular perspective changes to plural with words like faces and families. The change of perspective conveys as sense of not being alone to the reader. This is an important idea for teenagers to grasp as they are more subject to being influenced by the thoughts and opinions of those around them. “The great hawk of the beach is outstretched, point to point, quivering and hunting.” These two lines use a metaphor to refer to the beach as a ‘great hawk’. The beach is labelled as a bird of prey which is hunting for victims, suggesting that the beach or the people at the beach are wanting to ridicule people and make them feel judged in order to make themselves feel less self-conscious. ‘Point to point’ refers to the fact that everyone at the beach is being judged and that no one can escape it. The adds to the thought of not being alone as it reassures the reader that you are not the only one subject to the judgement. “You peer, at this age, but it’s still there, ridicule, the pistol that kills women, that gets them killed,” The two previous lines are used by Les Murray to express that it is not only you that feels insecure. The first line explicitly relates to you, as the reader, still feeling insecure even as you grow older however, the second line moves on to a plural approach thus supporting the idea that there are many people who feel insecure. The metaphor of the pistol killing women suggests violence and horror, which is a reoccurring theme of Murray’s word choice. The harsh words communicate the brutality of people’s judgements, and the use of the word kill represents the severe effect it has on teenagers. Addressing the severe outcome advocates the importance of not allowing feelings of isolation and others opinions control of how you see yourself. The second poem, ‘People are not Poetry’ by Erin Hanson, confronts issues of self-acceptance within teenagers. The poem personifies poetry to be something that everyone wishes to become. It expresses how people are constantly troubled by the smaller things in life and that it isn’t often that someone realises how precious their life is. Teenagers often struggle with this concept because of the constant pressure applied to them from peers, family and even themselves. Similar to Les Murray’s poem, this poem relates to teenagers as they are less likely to understand that you are who you are and that people shouldn’t influence you to change that. “And I know that you wish you weren’t awkward, That sweet words could roll right off your tongue, But your time here’s too short to worry, How each single sentence is strung.” These four lines use rhyming and alliteration to show that wishing you were something you’re not wastes the precious time you have to live.
The rhyme of the second and fourth line allows the poem to linger in the thoughts of the reader creating a continuous reminder of the message being conveyed. These lines express the important message of making the most out of your time. The entire poem uses a metaphor which displays poetry as something that is fixed and that once it is written, it cannot be changed. The last two lines of this stanza relates the readers’ life to a poem with the use of the word sentence to refer to aspects of young Australians’ lives. This metaphor allows teenage readers to get the sense that it is important to make the most out of your life and not to stress about the small
things. “It’s ok to be rough around the edges, To be bruised up and broken and scarred, But it’s not ok to let people tell you, That it’s a reason to change who you are,” This stanza expresses to the audience that it’s ok to be who you are and that you don’t need to change for other people. The first two lines use words like bruised and scarred to describe how a person is. The use of physical descriptions and imagery paint a picture to the audience. The descriptions do not necessarily mean that the person is physically broken as it can relate to being ‘broken’ mentally or it can also relate to how you feel. Although the ideas of self-acceptance can relate to people of all ages it is important to convey this message to teenagers as they are more subject to listen and implement others opinions of them more so than adults. Australian teenagers benefit immensely from reading and interpreting poems. Australian poems are especially useful to Australian teenagers as they convey various ideas about prominent issues for teens today. ‘On Home Beaches’ by Les Murray and ‘People are not Poetry’ by Erin Hanson are both examples of poems that bring ideas to the reader about social issues like self-consciousness and self-acceptance. Both poems use poetic techniques to assist in the communication of the themes present in the poems. Although the poems are about specific events or relate to certain circumstances, they can also be adapted to fit any situation within a teenagers’ life.
Poetry is painting that speaks. It might be defined as the clear expression of cloudy feelings. Composers use poetry to shape their perspective for the responder to interpret. Australia has inspired how poets use skilful language to describe its distinctive beauty. Australian vision is exemplified in Douglas Stewart’s
Many modern poets, including Billy Collins write in free verse. Richard Howard was quoted singing Collins’s praises about his verse. Howard said, “He has a remarkably American voice…that one recognizes immediately as being of the moment and yet has real validity besides, reaching very far into what verse can do”(“Billy Collins”). His poems often “reject any regular meter or rhyme, though it still incorporates rhythmical and sound effects that help convey a poem’s meaning” (Prinsky). Because the poem flows quickly, it is very easy to understand and interpret. If it were written with a certain rhyme scheme, the ideas that Collins portrayed would sound choppy and hard to infer. All of the points proved before work together to shape the overall meaning of the work. The author wrote this poem not only to provide readers with a relatable experience presented in an unorthodox way, but he also wrote it to show that even though one part of life is in the past, revisiting moments can bring happiness and be very beneficial. Towards the end of the poem when speaking about the present and how students still stop by to visit him and “turn in late papers”, he says that they”....[ask] a question about Yeats or double spacing” (Line 34). This line stands out because it shows that no matter the time frame, revisiting the past can help and not always harm. This meaning can relate to many things,
The article “A Letter To My Younger Self” written by Terrance Thomas is made to motivate readers, especially teenagers that share similar concerns and emotions as the author’s younger self. By writing a letter to his younger self, Terrance created a motivational and melancholic tone. The style of writing is, therefore, informal with a poetic touch to it. The article is written to motivate readers which results in it to have a motivational and melancholic tone. “Those moments of fear, inadequacy, and vulnerability that you have been running from, are the moments that will shape you.”.
