Up the Wall, by Bruce Dawe

One of the many factors that have contributed to the success of Australian poetry both locally and internationally is the insightful commentary or depiction of issues uniquely Australian or strongly applicable to Australia. Many Australian poets have been and are fascinated by the issues relevant to Australia. Many in fact nearly all of these poets have been influenced or have experienced the subject matter they are discussing. These poets range from Oodgeroo Noonuccal Aboriginal and women’s rights activist to Banjo Patterson describing life in the bush. Bruce Dawe is also one of these poets. His insightful representation of the dreary, depressing life of many stay at home mothers in “Up the Wall” is a brilliant example of a poem strongly relevant to Australia.

Bruce Dawe the common people’s poet has been influenced by a diverse range of experiences contributing to his wide range of subject matter. Dawe’s interests are quite eclectic yet his poetic “home base” is his interest in the lives of ordinary Australians, the experiences they go through and topics affecting them. Thus most of his poems are easily read by everyday Australians due to the simple yet effective vocabulary. Some of these topics include poems about suburbia, loneliness, old age and sport. Bruce Dawe is also strongly pacifist with his feelings on war most strongly pronounced in the poem “Homecoming”. Dawe’s interest in society is most likely due to his experience of being born into a lower class family his father having the menial job of a labourer. He also left school early having to do many menial jobs. Dawe’s poetry strongly focuses on the experiences of everyday working class Australians and thus his target audience is vast.

Bruce Dawe’s target audience t...

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...n’t call anyone as she has no contacts near her so she is lonely. Finally the husband speaks in the last two lines clearly showing his inconsiderate behavior towards the plight of his wife even daring to say that it is quiet while his wife is prepared to scream.

This essay has explored Bruce Dawe’s influences coming up in his poetry and has analysed the poem “Up the Wall” to show that one of the reasons that Bruce Dawe has been successful both locally and internationally is due to the interesting subject matter of issues important to Australia. In “Up the Wall” he has explored the negative aspect of the life of the stay at home mum which is an important issue now and in the future for Australians. He has shown that it is not inferior to work and pursue a career as a mum as it is not inferior to stay at home as staying at home is simply not suited to many mothers.