Do Bruce Dawes Poems Continue to Reflect Australian Identity? - Speech

Enter without so much as knocking is a poem written by Bruce Dawe. This poem follows the life of a typical man from birth to death, exploring how he is conditioned into a materialistic world. Dawe uses his poem to portray his view of the unspoken social issues concerning the contemporary Australian society. The first stanza speaks of a baby waking into new life. Dawe stresses the point that the first sound of existence to the baby was not the voice of a loving mother but the voice of materialism. Ten days old, carried into the front door in his mother’s arms, first thing he heard was Bobby Dazzler on channel 7. The colon at the end of the line marks a pause and a change in tone. A new member of the family has been born and yet the television is on and bobby dazzler is preaching his false clichés to the household. Hello,  hello, hello all you lucky people. Dawe is intensely judgemental to the suburban life and the fact that people worship the television set. A year or two to settle in and get acquainted with the set up. This line in stanza two is systematic and impersonal. Contrasting this to the usual warmth and love linked with the birth of a child. The line wellequipped, smoothly-run household gives the impression these sorts of households must be common. The fact that these people lack individuality is being focused on and the rest of the family is presented in a stereotypical way. One economy-sized mum, one Anthony squires-coolstream-summerweight dad, along with two other kids, straight off the junior department rack. Every aspect of this family is described in an unfriendly and tedious manner. His siblings aren’t described by their gender or age, but are summarised as children who wear the same identity as everyone else This is an example of effective satire, giving the impression that society recognises labels not the identity of people, once again proving society is taken over by the materialistic aspects of life. The first sign of any emotion in the poem is...