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look at the world we live in ... the suffering, poignant
and necessary world.
“Drifters” indeed, is a portrait of what goes on
in that “necessary world.” It is the empathy of the
poet that keeps his ideologies, when depicted in a
poem, from becoming overzealous. One of the
beautiful aspects of “Drifters” is that the reader is
left feeling as if he or she has witnessed a stark and
melancholy moment. Others of Dawe’s poems have
a similar effect. Consider these lines from “Phan-
tasms of Evening,” concerning the Vietnam War:
Light fails. From here
it’s hard to see
whether those young men ghost-dancing into there
graves
are Viet Cong or Sioux ...
Say, are those plumed shadowsFlying Horesemen of the First Air Cavalry
Division,
or Hittites bringing the gospel of iron
to confound the Egyptians?
Whose war are we up to now?
Whose mourning is it?
These lines passionately and concisely covey
the poet’s moral stance, and the result is aching.
Likewise, of the poem “Home-coming” the critic
Geoffrey Lehmann of the Bulletinwrote: “There is
a tolerance point where excruciating pain becomes
angelic singing, and this poem exists at that point.”
To strike such a note of purity is a major accom-
plishment.
One of the wellsprings for Dawe’s conscience
is his Christian belief, although few of his poems
are overtly religious. Interestingly, though, selec-
tions from Dawe’s 1999 volume, such as “Some
Old Testament Characters with Big Problems Get
the Latest Treatment” (presumably by negotiating
with one of the new gods: psychiatry), do use reli-
gious themes to expose perceived hypocrisies in so-
ciety.
If one were to search for a salient criticism of
Dawe, it would be that his effort to make his
poems sound like everyday speech (through use of
the vernacular) at times comes across as affected.
However, one might argue that that is a far less
grievous fault than the transgressions of academic
poetry.
Dawe takes on personal and cultural issues full
throttle, and remains a force to be reckoned with.
Source:Erica Smith, in an essay for Poetry for Students,
Gale, 2001.Sources
Lehmann, Geoffrey, “Beyond the Subdivisions,” review, in
Bulletin,May 2, 1970, p. 56.
Martin, Philip, “Public yet Personal: Bruce Dawe’s Poetry,”
in Meanjin Quarterly,Vol. 25, No. 3, 1966, p. 21.
McLaren, Greg, “I Think I Must Write This Down,” review,
in Southerly,Spring-Summer, 1999, p. 403.
Semmler, Clement, Twentieth-Century Australian Literary
Criticism,Oxford University Press, 1967, pp. 350-51.
Shapcott, Thomas, “Introduction,” inContemporary Amer-
ican & Australian Poetry,University of Queens Press, 1976,
pp. xxiii-xxxiii.
Smith, Vivian, “Poetry,” inThe Oxford History of Australian
Literature,edited by Leonie Kramer, Oxford University
Press, 1981, pp. 269-426.For Further Study
Australian Literature: An Anthology of Writing from the
Land Down Under,edited by Phyllis Fahrie Edelson, Bal-
lentine Books, 1993.
This overview has examples from the greatest writ-
ers in all periods throughout Australian history. Edel-
son’s introduction gives an especially concise and
helpful chronology of the country’s civic and liter-
ary growth.
Buckley, Vincent, Essays in Poetry, Mainly Australian,
Books for Libraries Press, 1969.
This collection is out of print and a little dated, but
it still provides a good analysis of the Australian lit-
erary scene at about the time “Drifters” was written.
Clark, Manning, A Short History of Modern Australia,Men-
tor Books, 1963.
Published at about the same time as this poem,
Clark’s book concentrates on the country’s history as
a prison, with plenty of interesting tales that illumi-
nate how the Australians came to be who they are.
Tranter, John, “Australian Poetry 1940–1980: A Personal
View,” in Poetry,October-November, 1996, pp. 86-93.
This essay, published in Poetrymagazine’s special
Australian issue, is written by one of the most influ-
ential writers on the Australian poetry scene.Drifters