Bruce Dawe's "Enter Without So Much As Knocking": An Analysis

Enter Without So Much As Knocking (p 15 of Sometimes Gladness) "Remember, man, thou art but dust, and unto dust though shalt return." This is a translation of the quotation which begins Dawe's poem, Enter Without So Much As Knocking. The quote reminds us that life is not forever; and that we are all faced with mortality. The poem itself is discussing a man's journey from birth to death and how all around him life is …

…the process after someone has passed on, yet in this case is used to show worry over such trivial matters. The second last line in the poem, "six feet down nobody interested" shows how society regards the dead: he doesn't affect people anymore, so nobody cares. The last line links back to the first. "Blink, blink. CEMETERY. Silence". Just like he came into this life, the man blinks into death and into silence, an ending.