"We are going" poem analysis- 28/04/19

This is my poem analysis. I hope you enjoy. Please don't copy this. However you can use this as a guide for your own poem analysis. Note: This is my draft. I will publish the final copy sometime next week.

They came in to the little town

A semi-naked band subdued and silent

All that remained of their tribe.

They came here to the place of their old bora ground

Where now the many white men hurry about like ants.

Notice of the estate agent reads: ‘Rubbish May Be Tipped Here’.

Now it half covers the traces of the old bora ring.

They sit and are confused, they cannot say their thoughts.

‘We are as strangers here now, but the white tribe are the strangers.

We belong here; we are of the old ways.

We are the corroboree and the bora ground,

We are the old sacred ceremonies, the laws of the elders.

We are the wonder tales of Dream Time, the tribal legends told.

We are the past, the hunts and the laughing games, the wandering campfires.

We are the lightning bolt over Gaphembah Hill

Quick and terrible,

And the Thunder after him, that loud fellow.

We are the quiet daybreak paling the dark lagoon.

We are the shadow-ghosts creeping back as the campfires burn low.

We are nature and the past, all the old ways

Gone now and scattered.

The scrubs are gone, the hunting and the laughter.

The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gone from this place.

The bora ring is gone.

The corroboree is gone.

And we are going.’

Oodgeroo Noonucal, who was born in 1920, is a well-respected political activist that fought for aboriginal rights. She was best known for her poetry and acting. Her poem “We are Going”, became the first aboriginal women’s poem to be published and is recognised worldwide. The theme of many of her works is the hope for understanding and peace between black and white Australians. The poem “We are Going” is about the aboriginal peoples connection to the land and nature. The theme is about loss and suffering that aboriginals have had to endure since the European Invasion of their homeland. These themes and subjects can also be seen in her other poems like “Let Us Not Be Bitter” and “All One Race”. Her other poems are also about putting each other’s differences aside and living in harmony.

When reading the poem you can see that she is writing from her heart. By reading the poem, readers know that the poet and her tribe have gone through a lot. She tries to convey her personal feelings of anger, sadness and loss through emotive language. Words like “gone” are repeated often to show the poets’ loss and suffering and how the European Invasion led to this. She says this to indicate important things in aboriginal heritage and culture that are “gone”. For example the Bora and Corroboree. She conveys her anger and frustration through repetition (gone, we) and sentences like “We belong here; we are of the old ways.” This sentence means that the author believes that Aboriginals truly belong here, because they cared for the nature and land unlike the European settlers. The phrase “We are the old ways” shows that the poet is accusing the white people for stealing their land and that they were here first.

The sorrowful mood and the theme of this is effectively set through the use of poetic devices. Repetition is used to emphasise the poets point. For example, “We are” is repeated to show aboriginals sense of community and how close they are with each other. “Gone” and “going” is repeated to emphasise the loss and suffering that followed the arrival of Europeans in Australia. This also makes the poem catchy. It also gives the poem a clear message. The poetic devices used are personification, hyperbole and simile. Personification is used in sentences, “And the Thunder after him, that loud fellow,” and “the wandering campfires”. These sentences show readers how much the land and nature mean to an aboriginal and how that they believe that nature and the land has its own personality, just like in Dreamtime Stories. Hyperbole is used to show the frustration and anger of the poet. Sentences like, “Rubbish May Be Tipped Here”. This is used by the poet to emphasise the frustration at the lack of respect of the land and nature that the white settlers showed. This also makes the poem more interested and detailed. This use of hyperbole also helped paint the picture in your head of the way aboriginals were treated. The phrase, “white men hurry about like ants”, is simile and it helps to paint the picture that the poet is trying to describe. All of these poetic devices are used to reinforce the poet’s anger, loss, frustration and suffering.

When reading this poem I also feel angry and frustrated at the lack of respect and care for aboriginals shown by the European Settlers. I also want to help aboriginals through their pain and suffering because lines like, “We are going,” is saying that the aboriginal race is dying out. This poem also makes you realise how aboriginals were treated when the English first came to Australia. The poet is clearly stating that they were mistreated and that they and their culture is disappearing. I think the purpose of this poem was to let readers know the perspective of the aboriginal people and that they do not appreciate the way they were treated.

Overall, the poem “We are going” is very well written and has a very deep meaning. I also believe that this is one of Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s best poems.