LIFE CYCLE
Bruce Dawe
CONTEXT – AUSTRALIAN RULES FOOTBALL
 Originated in Melbourne in 1858.
 Has been played in Australia since
1915.
 Australia is currently the only
nation in the world where
Australian rules football is played
professionally.
 In some regions, it is marketed as
‘AFL’ (Australian Football League).
 It is also the most popular
sporting league in Australia,
averaging over 30,000 people per
game.
BIG JIM PHELAN
FOR WHOM THE POEM IS DEDICATED
 ‘Big Jim Phelan’ was a flamboyant, 114kg
ruck player for the South Melbourne
Australian Rules Football Club (now
Sydney Swans).
 In 1902, Big Jim Phelan revitalised
Aussie Rules, which had been largely
displaced by Rugby Union, in New South
Wales.
 He was a great enthusiast for the game,
and has been called a football evangelist
(a preacher who tries to convert others to
a set of beliefs).
 Why do you think Bruce Dawe has
dedicated this poem to Jim Phelan?
RICHMOND FOOTBALL CLUB
 Richmond Football Club is an
Australian rules football club
which competes in the
Australian Football League
(AFL).
 Gracing their crest is a Tiger.
 Their home field is the
Melbourne Cricket Ground.
 Richmond were first
established in 1885.
 They have won ten
premierships.
GENERAL TERMINOLOGY
 “Carn”  the equivalent of saying “come on” in a thick
Australian accent.
 “Beribboned”  decorated with ribbons.
 “Barracking”  supporting.
 “Rusk”  a dry biscuit (baby food).
 “Empyrean”  referring to the sky, or heaven.
 “Bludger”  colloquial expression for someone who evades
responsibility.
 “Covenant”  a pact or agreement.
 “Race-memory”  a memory shared by a whole race, shared
subconsciously.
KEY IDEAS
 Football is a religion. It…
- Follows similar rites of
passage.
- Involves ceremonial
baptisms.
- Is a life-long act of
worship.
- Is communal.
- Does not leave us after
death.
- Identify as many words
in the poem you can that
have Religious
connotations.
KEY IDEAS
 Football follows the pattern of the eternal life cycle.
 Birth  Life  Death  Rebirth.
 Go through the poem and try to identify the four stages of the
life cycle in Dawe’s poem.
 What are some key words or phrases that are linked to these
stages?
KEY IDEAS
 Human needs will never
change.
 Humans will always possess
the need for something or
someone that will make their
lives meaningful, bring their
lives to fruition, and save
them.
 In Victoria, Dawe insinuates
that this need is fulfilled by
Australian Rules Football.
STANZA 1
When children are born in Victoria
they are wrapped in the club -colours, laid in beribboned cots,
having already begun a lifetime’s barracking
Imagery  Born into football. Supporters from birth.
Alliteration of “club-colours”  consistent, unchanging.
STANZA 2
Carn, they cry, Carn… feebly at first
while parents playfully tussle with them
for possession of a rusk: Ah, he’s a little Tiger! (And they are…)
Alliteration  “Carn, they cry, Carn” / “parents playfully”
Colloquialism of ‘Carn’  barracking, voice of fans, Australian
slang.
Metaphor  “little Tiger”, a proud embodiment of the club’s
mascot. Also suggesting that they are potentially future players.
Allusion  Tiger, mascot of Richmond team.
Ellipsis  (And they are…), suggesting that they are developing
tiger-like qualities.
STANZA 3
Hoisted shoulder-high at their first League game
they are like innocent monsters who have been years swimming
towards the daylight’s roaring empyrean
Simile  “like innocent monsters who have been years swimming”,
unbeknownst, strange and unnatural, beneath the ocean’s surface,
unexposed to the wonders of the game.
Imagery  juxtaposition of the “innocent monsters” swimming in
the darkness of the ocean, with the “daylight’s roaring empyrean”.
Sensory imagery  the silence of the cot, and the muffled sounds
beneath the water, contrasted with the roaring fans of a packed
stadium.
Religious allusion  “empyrean”, symbolism of the water, baptism
into football.
STANZA 4
Until, now, hearts shrapnelled with rapture,
they break surface and are forever lost,
their minds rippling out like streamers
Imagery  “hearts shrapnelled”
Extended metaphor  “break the surface” (of the water).
