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my country and william street essay

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my country and william street essay
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How is an Australian Voice transgressed through the texts studied?
The Australian voice is highlighted extensively throughout the inspirational texts, this creates credibility therefore helps the composers shape ideals. This is shown in the poem My Country composed by Dorothea Mackellar and in the visually stimulating urban poem, William Street written by Kenneth Slessor.
Kenneth Slessor’s poem William Street demonstrates the use of an Urban Australian voice through the use of techniques and effects. Slessor takes a real scene and situation and recreates it so that the reader can imaginatively experience the situation through the use of sensory imagery, sounds and emotions associated with the Kings Cross. The opening stanza focuses on William Street, on a rainy night through “The red globe of light”. The visual imagery of the Cross portrays the radiant colours and lights as if it is photographed. The symbolism showed in “red globe of light” connotes the prostitution displayed in Kings Cross which portrays the danger placed in the word “red”.
Slessor uses this poem to defend against those who believe the city is “ugly”. The repetition of “You find it ugly, I find it lovely” states in clear colloquial language that the contrast in response concerns the poet. He also uses tone in this sentence, to show that he stands firm with his opinion and Is defiant, as it shows he views things differently and finds the beauty in all things. People may have the opinion of how the country has more beauty than a city, and one of those reasons could be that the city changes and not necessarily in a good way. This sentence “ You find this ugly, I find it lovely”, explains that even though millions of people find this street ugly, he finds the love in the smell, feel and atmosphere of William street.
The poem My Country composed by Dorothea Mackellar uses techniques to

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