Images of darkness dominate Slessor’s poetry in revealing the macabre images of the defeat of humanity and the …show more content…
Personification in the lines “And tress like broken teeth” convey the destruction of the Australian landscape and the ‘teeth’ being gone is related to life being taken away. The simile indicates the negativity of settlement and image of deforestation driven by greed and a harsh life can turn people greedy. The image of urbanisation of the north coast uses emotive language in “And scornful rumps of cows” to exhibit that a cow is more significant than the Australian environment which brings life. Symbolism of the slaughter of the cow’s ‘rumps’ convey the ever growing commercialistic society and remorselessness occur with changes in lifestyles. Cows do not care about the destruction of trees for they are ‘scornful’ and receive what they wanted, the land they graze upon has been stripped similar to the innocent lives that has been striped. Slessor painted an image of dying land “dripping red with blood” use symbolism to remind responders the bleeding resembling butchered meat sacrifice for human greed. The last line articulates a clear image of pain and murder it clarifies the corpse metaphor that is seen in the whole poem represent the tree sap as ‘blood’ wasted for human exploitation of the natural Australian …show more content…
The mysterious images of “and secret places for their anguish” use of descriptive language highlights the personification of nature is alive identical to a human and there is a distant relationship between human and nature. Demonstrate nature has feelings, they made human realize a lack of connection with the natural world and human’s ignorance to the destruction of nature. Nature is given personal qualities similar to a friend who retrieve to a ‘secret place’ when sad to hide from their friends, the humans. The descriptive language in “Flanks of hidden valley” suggests an undisturbed place where friendship may flourish, an environment no human has ventured. The onomatopoeia highlight the sound of arrows being released, a trap set to block unknown human from entering the hidden valley relate to humans who build metaphorical walls to keep others away. The pleasant image of North Country is represented in “filled with gesturing wood” use descriptive language to create imagery of abundance of wood which implies positivity. Slessor personifies trees show elegance for their movement almost a form of communication and present a friendly image of a countryside overflowing with trees that are welcoming with gesturing