Consumerism

Bruce Dawe uses his poetry as a tool to criticise the consumer driven America and societies with consumer values. He puts forward different ideas about consumerism through use of techniques such as metaphor, parody and colloquial language. This can be seen in particular poems such “Enter without so much as knocking” and “Americanized”.

The poem “Enter without so much as knocking” explores the negative issues of consumerism through the example of one mans life. The poem has a cycle structure, starting with “Blink, blink. HOSTPIAL” to symbolise his birth and ending on “Blink, blink CEMETERY” to symbolise his death. This structure helps to show how he was corrupted over time.

The idea that the young are too naïve and also ‘lucky’ that they ...