Walting Matilda, Andrew Barton Peterson - Analyse PDF

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WALTZING MATILDA – 1895 ,The song and bush ballad “Waltzing Mathilda“, written by Andrew Barton Peterson and published in the year 1895, deals with the fight for freedom of Australian Aboriginals. Summarizing, the unofficial national anthem tells the story of a swagman, who is making a billy tea by boiling water, as a jumbuck came along, which he steals to eat. Consequently its owner plus three policemen appear to pursue him fort he theft, but the wagman commits suicide by drowning himself in a billabong to eventually continue with haunting the site as a ghost.

To completely understand the lyrics intention, the historical context is to mention initially. Accordingly, the injustice of the British class system with the wealthy landowners at the top and the peasants at the bottom of the social hierachical structure, together with the main triggers of bad working circumstances and low payment, including an imminent wage reducution, lead finally to the „Great Shearer´s Strike“ in the year 1891. Moreover in 1894 the shearers at Dagworth station, owned by the Macpherson family, which Peterson visited, went on a strike again, that turned out violently and ended with over 100 dead sheep and a big fire. By implication of the writters personal impressions, but mainly due to the back then prevalent social inequalities , the swagman represents the underclass of Aboriginal people, plus the three policemen emody the upper class of landowners.

With initial reference to the linguistic configuration it is to point out the irregular cross rhyme off the eight stanzas, except the refrain, which has no rhyme sheme. The thereby developing pulling effect helps the story telling to create a climax of tension. This aspect is additionally underlined with the usage oft he simple past, which makes clear that the story line is a part of the history, but also the statements oft he swagman and the troops, uttered in the simple present, provide more spryness. Furthermore the prevailing application of hypotactical sentences together with the choice of words, that is simple and low- key, but also includes the typical Aussie slang terms “Waltzing Matilda“ and “swagman“, obviously make the target group clear. Accordingly the lyrical self tells his story from the Aboriginal point of view to the Australian inhabitants. Statements like “and he sang as he watched and waited till its billy boiled“ (vers 3) underline that.

By having a closer look on the text, the headline shows already the leitmotif, which is represented in every stanza. As alreAdy mentioned “Waltzing Mathilda“ is an Australian bush term and means to wander the outback from place to place in search of work, togehter with „Matilda“, the de facto wife who accompanied a wanderer and was their sleeping partner.

Mainly it´s just an euphemism for one´s sleeping blanket to show that the swagmen is alone in unision with nature, but in fact never lonely. Following, the nature allusions are another certain topic, for instance descriptions like “camped by a billabong“, “coolibah tree““jumbbuck“ and “thoroughbred“ emphasize both the theme Australia one more time, and particularly repetitions like „billabong“ in vers 1,9,25,27,31 elucidate the wide variety of animals, plants and the hole geographic uniqueness. Moreover the repetition “You´ll came a Waltzing Matilda with me“ (vers 4,6,8, 12,14,16,20,24,28,30,32) shows on the one hand, that everything the swagmen gets in touch with during his journey through the country gets part of his Waltzing Matilda. Consequently only the nature makes the native Australians to Aborignals and defines their whole thinking, acting and at least their culture. On the other hand it´s an invitation to see Australia from the swagman´s point of view, to enjoy simple pleasures like having a cup of billy tea while sitting in the shade of a tree (comp. Stanza 1) and have no responsibilities apart from the need to secure the next meal (comp. Stanza 3) The watershed of the heretofore independent living circumstances gets preluded with the anaphor “up came“ (vers 12,13), which creates an urgency with reference to the impending danger, emanating from the troopers, whose superior number and power find expression in the enumeration and climax “one, two, three“ (vers 13). The rhetorical question “Where´s that jolly jumbuck you´ve got in your tucker bag?“ (vers 14, 23) underlines the squatters allegedly eclusive claim to the land and everything on it. Furthermore the description of the „jolly“ jumbuck, which is obviously dead instead of lucky, points out the negative development of the wanderers emotional state, who was „once a jolly swagman“(vers1) in an sarcastic kind of way. Therefore he “spring sprang into the billabong“ (vers 28), which is an euphemism for his suicide. The exclamation “You`ll never take me alive“, in combination with the inversion “said he“ (vers 30) highlights the last decision the swagman can make alone, as a result he prefers a self- choosen death in freedom over a life in custody and paternalism. The statement “And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong“ (vers 27), shows consequently, that the white Australians may enforce their materialistic thinking on occount of law, but the spiritual beliefe of the Waltzing Mathilda will subsist from generation to generation, by extension the „ghost“, which is an supernatural symbol, will never die.

All aspects considered, the lyrics intention is the belief in freedom´s importance to the Australian way of life, that has already survived the immigration of the Europeans and the worst kind of oppressions, from bad working circumstances to the trying of “extinction“ through the Stolen Generations. Alongside the focusing on the great variety of nature, the lyrics convey a spiritual awareness

of life, which is the foundation oft he whole Aboriginal cultural heritage. Farther the message includes perhabs a warning signal by reminding the Australian people living in a modern, steady changing world, not to forget their origin and everything their ancestors fighted for....