Bruce DaweLIFE CYCLE

Originated in Melbourne in 1858.

Has been played in Australia since 1915.

Australia is currently the only nation in the world where Australian rules football is played professionally.

In some regions, i t is marketed as ‘AFL’ (Australian Football League).

I t is also the most popular spor t ing league in Australia, averaging over 30,000 people per game.

CONTEXT – AUSTRALIAN RULES FOOTBALL

‘Big Jim Phelan’ was a flamboyant, 114kg ruck player for the South Melbourne Australian Rules Football Club (now Sydney Swans).

In 1902, Big Jim Phelan revitalisedAussie Rules, which had been largely displaced by Rugby Union, in New South Wales.

He was a great enthusiast for the game, and has been called a football evangelist (a preacher who tries to convert others to a set of beliefs).

Why do you think Bruce Dawe has dedicated this poem to Jim Phelan?

BIG JIM PHELAN

FOR WHOM THE POEM IS DEDICATED

Richmond Football Club is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Gracing their crest is a Tiger.

Their home field is the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Richmond were first established in 1885.

They have won ten premierships.

RICHMOND FOOTBALL CLUB

“Carn” the equivalent of saying “come on” in a thick

Australian accent.

“Beribboned” decorated with ribbons.

“Barracking” supporting.

“Rusk” a dry biscuit (baby food).

“Empyrean” referring to the sky, or heaven.

“Bludger” colloquial expression for someone who evades

responsibility.

“Covenant” a pact or agreement.

“Race -memory” a memory shared by a whole race, shared

subconsciously.

GENERAL TERMINOLOGY

Football is a religion. It…

Follows similar rites of passage

Involves ceremonial baptisms

Is a life-long act of worship

Is communal

Does not leave us after death.

Identify as many words in the poem you can that have Religious connotations.

KEY IDEAS

Football follows the pattern of the eternal life cycle.

Birth Life Death Rebirth.

1. Go through the poem and try to identify the four

stages of the life cycle in Dawe’s poem.

2. What are some key words or phrases that are

linked to these stages?

KEY IDEAS

Australian passions will never change.

Australians possess the need for something or someone that

will make their lives meaningful, bring their lives to fruition,

and save them. (Traditionally, people would have found this

meaning and purpose in the Church / religion)

In Victoria, Dawe insinuates that an individual’s sense of

belonging is fulfilled by Australian Rules Football.

Living a full life in Australia can be compared to being a

member of a sporting team – and the game being played is

“life” fairness / team work / struggle / hard work /

excitement / disappointment… what else?

KEY IDEAS

“When children are born in Victoria

they are wrapped in the club-colours, laid in beribboned cots,

having already begun a l ifetime’s barracking”

Imagery Born into football. Supporters from birth.

Alliteration of “club -colours” consistent, unchanging.

Vernacular “Barracking” – establishes setting in Australia

STANZA 1

“Carn, they cry, Carn… feebly at first

while parents playfully tussle with them

for possession of a rusk: Ah, he’s a l ittle Tiger! (And they are…)”

Alliteration “Carn, they cry, Carn” / “parents playfully”

Vernacular of the contraction ‘Carn ’ barracking, voice of fans, Australian slang.

Metaphor “little Tiger”, a proud symbol of the club’s mascotwhich suggests that baby is potentially a future player.

Allusion Tiger, mascot of Richmond team.

Ellipsis (And they are…), confirming that they are developing tiger-l ike qualities.

Enjambment breaks the free-flowing rhythm of the image and mirrors the “tussle” of the game with the rusk.

STANZA 2

“Hoisted shoulder -high at their f i rst League game

they are l ike innocent monsters who have been years swimming

towards the daylight’s roaring empyrean”

Simile “like innocent monsters who have been years swimming”, unbeknownst, strange and unnatural, beneath the ocean’s surface, unexposed to the wonders of the game.

Juxtaposition (contrast) of the “ innocent monsters” – and swimming in the darkness of the water, with the “daylight’s roaring empyrean”.

the muffled sounds beneath the water, contrasted with the roaring fans of a packed stadium.

Religious allusion “empyrean” = heaven, symbolism of the water = baptism into football compares the game to a religious ceremony.

Enjambment emphasises the uninterrupted flow of the game – as a metaphor for the inevitable flow of l ife

STANZA 3

“Until, now, hearts shrapnelled with rapture,

they break surface and are forever lost,

their minds rippling out like streamers”

metaphor “hearts shrapnelled” = the very ‘hearts’ of the spectators are pierced with the joy of the game sport is in an Australian’s blood!

Extended metaphor “break the surface” (of the water) Reaching the empyrean.

Religious allusion “rapture”, moment of enlightenment, transporting from earth to heaven.

