War under the Howard Government
...y. The poet has suggested that the Prime Minister is a stranger, and not a “real Australian” writing, “A stranger came into their midst”. The poet obviously disagrees with the actions of the Australian government and Prime Minister John Howard, with the topic of the Iraq war. The poet also suggests that “real” Australians, “would never commit to unholy war an Australian son or daughter!” The powerful sentences suggest that Australians usually would never commit and be involved in war that was never meant to happen. The poet has been successful in writing this poem because it describes what Australians are like and describes that most Australians disagree with the war in Iraq. “Dear Mr. Howard, please be sensible…” is a poem by Charlotte Clutterbuck. This very detailed poem explains the look, smell, feel, taste and the sound of a war. The poet has used very graphic wording such as, “Stink of death” and “the slimy texture of rotting flesh falling away from bones”. The purpose for using the graphic and detailed description is to shock the readers about what happens at war. The poem could possible have been a letter to Mr. Howard exactly explaining the conditions of war, and what Mr. Howard is sending his own people, the Australian troops into. The main poetic device used by the poet is rhythm. The rhythm of the poem starts slow paced, however towards the end of the poem the beat becomes to speed up, allowing the reader to get involved with the poem because of the fast paced beat. In the powerful poem the poet pleads with the Prime Minister writing, “saying, No, be sensible there are other ways to live, to die.” The feelings and images that the poem creates is the feeling of sadness and the images of soldiers that have been killed in a place, with a horrific smell and environment. The poet has created a successful poem because of the extremely descriptive words, with the reader being able to create the unbelievable and horrific images of war in their head. “TO JOHN HOWARD” is a poem by Tom Shapcott. The poem has used a different way to voice their opinion on the matter of the war in Iraq, with the poet using sentences that do not talk about war but about pieces of clothing. For example the poet wrote, “When I first pulled a thread on my underpants the whole waistband unravelled. There was nothing to protect my nakedness.” The poet also suggests that John H...