Poetry Analysis Essay on poems "Unearth", "Eyes" and "Key"

Introduction

Language has the power to reflect and shape individual and collective identity (Holland-Batt, 2015). The poems by Ali Cobby Eckermann played a huge role in disrupting prevailing assumptions and beliefs about the Australian culture to the audience. Throughput the book Eckermann contemplates on her personal relationship and cultural identity majorly as a way of communicating to the audience the wider social, cultural, political and historical issues in Australia. Her poems have clear representations of the culture, history, and society of the Aboriginal people.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The Impact of Punctuation (or Lack Thereof) on the Reading Experience

Ackermann writes the poems without punctuation to invite measured reading that gives to the audience room for reflection. She also tries to bring the audience to understand her culture through a careful selection of titles for her poems. The poem "Oombulgarri" raises curiosity to the reader to find out what Oombulgarri means. As a result, the reader ends up learning more about Australian culture and history.

Addressing Injustices in "Unearth" and "Eyes"

The poems "Unearth" and "Eyes" draws attention to the mistreatments that the Aboriginals face in Australia and reminds us of the injustices that exist in society today. "Unearth" uses rigorous figurative imagery to call people to arms when it says "let's dig up the soil and excavate the past/ [and] breathe life into the bodies of our ancestors... [for] the sound of rising warriors echo... [and] there is blood on the truth" (Eckermann, 2015). The poem also brings out a sense of the history of the Aboriginals indigenous people in its last stanza that reads "boomerang bones will return to memory/ [for] excavation holes are dug in our minds/ [and] the constant loss of breath is the legacy" (Eckermann, 2015).

The poem "Eyes" explores the theme of anger against the persecution that the people face in saying "she picks the eyes filled with rage" (Eckermann, 2015). it also puts into focus the persecutions that indigenous people of Australia faced when the narrator wonders "which eyes will she need for today/[because] the eyes of terror she has thrown away/the eyes of submission are blinded now/ she avoid the eyes of shame/will she choose eyes of wonder or contempt". We learn of the need to stand up against oppression when "her eyes stare to challenge her" (Eckermann, 2015).

Beauty and Cultural Identity in Eckermann's Poems

Eckermann also gives considerable reference to the ....culture as one that identifies with beauty. This can be seen at the beginning of "Key" where "A girl stands outside grandmother's door/ [which]... is painted of blue with a speck of gold" and in the first stanza of "Oombulgarri" where there are "blue patterned dresses" (Eckermann, 2015).

The poem "Key" draws on the aspects of Eckermann's relationship with her grandmother as a distant one with lack of attention since "their time is sparse like a dying tree... [and] no one expects more from each other... [and] a girl and her grandmother sit in contrast / two kindled spirits swaying feet/as if in rhythm to an unknown tune" (Eckermann, 2015). It also raises curiosity to the audience as to what her grandmother does being closed doors when we read because when "the girl stands at grandmother's door//unconditionally she waits down the hallway// [her] ears strain to catch the muffled whisper//and [she] stands transfixed// [since her] grandmother never invites her inside the room/ [she hears] the creek of bedsprings.../ [and] the little girl never stares to pry/"(Eckermann, 2015).

Work Cited

Eckermann, A.C. (2015). Inside My Mother. Giramondo Publishing. 64 pp PB, ISBN: 9781922146885.

Holland-Batt, S. (2013). Verse novels in the review. Southerly, 72(3). Retrieved from http://eprints.qut.edu.au/60616/