Liam+Matt+Luke

=**__Bruce Dawe - Drifters__**=

//__1. Summarise what the poem is about.﻿ __//
==**This poem is about a family. It seems like a young family with two girls. They don't have a permanent home, they are gypsies or travellers, and when they have spent enough time in one place they move to another. This has always been their lifestyle, and they're used to it. **==

__//2. Identify and explain the tone and mood of the poem (with examples) //__
==The mood of this poem at the start is very positive,with excited and optimistic language. As the poem moves on, it slowly changes, becoming more dramatic and sad, through the loss and moving. At the very end of the poem, it becomes very emotional with recollections of the past and how they are leaving behind their old life, to start a new one. The tone of the poem is positive at the start, but by the end of the poem the tone has changed to a more negative one. ==

==//__3. How does the poem relate to and explore, the concept of change? Use evidence from the poem to support your response. __//== ==This poem has an underlying and straight forward view to change. The straight forward view is that the family is moving and changing their location, however since they are travellers, this is usually a common thing eg. "they're leaving this time, or where theyre heading for." The underlying meaning of this poem is that the family itself changes too as they move. They become part of where they move to and are sad to leave. They are becoming used to this contrast of change, but still have to get to it eg. "bottling set she never unpacked from Grovedale" and "the oldest girl is close to tears because she was happy here." ==

//__4. Identify and examine TWO poetic techniques that are used by the poet to represent change. Use examples. __//
==Symbolism > symbolism is used a couple of times during the poem to show change. The biggest example, which is quite noticeable is with the blackberry bush. It speaks of how when the family arrived at their previous location, the blackberry bush is in full flower (start of summer) At the end of the poem however, when they are leaving, the blackberry bush is old and the fruit is shrivelled up and dead (end of summer) ﻿ == ==This poem is written in 3rd person, however it is written differently. The 3rd personvis easily extinguishable and easy to see with words such as "he'll" and "her". It is written from an external view, but has another perspective from the womans point of view. She seems to be treated as a lesser by the male by being told when to leave without any input. ==

//__5. How does the form of a poem help convey the ideas? __//
==The imagery used in the poem is very contradictory and helps to proivide images that aren't found in other forms of writing. The fruit is a good example with the green tomatoes which have potential but will become nothing. The shrivelled blackberry vine, shows that things have become dead and spoilt. The blackberry bush at the start implies that things are good and positive, but by the end they have died and become nothing. The use of poem writing style helps to convey these strong ideas artisticly, with underlying meanings that run deep in the poem ==

//__6. Do you connect with the experience of change represented? Does the text invite you in, or does it exclude you? __//
The experience of change represented in this poem brings you in with what is going on. It has language and themes that the reader can easily connect to. You can feel what the characters feel in the poem through their speech, and relates to the reader through experience.

==__//7. How does the poem position you to respond? what are we positioned to believe about what it is to be male, female, working class/middle class, of a certain ethnicity, religion etc.? //__== ==This poem is easy to understand but is left open to interpretation to the readers opinion. There is an underlying meaning and themes that can be seen after close analysis. There is also a straight forward view in which the story is written. The people in the story are social outcasts, rejects of society, similar to gypsies. The poem brings you into their world. It shows their lonely world, dependant on each other, seperated from the world. ==

//__8. How does your chosen related text connect to the poem? How does it explore change? __//
==The related text that we have chosen is called Moving House by Thazhe Rahuram. Its about moving house, leaving things behind and starting afresh. This relates to the poem Drifters because of the identical theme. Like 'Drifters' it explores change through memories of the past and looking forward to new ones being made. ==

//__<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">9. How is it similar/different in purpose, audience, context, form, meaning, technique? __//
==<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Both texts are poems, so they have the same form and both are very good at creating imagery in your mind of what is going in. Both texts are similar in purpose, however, the moving house poem is much more self explanitory while the 'Drifters' poem has a number of underlying meanings. The "Drifters" poem uses much more symbolism with the flowers and plants to explain meaning and also seasons. The "Moving House" poem uses less underlying meaning, but has a lot of emotion between the words. The audience seems to be similar for both poems, which is older people, especially for the "Drifters" poem, which has a lot of underlying meaning which could be hard for younger audience to pick up. ==

//__<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">10. Which text do you think is more successful in conveying an understanding of change? __//
==<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Overall, we believe that the "Drifters" poem is more effective at portraying the theme of change becuase, even though it is harder to read and understand, once the meaning has been understood, the theme of change is very strong. The symbolism and underlying meanings make it a very good poem and actually make the poem what it is. Although change can be interpreted in a number of ways by different people, "Drifters" makes a very good general explination of change that most people can relate to, esspecially in todays fast pasted, material world. ==