Migrants by Bruce Dawe

Bruce Dawe's poem, Migrants, portrays a long quest from the perception of a migrant group. The particular group is acknowledged as “they” as they were met with indifferences from the locals. “They” reacted to this treatment with surprise and confusion which is made evident in the line, “indifference surprised them..” which creates a sense of ambiguity and lack of identity. This mystified poem depicts feelings of ignorance as well as disinterest as “they” are treated with a lack of concern.

This text portrays the physical journey between continents as lengthy. This is evident “In the fourth week the sea dropped clear away And they were there ...” which contains features of imagery, pronouns and ellipsis. The Imagery appeals to the audiences visual senses and creates an atmosphere. Ellipsis gives a sense of ambiguity & evokes attentiveness in the audience. Pronouns evoked in the poem allows the theme to be easily accessed by the audience by suggesting the migrants have a lack of identity as a result of leading their homeland & traveling for a prolonged period.

It reinforces that physical journeys may improve your physical situation & may present new surroundings. Evident in the quote“In which both earth & water were being blent As it pulsed up in rich wells from underground”
“But still the skies stayed friendly”
Imagery. Symbolism

Imagery is utilised in the text to engage the audiences’ sense of sight to effectively convey the idea of finding comfort in new surroundings.

Alliteration is employed to add a rhythmic quality to the text, to pique the audiences’