The poet portrays Australia as a country that is desolate and nearly colourless. This very much looks like the “field uniform of modern wars” where everything is in shade of grey and green. These lines could also be interpreted as being a country that fades into the background as the field uniform was meant peremptory to allow people to intermix into the scenery. By highlighting Australia’s trend to fade into the shade and not have much consideration given to them. The poet draws a comparison between the country and the sphinx where those boundless outspread paws of sphinx ruin or stone lion worn away. This aspect aside was the sphinx always seen as creatures of great wisdom this comparison could be instantly related to the author’s view of Australia. In this case, Australia’s domination over of intelligence and authority that now that former reputation is now gone.
Australia for him is destitute of culture. Which is “without songs, architecture, and history” here he also says “rivers of water drown amidst inland sands”. Though he still believes that it has the competences to do so, yet the ideas drowned as inland sands the river of her immense stupidity. The “her” in this paragraph is referring to Australia. He sight Australia as being a country that has neither historical background nor the culture to speak off. It also portrayed as the country that is nothing at all where there are “monotonous tribes from Cairn to Perth; and the main cities comparison to “five teeming sores” that means the people who come to live in Australia pride not of living but preferably pride of merely to survive. His frankness patriotism comes in the last two stanza’s where he felt that there are “some like him turn gladly home” to recall from the “lush jungle of modern thought” to demand the “Arabian desert of the human mind” obviously seen that the author delights in retreating from broad world and should rather remain in a somewhat desert. All above detractions that cite are seen as attach benefits of being an Australian. The poet gives us nationalistic views, of he stands on the side of Australian and merely considers detractors to be very “cultured apes."
The poem Enter without so much knocking by Bruce Dawe is one of his finest works that greatly satirical of consumerism and Australian consumerist society that Dawe outstanding as he succeeds in manipulating poetic techniques to make his work interesting while delivering a very keen message to his reader. In this poem shows how consumerism has a negative impact on society. The poem depicts the life of a typical man living in the suburbs. It starts with birth of a child. As the baby begins to understand the world he has been brought into, he sees sings commands and expectations. The first he heard was Bobby Dazzler on Channel 7 that preaching his false clichés to the household. Though the child still innocent and makes him lucky because he still not aware of immense stupidity and banality of the world he was born in.
In the second stanza the household and the family are presented they described as products to sell that we read it in advertising slogans as if life too it became a product ‘straight of the Junior Department to be advertised and sold. He also introduced the rules he must reside by as they become tremendous and unachievable by the point of controlling the main human instinct. When a child becomes mature enough the mother introduces him into the world of consumerism she takes him shopping. They go by ordinary car to the regular supermarket. The adolescent sees the various signs of prohibition. The language in the poem is natural that reflexes the reality they used onomatopoeic words such as “beep, beep” capital letters (WALK, DON and WALK TURN LEFT) and mother used the word (My God) everything is composed together to express the typical atmosphere on the way to supermarket. Dawe inserts his sarcastic remarks among various sings there is one which forbids even breathing.
Next stanza the boy is mature he managed to become a member of the society he is influenced enough to lose his individuality and sensitivity. The morality of modern population is overwhelming. He notified the typical hierarchy of values and his innocence is lost. Through this irony Dawe expresses the people false conviction that being a materialistic, numb, and unconscionable person is being real and mature human. The materialistic world is harsh there is no mercy for weak people. All means available to reach the top. Lastly the dialogs end immediately because the man dies but his death is not a tragic as it should be. Even life is not a value anymore. People accumulate on his funeral pay attention only for his physical appearance, considering the things materialistically without emotions. His life ends and there is nothing again with the underground metropolis is empty. Through this imagery Dawe wanted to highlight the triviality and insignificance of human life. By going through their lives unseen, they are just a part of a system.
Everyone begins and ends in the same place. People pass and have no impact on the reality. They lost their individuality and uniqueness; they lose everything what is typically human and make us special in the universe. In this world of materialistic values people become vain and numb. Dawe and Hope attached the very serious problem which concerns not only here in Australia but the whole modern world.