Elegy for Drowned Children by Bruce Dawe Essay

Elegy for Drowned Children is a verse form written by Australian poet Bruce Dawe in the 1960s. An elegy is a sad poesy or breed that laments the death of a person. This poem implies that the fictitious character had a close family relationship with someone who had drowned or loss their child to drowning.This poem has five four-lined stanzas. The starting and outlive lines rhyme with each other while the middle dickens lines rhyme with each other. This renders a song identical quality to the poem. The beginning three stanzas of the poem end with questions. This structures the idea of parents mourning with unanswered questions. The last two stanzas are enjambed. This gives the effect of the parents realizing theres no rouse in questioning their deaths but to be at peace with it. This poem is giving some consolation to the people who stir lost love ones, chief(prenominal)ly children, to drowning. The poem frequently refers to Greek mythology.There is an old queen regnant w hom is assumed to be the Greek god of the ocean Poseidon, who resides in the ocean and takes care of drowned children. In this poem, the old king takes a shining induce of children with his sure net. This kindles that many children have been taken by him. The use of the term sure implies that no one is really safe from him and that it is fated to happen. It could besides mean humans cannot prevent nor control the ocean. However, the persona describes his care as solicitous and tender. This expresses that the king is kind and caring to the children. In an perspiration to ease the parents distress, the use of mythology conveys the notion that the children are not just deceased but instead they are being taken care of in a safe kingdom.Dawe uses a simile when describing the parents who are, calling like birds by the waters edge. This use of simile creates the attend of frantic and alarmed parents repeatedly calling out the names of the children who have drowned. The significance of using birds instead of any other animal is to create an image that there are many parents who have experienced their children drowning and they conjointly call out to the water for the king to return them. The persona too uses simile when describing the boys who visit their parents fantasys who are fluid as porpoises.This comparison to the boys to porpoises suggest the bittersweet idea that the boys have been down in the ocean for so long that they have become accustomed to swimmingin the oceans and into their parents dreams. The persona in addition uses imagery when describing the boys skin as moonlit. This could be verbal or symbolic. Literally, it could mean the boys skin is as pale as the moon. However, symbolically, it could be skin that has not been in the sweet sun, which is life.The use of beginning rhyme in the line From leaden-lidded sleep, softly to steal slows the tone of the poem down. This creates a dream like quality to the rhythm of the poem which mirrors th e actual lecture of the poem. The repetition of the word upward in the last stanza helps create the dream like quality. It quickens the rhythm of the poem and emanates excitement. This could be a reflection of the emotions of the parents when having a dream about their children.This poem uses many techniques to convey its main ideas. It is a comforting poem for people who have lost their children to the water. The poem is relevant to us as Australians because we are community that spends a solid amount of time by the beach and in the water. We are also a community that has many deaths caused by drowning.