Analysis of Obsession in ‘Life Cycle’- Bruce Dawe
Many people would see obsession as a completely different thing. Not only this, they would choose to show or convey the ideas of obsession in many different ways. A common occurrence of obsession is when it is associated with a particular object or other form. Through the use of different techniques Bruce Dawe’s ‘Life Cycle’ indirectly shows obsession with AFL, relating it to a religion, and conveying ideas through the life cycle of a person and their dedication to the sport.
The diction in the poem plays the largest role in creating the ideas and the sense of obsession. The ability to create a poem which covers a life-cycle of a person through the game of AFL would not be possible without the choice of diction. For instance in the line “For possession of a rusk: Ah he is a little Tiger!” It uses particular words like possession, which would be a term used in a game of AFL, or Tiger, the name of a team. Ideas are also conveyed through the word choice, for instance “You bludger and the covenant is sealed”- creates the sense that the poet is saying AFL is almost a religion. People live their life according to the success of the team they follow. The word covenant being a commonly used religious term portrays ideas of religion. The word choice and words chosen prove the obsession as they bring in direct ideas and terms from AFL, and relating them to many stages of life and deeper ideas such as religion.
The tone in Dawe’s poem is mocking, yet at the same time affectionate towards the game and the life of a child growing up in the game. Word choice and the symbolism are the main contributors to the way that the tone is established. The tone greatly reinforces the obsession through the created sense of affection towards the game. The tone is also humorous- in the way, it relates it to a person’s life from birth to death. This is displayed in “the reckless proposal after the one point win, the wedding and...