Topic > The Human Experience in the Poetry of Bruce Dawe

A poet who energetically contemplated the world around him, Dawe was not just a devout Australian wordsmith with a dream that his work would one day be analyzed. It was a book full of insights, complex ideas, often about the essence of life and beyond. Through his poems Bedroom Conversations, Up The Wall, and Enter Without So Much As Knocking, Dawe presents his intricate vision of the human experience in an interesting light, illuminating both the paradoxes and cynicism of our world. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayBruce Dawe explores the human experience as a paradoxical cycle that depends heavily on the cynical nature of society. Although this nature unites society through consumerism and materialism, it simultaneously separates them. Discontinuous and disconnected relationships form due to the inability, or rather unwillingness, to fully empathize with different worldviews. These broken relationships create a strong sense of dissatisfaction, leaving individuals wanting “something more”; he wants to "complete" his world. However, the cynical nature of society causes these desires to go unfulfilled, leaving only chaos in its wake. In Bedroom Conversations and Come Without Knocking, Dawe explores the human experience by highlighting the cynical nature of society. The vain qualities that humans contain are adopted by the world around them. This creates a cycle that continues to shape and manipulate each new generation. Written in 1959, Enter Without So Much As Knocking demonstrates the effect of post-war consumer inflation. The line "Ten days... the first thing he heard was Bobby Dazzler on Channel 7" immediately sets the scene of a child, born into a self-centered world. The absence of emotion and the cultural allusion to "Bobby Dazzler" illustrate the value of this society's materialism over the celebration of life. The fifth stanza further reveals human cynicism through the metaphor "Hit wherever you see a head and kick whoever is down", demonstrating the influence of a self-centered world on an individual. Likewise, vanity is recognized in the two young girls in Bedroom Conversations. They become distracted by their own reflections when they "suddenly stop while passing the mirror." The pause highlights the children's short attention span and fickle thinking, while the mirror symbolizes the way vanity shapes their experiences. Through these poems, it is clear that the cynical human nature adopted by society impacts an individual's experiences. The cynical nature of society results in the disjunction of relationships. Dawe illustrates how humans are unable to empathize with other worldviews. Up The Wall highlights a typical 1960s view of the relationship between a self-centered, oblivious husband and a hard-working wife. Written as a response to the sexual revolution, it gives voice to the perspective of a woman who, before this era, was silenced. The rhyme scheme of the first verse represents the housewife's routine, however it is ironic as her routine creates chaos rather than order. The superficial statement “'It's a quiet neighborhood,' he tells his friends” reflects the husband's mental separation from his wife as he is oblivious to her difficulties. This correlates to the disconnected relationships displayed in Enter Without So Much As Knocking. In the final stanza, the absence of emotion at the subject's funeral portrays his low importance to society, highlighted by the metaphor "Six feet down, no one interested" while "Blink, blink. CEMETERY. Silence." mirrors.