The Drought Year By Hugh Wright

Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities; it is solely used to evoke emotive feelings in the reader in which to convey a message or story. This form of literature has a long history dating back thousands of years and is considered a literacy art form as it uses forms and conventions to evoke differentiating interpretations of words, though the use of poetic devices. Devices such as assonance, figurative language, alliteration, onomatopoeia and rhythm are sometimes used to achieve a musical and memorable aspect to the poem. Poems are usually written based on the past experiences of the poet and are greatly influenced by the writer’s morals values and beliefs. Poetry regularly demonstrates and emphasises on the

In the poem, the reader finds themselves trapped in the harsh and unrelenting landscape of drought stricken Australia, only to be witness to the sheer relentlessness and devastation of the drought that is readily consuming the land. It is a witnessing that quickly becomes a warning, one repeatedly reinforced and capitalised on by the loud and strange cries of a dingo. Throughout the poem, Wright clearly outlines the importance of life and the harsh yet fragile reality of nature, by including many depictions of dead or dying animals and plants. Towards the end of the poem the narrator finds themselves propping a dead horse outside the gate of the ‘thirty mile dry’ in hope of warning people not to come this way, or they too, will face a horrible demise at the hands of the relentless

This gives the effect that although there is mass devastation, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel, in this case for the eagle, the leftover remains of a carcass. However, as seen throughout the poem this isn’t the case for everyone and everything as the dead or dying clearly outnumber those prospering from the drought. This further adds to the miserable and discouraging mood of the poem. Other poetic devices are also used during the course of the