Migrant Hostel-Parkes 1949-51
Third person used to represent how he and the migrants were united in their alienation from the new country
To cope with homesickness and the fear of the unknown, the migrants, “sought each other out instinctively”
The single sentence in each stanza creates the speed of the lines only held in check by the use of a dash, an infrequent semi-colon or comma and the brevity of single lines, such as: “or were dying” suggesting the significant impact of the memory
Feelings of impermanence and uncertainty as the migrants suddenly arrived and departed are suggested by enjambment -run-on-lines -symbolically representing the frequent “comings and goings”
Similes “like a homing pigeon” and “like birds of passage” emphasise how the migrants yearn for their homeland where they belong physically, emotionally and spiritually; however, unlike the birds that can fly home, the migrants cannot return to their war torn homes that offered “hunger and hate.”
Final stanza reinforces their sense of not belonging to this new country. The “barrier at the main gate” through the simile “It rose and fell like a finger” is a symbolic reminder of their alien status. The final two lines convey the fragility of their hopes and dreams for a new life in Australia:
“…lives
That had only begun
Or were dying.”
To cope with homesickness and the fear of the unknown, the migrants, “sought each other out instinctively”
The single sentence in each stanza creates the speed of the lines only held in check by the use of a dash, an infrequent semi-colon or comma and the brevity of single lines, such as: “or were dying” suggesting the significant impact of the memory
Feelings of impermanence and uncertainty as the migrants suddenly arrived and departed are suggested by enjambment -run-on-lines -symbolically representing the frequent “comings and goings”
Similes “like a homing pigeon” and “like birds of passage” emphasise how the migrants yearn for their homeland where they belong physically, emotionally and spiritually; however, unlike the birds that can fly home, the migrants cannot return to their war torn homes that offered “hunger and hate.”
Final stanza reinforces their sense of not belonging to this new country. The “barrier at the main gate” through the simile “It rose and fell like a finger” is a symbolic reminder of their alien status. The final two lines convey the fragility of their hopes and dreams for a new life in Australia:
“…lives
That had only begun
Or were dying.”