Bruce Dawe's ability to concentrate experience into vivid and memorable images is discussed, referring to Big Jim and Life-Cycle.

THE POETRY OF BRUCE DAWE One of the marks of a great poet is the ability to concentrate experience into vivid and memorable images. Discuss, referring to at least two poems. Over the forty-three years between 1954 and 1997 Bruce Dawe wrote more than 150 poems, each one a reflection or reaction to what was happening in his life. Dawe has the amazing ability to show readers what he is thinking and feeling purely from his poetry. Dawe …

…into the poem, and therefore able to create images in the reader's mind that are more detail and more depth than he would otherwise have been able to. This ability is what makes Dawe a great poet. Perhaps with time, and as Australian culture continues to evolve, Dawe will carry on reflecting on life and culture in continue to reinforce what we know: that Bruce Dawe is the writer Australia's most fascinating and insightful poems.