Essay On Murray's Poetry Search And Destroy

What is the first thing you picture when you hear the words “Australian nature”? I’m sure most of you instantly think of the green-filled plains or the sunburnt land and the shimmering, blue water we are surrounded by. And yes, the majority of us take pride in our sun flared lifestyle and rhapsodise about what nature brings to us. Consequently, it is no surprise that many Australian poems are based on ideas of the Australian environment, landscape and nature, whether with respect to our untouched and pristine environment or to our domesticated farmlands. Two of our current poets who explicitly portray very different ideas about the environmental circumstances we are living in are: Les Murray, a typical Australian poet who reveals his passionate and unshakable love for the rural landscape of Australia in his poem Spring Hail; and Bruce Dawe, who has written a poem, Search and Destroy that expresses his protest and frustration at our human infested, machinery dominated and polluted environment.

When we reflect on Murray’s free-verse poem, Spring Hail, we can see that he focuses on describing the unbreakable connection between humans and nature. In the poem he writes of a young boy on the cusp of …show more content…
While Murray values the positive features of the Australian landscape and conveys his passion for it, Dawe questions if we really value our environment after all the devastating changes Mother Nature has had to endure due to our actions. So, will we act as we have done for the last two hundred years, or will we bring back the rich and beautiful landscape that once appeared before our eyes? Irrespective of ours or anyone else’s opinions, each poet has developed an appealing yet differing remark about Australian nature and has truly revealed the depth and breadth of this unique, nevertheless diverse writing form –