HOMECOMING

“HOMECOMING”

Poetry is a creative form of expression. The poet is able to explore a wide range of emotions and themes using poetic techniques. Poems position readers and in turn, readers have their own beliefs which impact on their readings, affecting the meaning they make of the poem. Bruce Dawe is an Australian poet who writes about everyday life. "Homecoming" is about American as well as Australian men's death in the Vietnam War, how they were treated after dying and how they were brought back home. It was written in 1968 during the war with the intent of making its audience aware of the senselessness and tragedy of war. Bruce Dawe’s selection of poetic techniques such as repetition, rhythm, personification, similes, and has brought forward the theme to the reader, allowing the reader to easily understand it. The poem is clearly an anti-war poem and is presented in 31 lines of broken verse. In one demanding stanza, Dawe recounts how "they are bringing" home the bodies "in d...