Simile “minds rippling out l ike streamers”, opening up to the world, learning. Celebratory connotations and imagery of a mind opening up (learning… school… adolescence… )

STANZA 4

“In the pure flood of sound, they are scarfed with l ight, a voice

l ike the voice of God booms from the stands

Ooohh you bludger and the covenant is sealed.”

Symbolism impact of “flood”, overwhelming… and renewing the joy of life.

Metaphor “scarfed with light”, the light is symbolic of heightened awareness and enlightenment (becoming wise). .

Simile/Biblical allusion the thousands of fans barracking in unison is likened to “the voice of God”

Biblical allusion “Covenant is sealed” child is swept up in the euphoria of the crowd, and thus, they are true disciples of the game.

Vernacular / contrast “bludger / covenant” develops the image that the average Australian is true to his word. (covenant = bond or promise).

STANZA 5

“Hot pies and potato-crisps they will eat,

they wil l forswear the Demons, cl ing to the Saints

and behold their team going up the ladder into Heaven,”

Inversion and allusion Irony of typically Australian “hot pies and potato crisps” created by the inverted (back-to-front) syntax(sentence structure). Inversion is a common technique used in religious ceremonies and sermons.

Religious allusions

playing on the nicknames of other AFL clubs (‘Saints’ / St Kilda, and ‘Demons’ / Melbourne).

Forswear: swear not to support. A play on biblical teachings to reject evil and practise good.

They will witness their team climb the ladder to heaven (win the premiership). … Allusion to the story of Jacob’s ladder, reaching into the skies.

STANZA 6

“And the tides of l ife wil l be the tides of the home -team’s fortunes

- the reckless proposal after the one -point win,

the wedding and honeymoon after the grand -final…”

Repetition (“tides” / “after ”)

Alliteration

Emotive language (“reckless”)

Lexical chain (“proposal” “wedding ” “honeymoon”)

1. What parallel (thing in common/ connection) is Bruce Dawe

suggesting in this stanza? How are football and the “tides of l i fe” l inked?

2. What does the ell ipsis at the end of the stanza imply?

STANZA 7

“They will not grow old as those from more northern States grow old,

for them it will always be three -quarter-time

w ith the scores level and the wind advantage in the final term,”

The first line is a mocking allusion to the verse recited every day in

every RSL club in Australia… “They shall not grow old as we that are

left grow old…” what does this suggest?

Dawe, however, appropriates the words, having a dig at the “northern

States” (New South Wales). What does this comparison suggest in

relation to the respective supporters?

STANZA 8

“That pass ion pers ist ing, l ike a race -memory, through the wel ter o f seasons, enabl ing o ld -t imers by the boundar y - fences to dream of resurgent l ions

and centaur - f igures f rom the past to rep lenish cont inual ly the present . ”

Alliteration “passion persisting”, passing on the enthusiasm

Connotation of “race -memory” babies are ingrained with this knowledge so early that they believe they are born with it.

Imagery “welter (jumble) of seasons”, passing time.

Symbolism of “lions”, “centaur -figures” - shows past players with a sense of pride… and as being “legends”.

Based on this description, what characteristics do the past players represent? Why are they important to the “old -timers”?

1. What do the terms, “resurgent” and “replenish” suggest with respect to the lifecycle?

STANZA 9

“So that mythology may be perpetually renewed

and Chicken Smallhorn return like the maize-god

in a thousand shapes, the dancers changing.”

STANZA 10

Chicken Smallhorn was

once the star of the Fitzroy

team, good enough to

have won the Brownlow

Medal.

Quick research activity for

homework:

1. who is the ancient

maize-god? Why is this

allusion relevant?

“But the dance forever the same – the e lder ly s t i l l

loyal ly c r y ing Carn… Carn… ( i f feebly) unto the ver y end,

hav ing seen in the s ix - foot recruit f rom Eaglehawk thei r hope of sa lvat ion.”

Metaphor =“the dance”

Repetition = of “carn… carn”

Archiach / biblical language = “unto the very end”

Religious allusion = “hope of salvation”

Parenthetic emotive language = “(if feebly)”

Allusion = “Eaglehawk”

1 . What is the signif icance of repeating “ Carn… Carn…” and the parenthetical ( i f feebly) at the end of the poem? Refer to the l i fe cycle.

2. Who is the six - foot recruit f rom Eaglehawk?

3. What are the connotat ions of the term “salvat ion”? How is the word used in this context? What is Dawe referr ing to?

STANZA 11

Create a three stanza poem (3/4 lines each) explaining an

obsession of your own.

In completing this task – you should consider:

What gives you purpose in life? It might be a thing, a sport, a

person, a job…

How do you feel about it? Make a list of terms that encapsulate

your feelings towards it.

How does it impact on your life? Does it influence the decisions

you make? Give you comfort?

Use poetic devices to illustrate what your obsession means to

you.

CREATIVE ACTIVITY