1. How to write an accurate text-analysis paragraph
… a paragraph which could fit into an English essay

2. 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?

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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 ______________.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.