She gets to the point and proves that in our current world we tend to say more than we should, when just a couple of words can do the same. In her writing, it is evident that the little sentences and words are what make the poem overall that perfect dream she wishes she were part of.
In the end, the poem is looking to show what actions can do in the long run. It teaches us to be very cautious with everything we do since it can affect the people around us. It can have good or bad
enable us to understand the moral of the poem. Which is work hard and you will receive you goals and never give up.
Good poetry provides meaningful commentary. One indication of a poem’s success in this is the depth of thought the reader has as a result of the poem. The poems I anthologized may take different
Have you ever wanted to make your own decisions without your mum telling you what to do? I know I have. Have you ever wanted more freedom? Of course! Have you ever felt that you had to belong in a specific group? Or feel like you don’t belong in a certain group? Well, that’s completely normal. We’re all going through adolescence now. Through the time between childhood and adulthood, from ages 12 to 18, where we become more rebellious and we grow emotionally and physically. This change is adolescence. Now, ‘Guitar Highway Rose’, written by Brigid Lowry explores belonging and rebellion, perfect examples of adolescent issues. ‘Mean Girls’ directed by Mark Waters also conveys the same themes, showing the importance of truth, respect and trust.
O. Henry once said, “The true adventurer goes forth aimless and uncalculating to meet and greet unknown fate.” The poem goes a lot a deeper than the words on the page, the items and decisions within it really make you see things differently. Three symbols really stuck out to me; adolescence, sadness, and timelessness.
In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by the name of Langston Hughes. A well-known writer that still gets credit today for pomes like “ Theme for English B” and “Let American be American Again.”
Billy Collins has used a specific metaphor, simile, rhyme and personification in his poem ‘Introduction to poetry’ in order to show how one should better understand a poem. This poem focused on what the poem actually mean and how a poem should be clearly understood. Throughout the poem, Billy Collins has presented a clear way of understanding the poem by using a very interesting imagery, symbolism, metaphor and a very sensitive sound. The words used in this poem are so powerful that the readers are convinced to think about the issue presented in the poem.
These lines demonstrate the stage of adulthood and the daily challenges that a person is faced with. The allusions in the poem enrich the meaning of the poem and force the reader to become more familiar with all of the meaning hidden behind the words. For example, she uses words such as innocence, imprisonment and captive to capture the feelings experienced in each of the stages. The form of the poem is open because there are no specific instances where the lines are similar. The words in each stanza are divided into each of the three growth stages or personal experiences.
The author uses imagery, contrasting diction, tones, and symbols in the poem to show two very different sides of the parent-child relationship. The poem’s theme is that even though parents and teenagers may have their disagreements, there is still an underlying love that binds the family together and helps them bridge their gap that is between them.
In the poem “Speech to the Young” by Gwendolyn Brooks, the author uses three author’s craft techniques. Gwendolyn Brooks uses the literary techniques of paradox, symbolism, and oxymoron to portray the meaning of the poem. She is trying to spread her message by a poem. The meaning of the poem is basically about teens keeping up their heads (never giving up.) She is trying to explain to teens that life isn’t always going to be tough.
To me, this is a very significant reminder because life is originally created to give meanings to ourselves and contributes values to others. How we live it out depends if we have a dream or desire to pursue. If we have nothing to motivate us to bring forth our best into this world, then we will really become like the barren field who has lost its original abundance to provide. This poem again connects my GRQ question showing the importance of dreams and desires have on decision making process. With this poem, it further support the evidence that dreams and desires are the main elements that instigate us to action and to make best decisions. If this theory is consistently proven, I can only imagine the risk we will undertake if we live our lives without any desire or dreams. So far, I can only make a conclusion that a person without desires will not be making any optimum decision or significant actions to seek meaningful contributions and desired outcome. On the contrary, we may end up making inconsiderate and unfavorable decisions, not only affecting ourselves by also others around