Reaching the empyrean.
Religious allusion  “rapture”, moment of enlightenment,
transporting from earth to heaven.
Simile  “minds rippling out like streamers”, opening up to the
world, learning. Celebratory connotations.
STANZA 5
In the pure flood of sound, they are scarfed with light, a voice
like the voice of God booms from the stands
Ooohh you bludger and the covenant is sealed.
Imagery  impact of “flood”, overwhelming. “scarfed with light”,
lights of the stadium now a source of comfort, initiated.
Language is rather reminiscent of religious texts, referring to the
ceremonial wrapping of light around the newly initiated.
“the voice of God” (simile/allusion), the thousands of fans
barracking in unison.
“Covenant is sealed”, child is swept up in the euphoria of the
crowd, and thus, they are committed.
Biblical allusion  God’s covenant with man. Formalising an
agreement.
STANZA 6
Hot pies and potato-crisps they will eat,
they will forswear the Demons, cling to the Saints
and behold their team going up the ladder into Heaven,
Irony of colloquial references to “hot pies and potato crisps” in
biblical language. Satirising football fans (making them appear
ridiculous, or over the top).
Religious motif  playing on the nicknames of other AFL clubs
(‘Saints’ / St Kilda, and ‘Demons’ / Melbourne).
Forswear: swear not to support.
A play on biblical teachings to reject evil and practise good.
Allusion  If supported correctly, they will witness their team
climb the ladder to heaven (win the premiership). Reference to the
story of Jacob’s ladder, reaching into the skies.
STANZA 7
And the tides of life will be the tides of the home -team’s fortunes
- the reckless proposal after the one -point win,
the wedding and honeymoon after the grand -final…
What parallel is Bruce Dawe suggesting in this stanza? How are
football and the “tides of life” linked?
The repetition of the word, “after”…
What does the ellipsis at the end of the stanza imply?
STANZA 8
They will not grow old as those from more northern States grow old,
for them it will always be three -quarter-time
with the scores level and the wind advantage in the final term,
The first line is a parody of a verse recited every ANZAC day in every
RSL… “They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old…” 
what does this suggest?
Dawe, however, appropriates the words, having a dig at the
“northern States” (New South Wales). What does this comparison
propose with regard to the respective supporters?
STANZA 9
That passion per sisting, like a race -memor y, through the welter of seasons,
enabling old-timer s by the boundar y -fences to dream of resurgent lions
and centaur-figures from the past to replenish continually the present.
Alliteration  “passion persisting”, passing on the enthusiasm
Connotations of “race -memor y”  babies are ingrained with this
knowledge so early that they believe they are born with it.
Imager y  “welter of seasons”, passing time.
What do the terms, “resurgent” and “replenish” suggest with respect to the
lifecycle?
Metaphor of “lions”, “centaur -figures”, describing past players with an
element of mystique. Based on this description, what characteristics do the
past players represent? Why are they impor tant to the “old -timers”?
STANZA 10
So that mythology may be perpetually renewed
and Chicken Smallhorn return like the maize-god
in a thousand shapes, the dancers changing.
Chicken Smallhorn was once the star of
the Fitzroy team, good enough to have
won the Brownlow Medal.
Simile….
Metaphor…
(Linking to previous stanza) Repetition…
Quick research activity: who is the
ancient maize-god? Why is this allusion
relevant?
STANZA 11
But the dance forever the same – the elderly still
loyally cr ying Carn… Carn… (if feebly) unto the ver y end,
having seen in the six -foot recruit from Eaglehawk their hope of salvation.
What is the significance of repeating “ Carn… Carn…” and the parenthetical
(if feebly) at the end of the poem? Refer to the life cycle.
Who is the six-foot recruit from Eaglehawk?
What are the connotations of the term “salvation”? How is the word used
in this context? What is Dawe referring to?
CREATIVE ACTIVIT Y
 Create a three stanza poem (3/4 lines each) explaining an
obsession of your own.
 What gives you purpose in life? It might be a thing, a sport, a
person, a job…
 How do you feel about it? Make a list of terms that
encapsulate your feelings towards it.
 How does it impact on your life? Does it influence the
decisions you make? Give you comfort?
 Use poetic devices to illustrate what your obsession means to
you.