Stratton+&+Michael

1. The poem ‘Darwin, 1967-1992’ by Peter Goldsworthy is a poem about a man who travels the world and finally ends up at the place where he begun, a place he has been trying to avoid revisiting his entire life, his home. Goldsworthy continues to describe the town as it is now, the feelings and thoughts of the narrator as he takes in the town, and the feelings as he eventually leaves.

2. Starting on an apprehensive and somewhat unwilling tone ('dragging my body behind'), the mood slowly moves towards a sense of disappointment and loss as the narrator takes in the town, and his initial impressions about what he sees on the surface.'To reconfirm each disappointing destination - including, finally, this' implies that his journey to the town is another disappointment for him. He looks deeper, though, and he notices that the essence of the town is intact - although it has adapted to a modern world and a modern society, it feels as he remembered it from his childhood. The mood gradually rises and the tone and language become more positive, more reflective. As the poem ends, he seems to be reluctant to leave, in contrast to what he felt when the poem first started.

4. Goldsworthy heavily uses the metaphor of a dog, which is easily evident in even the first few lines of the poem: ‘...I step nose first into the falling Wet, dragging my body behind: a heavy tailm wagged by a thousand scent-trails that point back into the fragrant invisible past. The sense of smell is sharply defined and visualised, even more so than the sense of vision, with a scent assigned to different objects, places, emotions and feelings. Repetition is widely used within the poem, often with words such as ‘and’ and repeating ideas, eg ‘stilt-houses and louvres and rusting tine roofs’, and ‘held above the dark and above the green’.

5. By using a poetic layout to convey his ideas, Goldworthy has made his recollection of Darwin more personal and relatable. Each stanza represents a new idea or perspective and the audience receives a step by step view on Goldworthy’s changing opinions. Poems allow a closer connection between the reader and the poem and allows for deeper meanings to be portrayed then what could otherwise be represented in a story or film.

6. The audience can connect with the experiences of the poet on a very personal level because the themes that are presented occur in everyday lives. Everyone will reach a point in their life where they make a wrong decision and feel the best course of action is to avoid it for as long as possible. “For years I have travelled everywhere except back, travelled to postpone many things, travelled to avoid meeting myself”.

7. The audience is positioned to show acknowledgment and a new understanding. We are expected to link Goldsworthy’s experiences to our own and recognise that running from our problems will get us no where, and that if we face our problems they won’t be as difficult as we expect them to be. The fact that the poet has chosen such a relatable situation reinforces this idea of reflection.

8. My related text is a song by Rise Against. The song is titled Hero of War and is about a soldier who leaves for Iraq with hopes of changing a nation. His views on the war itself change dramatically, leading him into an emotional breakdown. This song relates to the poem Darwin because both texts refer to facing your fears, and the changing opinions that come because of it

9. While the poem Darwin demonstrates the positive aspect of facing your fears, Hero of War targets a certain area of change and provides a contrasting view on it, the negative aspect. This change has left the soldier distraught and in complete regret of some decisions that he has made. Darwin’s target audience is everyone who has made a wrong in their life and is attempting to flee from it. Hero of War targets young males, because it will be these males who will enlist and end up in the same mind set as the soldier. The use of a song to portray the message of Hero of War allows a visual depiction of the character and allows the audience to empathise with the man on a deeper level. The music and vocal tones provide emphasis at certain times, re-enforcing the changing views and increasing the realism,

10. Darwin’s message of change is easily interpreted in its simplest form, but further analysis emphasises Goldsworthy’s true feelings and gives the audience a clear picture of his transformation. The lyrics in Hero of War are the real power in this song. If they are read carefully, along with the music the impact of this song is surreal. In terms of which text conveys the understanding of change more successfully, Darwin does because of its simple messages and its use of imagery to further enforce the idea of change.