Genesis 2
Genesis 2Analysis of the poem : Genesis, by Bruce Dawe
Bruce Dawe, an Australian poet, has written the poem 'Genesis'. The poem compares the beginning of school to Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden of Eden, hence the title 'Genesis'. Dawe has put the context of the poem into a modern day theme. Using the comparison of Adam and Eve's loss of innocence, he describes how the innocence of children is lost at school. This correspondence to the story of God expelling Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden because they had eaten fruit from the tree of knowledge. In the poem 'Genesis', children are expelled from innocence into the harsh realities of the world by partaking of the tree of knowledge - education at school. Dawe has used various techniques to convey his message across.
Throughout the poem, there is an underlying criticism of what society does to children by sending them to school, leading us to question the wisdom of "education" as provided at school. He has achieved this critical commentary by lightly incorporating the technique of gentle satire into the poem to attack the human folly. This satire implies that society has not learnt from Adam and Eve's mistakes and condones the sinful behaviour in the name of "education". His idea has been put forward by the interpretations that God created Adam and Eve, of whom lost their innocence from the tree of knowledge, but society created the cause of the loss of innocence through education. In the lines "Ah, what ink-stained webs we weave"(1.23), Dawe implies that the adults of society have created a trap (that cannot be untangled) for their children, in their desire for their children to know more, almost pushing them into losing their purity of heart. This satire has made possible by the technique of irony because the Garden of Eden is supposed to harmonise paradise, but school is far from paradise; yet is respected and designated as a 'good' place by society. The predominating mood created by Dawe is quite paradoxical for he has put forward a serious inner meaning, in an informal manner.
The tone of the poem is cynical and sarcastic, occasionally using wry humour to express the feelings of entrapment and unwillingness of the children "Stabbing first flies with new biros" (1.8). In the poem you can almost sense the children's lack of freedom when the poet describes them "Watching corner-eyed, the sun, No longer at their beck and calling" (1.10-11). The school bell has replaced their freedom of control over the day. Using sarcasm, Dawe describes the different classrooms as prison cells. This implication is made by the...
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