How to write an accurate
text-analysis paragraph
… a paragraph which could fit
into an English essay
Question:
In his poem Homo Suburbiensis, how does
Bruce Dawe portray his perception of the
Australian Identity?
In his poem Homo Suburbiensis, how does Bruce
Dawe portray his perception of the Australian
Identity?
In his poem Homo Suburbiensis, what language
techniques does Bruce Dawe use to portray his
perception of the Australian Identity?
In his poem Homo Suburbiensis, what
language techniques does Bruce Dawe
use to portray his perception of the
Australian Identity? (idea / concern / opinion / point of view)
Character / personality / self /
distinctive values and attitudes
1. Statement (or topic) sentence:
In his poem Homo Suburbiensis, Bruce Dawe uses a
variety of poetic techniques to portray a clear
image of the suburban life of a typical
Australian family.
Sentence 2? What next? You should
give specific detail about the
“identity” (ie: the value / attitude)
In his poem Homo Suburbiensis, Bruce Dawe uses a variety of
poetic techniques to portray a clear image of the suburban life of a
typical Australian man. The idea the suburban man is a
down-to-earth (‘true blue’) Aussie bloke… is
conveyed throughout the poem homo suburbiensis.
Analysis of poem – focusing on the “ideas about the
Australian identity”
• The importance of ordinary man… and the idea that Australian’s celebrate the
down-to-earth ‘true blue’ Aussie bloke… is a perception which is conveyed
throughout the poem homo suburbiensis.
• Dawe shows that ordinary suburban Australian men find solitude and peace and
“me time” in a backyard. The place (outside the house – away from the wife and
kids) lets him collect his thoughts and reflect on his life. (…in this case the place
is a vege garden – in another text by another composer – it might be a shed in
the backyard).
• Bruce Dawe established the suburban man’s characteristics from the first line
“One constant in a world of variables.”
Techniques= contrast (of singular and plural + the same and variety… 
evokes that this man is an unchanging character in a world of variety and
change. In his garden he can be himself (constant) and keep the rest of the
world at bay.
• The vegetable patch is both ordered and wild.
“________________________________”
and “______________________” are
contrasting images which metaphorically
represents the quiet reflections of the persona.
• And all the things he takes down with him there.
Techniques = The only things he takes down with
him to this place of tranquility are his thoughts.
A clear image in ‘Homo Suburbiensis’ is that of the typical
Australian bloke, who comes home after work and relaxes in
his backyard as the day ends. The man is a suburban
householder with an ordinary Australian life standing alone
in his backyard on a quiet evening among his vegetables. The
simple everyday language used by Dawe “____________
________________________” evokes the idea that
suburban man is ______________.
• The cumulative imagery in “compost” and “rubbish” suggests
that Dawe is both celebrating suburbia, while in some ways
puts down the suburban householders dreams.
• Dawe develops a sympathetic tone towards the persona –
“lost in a green confusion” as even in the retreat of his
backyard he is “lost” or stuck in the lifestyle of suburbs.
• The peace, beauty of nature and freedom he encounters in
is backyard allows him to relax in his middle class life. To
be an ordinary bloke in Australia, it is typical for men to
hide their concerns and troubles. Quote???
• Dawe represents that the persona needs an escape from the
pressures of suburban life, highlighted in the list of nouns
“TIME, PAIN, LOVE, HATE, AGE, EMOTION, and
LAUGHTER”.
• Dawe depicts an ordinary Australian life being reflected in
the simple afternoon experience in a suburban back yard.
• The garden represents the mind which is chaotic when wild,
but is also beautiful and fertile - like a vegetable garden. The
man's thoughts, as represented by the garden, may seem
chaotic but there is order there - in “one constant” “the
compost box” and “the back fence”.
• The title, Homo Suburbiensis, is a parody of scientific
classification methods: Man of the Suburbs, and generally the
poet views the man as the scientist would a specimen:
interested, but with detachment, and perhaps a quiet joy in the
beauty of it all.
Dawe uses a wide range of techniques in his poem homo suburbiensis.
This is evident through the imagery in the poem. Dawe has created the whole poem to
visualize what it would be like if we where there in the garden. We can hear and smell
the garden through the stanzas. burning, hearing vaguely the clatter of a dish in a sink
that could be his, hearing a dog, a kid, a far whisper of traffic. After all this
interruption the poet immediately brings another image of the green garden. Dawe
uses the burning of rubbish to convey how the mans thoughts are disturbed by the
burning of something not as peaceful and brings him out of thinking.
Dawe also has added openendness to the poem through punctuation. Short paragraphs
are used right through the poem in order to create a long lasting impact in the readers
mind and for the meaning of the poem to stay in their minds. Tone is also a technique
used in the poem. The tone is peaceful and is a symbolic technique to portray meaning
into the poem of a man with a undisrupted mindset surrounded with a completely
opposite world of stress and chaos. This poem questions the audiences interpretation
of life and the world we live in.