Homecoming By Bruce Dawe

Poetry is the written expression of feelings and ideas which is given passion by the use of distinctive language style. War poetry is written to communicate experiences, or a pacifist who write poems about war. The severe poem Homecoming by Bruce Dawe and the empathetic ‘The Falling leaves by Margaret Postgate Cole are both written from the perspective of someone who is not on the battlefield. They utilise a variety of imagery and literary features to further emphasize the deeper significance of war while conveying the message that war is wasting young soldiers lives and brings much suffering and grief to family and friends. Dawe and Cole have similar perspectives of death and delve into how war affects others. However, the gender of the poets

The poem deliberates a narrator who watches as leaves fall from a tree. Dawe’s poem is written in the perspective of third person which gains an emotional detachment; the poem allows the reader to view and understand of the tragedy in its total. Retelling “home, home, home” highlights the emotional bonds of the soldiers, which is a technique revealing the monotony of the experiences involved in war. Dawe uses vivid visual imagery to emphasise the emotional damage caused to friends and family through the loss of a loved one in war “The spider swings in his bitter geometry” and “Telegrams tremble like leaves from a wintering tree” illustrate the arbitrary grief that affects those who receive notices of those who have died. Dawe also repeats the use of the pronoun “they’re”, which hints at the impersonal connection between the bodies and their trainers. Repeating the same suffix “-ing” in “bringing”, “tagging”, “zipping”, “picking”, and “giving”, describes the actions of processes and therefore establishes irony. These verbs infer life and strength, in plain contrast to the lifeless, emotionless body that is handled each day. Dawe use of repetition is effective to highlight the shocking brutality that has been well-known in all wars throughout history. Cole addresses a similar meaning with different images and language. “I saw the brown leaves dropping from their tree in a still