Further demonstrating the idea of dehumanization is imagery as referring to how the soldiers were piled, zipped up in green plastic bags like rubbish, and tagged.
Their shadows are tracing the blue curve of the pacific combines juxtaposition of death shadowing natures beauty, as the soldiers are dead and a long way from home. This continues the idea of mortuary coolness and the horrors of war.
In comparison, Bruce Dawe’s Weapons Training is an aggressive style of poem that yet again allows us to explore interesting ideas like the reality and hardship of war.
In Weapons Training, Dawe shows the reality of war, alive one minute, dead the next. This is told through the use of the sergeant training his recruits about the war.
The use of starting the poem with the conjunction “and” gives the impression that the audience has just tuned into listening to what the sergeant has to say.
Dawe’s use of language is extremely strong in conveying the interesting ideas in this poem. The lack of punctuation makes the reader struggle to read it slow, giving the idea that it is meant to be aggressive, abusive, fast paced and blunt, just like the war.
The use of rhetorical questions like “what are you looking at?” and “what are you laughing at” emphasize the lack of identity and seriousness displayed at war.
The use of sarcasm and connotations like “unsightly fat between your elephant ears” once again implies an abusive, aggressive tone. The way the poem is written, is like that of a machine gun, its firing out the harsh reality of war.
Dehumanization in war is further demonstrated through the use of labels, cliché’s and idioms such as “if you had one more brain”, “unsightly fat, elephant ears” and “copped the bloody lot”.
The hardship and brutality of war is shown through the use of continuous imagery as Dawe tells the audience how quick death occurs in war. The repetition and grammar used for “dead. Dead. Dead.” Shows that death is always around the corner and strikes fast.
Dawe uses imagery by constantly referring to the gut in terms of war. This shows that the lack of heart exists.
Both Homecoming and Weapons Training are anti-war poems, however they use different structures and language techniques to explore the interesting ideas that come from the reality of war.
