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Introduction and conclusion were considered unnecessary for this task however I was not aware of this prior to the task. ...

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Burial Beach Analysis Task Images of the horror and gunfire are common throughout war poetry; however, the modernist Kenneth Slessor introduces a bleak perspective examining the tragic wastefulness of war in his elegy, “Beach Burial”. This text bears an emotional weight to it through its incorporation of ekphrasis, particularly when Slessor describes the makeshift graves and “tidewood” crosses in the sand during the third and fourth stanzas. Hence, this poem focuses on notions of continuity to highlight issues of anonymity and insignificance in the face of war.

Throughout the play, the anonymous nature of the war casualties portray them as insignificant beings to be forgotten with time. In the opening stanza, Slessor employs personification when he describes “morning roll(ing) them in the foam”. Here, the poet addresses nature’s disregard for the men, as their bodies are thrown around by the sea, forsaking any source of humility and respectability, in the form of a funeral. When they are finally put to rest, Slessor dehumanises them by comparing them to weeds, describing them as being “plucked”; and in doing this, he implies that they are of a fruitless nature and to be discarded like the many thousands who have died before them. Additionally, there is no mention of any names throughout the poem, whether it be the vague reference to the man who buried them, or the “sailors”, indicating a sense of unimportance. This is particularly evident with the lexical choice of “unknown seaman” as an inscription on the “tidewood (crosses)” that sit above their makeshift graves. Furthermore, these inscriptions “waver and fade” as the “breath of the wet season” erases them from existence. Here, the “ghostly pencil” acts as a metaphor for Slessor’s concerns as, much like how the pencil markings will fade over time, so too will the memory of the fallen men.

The natural progression of life acts as a driver for the theme of continuity, allowing the reader’s attention to divert from the tragic scene of “dead sailors”, to find a source of consolation. This poem derives its form from the elegy, hence why it sponsors notions of mourning, followed by a somewhat hopeful reassurance. However, whilst elegies typically speak of a specific individual, this poem addresses multiple “unknown seamen”. In the opening scene, where “convoys of dead sailors come”, Slessor has created a paradoxical image, whereby the ironic description of “dead sailors” illustrates their arrival on a beach in ranks, as living soldiers would; these men have left in the same way as they have come, thus, continuing the circle of life. This motif is extended with the alliterative words “seaman… search… same” to emulate the sibilant sounds of the sea, suggesting the endless journey for peace in the afterlife that these soldiers will embark on. Whilst these men may have been on opposing sides in the war, Slessor argues that death “joins them together” on the other side of life or what he terms “the other front”. The poet has juxtaposed the sea and the land as symbols from war and peace; whilst the tumultuous seas – which the waves appear to be in a war of its own - is where these men have most likely lost their lives, the sandy beach presents a sense of tranquillity and togetherness. Thus, it is this image of unity that gives the reader a sense of hope for these lost and forgotten lives which have fallen victim to war, as they band “together” in death to seek absolution and harmony.

Ultimately, it is through Slessor’s use of symbols and ekphrastic imagery that the snapshot of war’s wastefulness is exposed in the forms of the soldiers’ anonymity and life’s constant need for continuation. True to his context as a modernist, by illustrating and exploring these themes, he seeks to answer some of nature’s deepest enigmas, and more importantly, present an array of moral questions for the reader to delve upon themselves....