Australians are commonly perceived as country people who battle the elements and experience great hardships. Two poems that depict the Australian outback and country lifestyle are “Clancy of the Overflow” by Banjo Paterson and “The Shearers Wife” by Louis Esson, which portray alternate views. The poem “Clancy of the Overflow” glorifies the country lifestyle while diminishing the city way of life. On the other hand, “The Shearers Wife” depicts country life as lonely while also illustrating the Australian women as hard working. Both poets utilise a range of language choices and poetic techniques to shape the audience’s perception of the Australian outback and the country lifestyle.
“Clancy of the Overflow” represents the Australian country lifestyle …show more content…
The use of the simile, that compares the woman’s loneliness, to the solitude of the moon and the bush, further constructs the negative image that life in the bush is lonely. This imaged is furthered in the line “Star down the tracks no horse draws nigh”, which portrays the women waiting for her husband to come home. Throughout the poem, the poet positions the reader to view life in the country as isolated.
Throughout the entirety of “The Shearer’s Wife” the Australian women are represented as hardworking. The poet develops this image of Australia’s women in the line:
The droving dust form tired eyes
The alliteration of droving dust shows the woman got dust in her eyes from herding the cattle, implying that the Australian women are prepared to do the men’s jobs. This portrayal is furthered in the line:
Women must work, when men must go
The forceful tone created by the use of the word “must”, shows that the Australian women know they must do hard work when the husbands leave. The poem also depicts the women as exhausted by the repetition of the word tired in the lines:
“The droving dust from tired eyes” and “And tired I am with labour