Poem Analysis: Immigrants At Central Station

Immigrants at Central Station, 1951

The title of this poem identifies time and place precisely and this presents a strong image. The poem depicts a group of immigrants waiting to depart on a train and start another physical journey. Central Station is the hub of Sydney railway network especially in 1951 since travel by plane and car was rare and the station was overcrowded with commuters. The interval in the physical journey of the train and the waiting at the station reflects the composer’s apprehension and curiosity towards the impending physical journey where the destination is unknown.
The poems structure is ten and five line stanzas. The first stanza begins with two short sentences to establish and emphasise the feeling, sadness and
The incongruous imagery of Watching pigeons / that watched them emphasises the peculiarity of immigrants from others that even the pigeons watched them. The last stanza emphasis the wait in a limbo of the immigrants and contrasts it with the sudden arrival of the train. The repetition of the first sentence in this stanza But it was sad to hear emphasises the return to the reality form their monotonous wait. The simile Like a word of command duplicates the militaristic submission of the immigrant’s past to the present. The imagery evoked in the sentence The signal at the platform’s end / turned red and dropped emphasises the real experience of the immigrants and a recognition of their suffering in another place and time. The powerful imagery elicited in the simile it dropped /Like a guillotine- / Cutting us off from the space of eyesight connotes the pessimistic attitude of the poet towards the physical journey as the barbaric signal’s dropping is emotionally sensitised. The allusion to eyesight signifies the immigrant’s obscurity of the future. The last two lines are separated from the stanza thought they are part of the sentence and ten lines to dramatically emphasise the inevitability of the journey and the future that the tracks of steel symbolise. The effect of the verb glistening is to emphasise the sinister future of the immigrants. Consequently the word immigrants, the setting at a railway station all represent the impending physical journey but the poem is about the waiting, apprehension, the weariness and the impact of ‘journeying’ on people. There’s an overwhelming sense of sadness, regret and apprehension about the future as the immigrants are drawn inevitably on their journey by the command of the whistle and the train tracks stretching into the