The Song That Men Should Sing - Kenneth Mackay - TAKE 2

Note: One analysis of ‘The Song That Men Should Sing’ has already been posted. However, I thought I’d post this one as well as the views presented in this are quite opposite to the views presented in the other one, the more points of view the better.

The poem “The song that Men should sing” is a poem by Australian poet Kenneth Mackay in 1899. In it, the author counters the popular notion that peace and general disarmament go hand in hand. It is important to note that the author, Kenneth Mackay, served in the Boer War and had a strong military background.

The poem contains strong themes of nationalism, anti-pacifism, and racist undertones. The mentality of military people is expertly conveyed through the writer’s point of view. The ingrained belief that war is a necessary part of existence is repeated throughout the piece.

Before we continue, it is important to note that that unlike the other Australia-centred poems present in our additional English syllabus, this poem is not apologetic or in the slightest bit remorseful of the genocide inflicted upon the aborigines. It glorifies the wars waged against these tribal people (perceived to be sub-human). It is also important to note that while the other two poems we have to study (Elder’s passing and The Last of his Tribe) never attained fame or publicity in their time, this poem was published in textbooks for white school children for almost 30 years!

The cohorts who fought when the world was young
Have their blood-red legends told,
For a hundred poets have bravely sung
The deeds of the days of old.

The story is writ of the men who fell
In desert and sun-scorched track:
The legions who served their country well -
The heroes who marched 'Out Back' ... 

The first two stanzas speak on the stories often told of the heroes and soldiers who fought for their country during the beginning of Australia’s bastardized ‘colonization’. Many military words are used to invoke a sense of military honour and bravery.

But they tell us now, in their lifeless lays,
These knights of the stool and pen,
We must boast no more of the stirring days
When they fought and fell like men ... 

In the third stanza, we are told that we should glorify these men no more; they exist no longer, they are long dead.  If we continue to glorify them we are justifying our sluggish laziness through the bravery of our ancestors. In simple terms, we shouldn’t live off the glory of those who are long since deceased.

But the tale is best that has oft been told,
If it love of birthland bring;
And the song they sang in days of old
Is the song that I will sing ... 

This stanza serves as an introduction to the end of the poem. In it, the first two lines inspire a direct sense of nationalism. The final line links back to the title as well as the first stanza. In short, what the poet is saying is that he is aligning himself with the men of old, the soldiers who fought. He’s saying that we can’t establish ourselves as a fighting race merely because our ancestors fought; we too must fight.

We won the land from a nerveless race,
Too mean for their land to fight;
If we mean to hold it we too must face
The adage that 'might is right'.

It matters nothing what dreamers say,
When they prate that wars must cease,
For the lustful war-god holds his sway
In these piping days of peace ... 

                In the above two stanzazs, the author begins the conclusion. The first line is of particular significance, predominantly for its colonial tone of racial superiority. Rather than expressing remorse or sympathy for the aborigines, he calls them a nerveless race. The usage of the phrase nerveless race in this context is an extension of the stereotype created by the British that the aborigines were lazy and cowardly.

                The poet proceeds to state that invasion or war will inevitably come. The aborigines didn’t expect it, and neither will they, the modern day Australians. If they wish to maintain this country they love so dearly they must be prepared and ready to fight for it, rather than merely basking in the glory of their ancestors.

                But why do we need war? Why do we need armies? Can’t we all live peacefully?  Is what many of us might say. The poet is quick to dismiss this notion as folly. He states that war will always exist, as it looms even over days of peace. The usage of the word prate ( infinitive tense of prattle) is particularly significant to the poem. Prattle is a derogatory verb used to describe someone talking on and on about something they know very little about. Through this line, his  dislike of pacifists and his military intuition are brought to the forefront.

So our lads must learn there's a sterner task
Than playing a well-pitched ball;
That the land we love may some day ask
For a team when the trumpets call.

A team that is ready to take the field
To bowling with balls of lead,
In a test match grim, where if one appealed,
The umpire might answer 'dead'!

The poet winds up the poem. In the first of the above stanzas, the author begins a cricket metaphor.  He is saying that we can’t merely exist peacefully and carelessly as that is what the aborigines did. Rather, we must be prepared and ready to fight.

The final stanza provides an interesting extension of the cricket metaphor. The bowling with balls of lead is a reference to firing bullets in the battlefield. The team in this context is a reference to an army.

In conclusion, the poet is saying that he has no problem with peace, but merely wishes to be ready in the event of a war or invasion. The coupling of the gentleman’s sport of cricket with the violence of war provides the aforementioned ideology.

The Last of His Tribe - Henry Kendall

Bush Poetry, includes the poems which talk about the lives of people during the colonial times in Australia. The Last of his Tribe, written by Henry Kendall is one such poem. Looking back to the history of Australia, around the time of the colonial invasion and the massacre of the Aboriginals, Australia has had a pretty rough history. Similar to America and the Red Indian Massacre Australia had to give up its mainland in the name of might.

The poem narrates the final moments of a young man from the Aboriginals tribe who has taken refuge by a waterfall.

He crouches, and buries his face on his knees,

   And hides in the dark of his hair;

For he cannot look up to the storm-smitten trees,

   Or think of the loneliness there --

   Of the loss and the loneliness there.

The First stanza starts off with an image of the man crouching, burying his face on his knees as his long hair hides the rest of his face. “For he cannot…” tells us the state of emotional turmoil he is in as he remembers his people who lived with, among the trees and are there no more. Due to this, there is a kind of loneliness that exists in the forest due to missing aboriginals. There is also, a sense of loss as the man has no one to look back to and nothing of his own.

The wallaroos grope through the tufts of the grass,

   And turn to their coverts for fear;

But he sits in the ashes and lets them pass

   Where the boomerangs sleep with the spear --

   With the nullah, the sling and the spear.

Second Stanza: The wallaroos hide behind the tufts of grass while passing the man by. In the line, “But he sits in the...” tells us about the young man sitting in ashes with his different equipment. The equipment mentioned in the text in front of him is usually used by the Aboriginals for hunting.

Uloola, behold him!  The thunder that breaks

   On the tops of the rocks with the rain,

And the wind which drives up with the salt of the lakes,

   Have made him a hunter again --

   A hunter and fisher again.

Third Stanza: Uloola, meaning waterfall. After reading this stanza we can imagine the man standing by the waterfall with the camera panning away from him with the waterfall in the picture, a thunder striking the sky as rain strikes the ground with a breeze passing him by. On realizing that there is no point in keeping his head buried in his laps, and upon understanding the fact that if there is something that needs to be done, he is the only one who can do it. Hence, he picks up his equipment and proclaims himself as the hunter again.  For his eyes have been full with a smouldering thought;

   But he dreams of the hunts of yore,

And of foes that he sought, and of fights that he fought

   With those who will battle no more --

   Who will go to the battle no more.

Fourth Stanza: After realizing that nothing is achievable with the mind of a loafer, his eyes lit up, with a fire of determination and that of rage. He looks to the future with his fiery eyes but looks back to his old days, that of hunting and battling. Battles which he willingly fought against his foes, battles fought alongside friends whom he would meet no more (Cuz they dead (Duh)).  

It is well that the water which tumbles and fills,

   Goes moaning and moaning along;

For an echo rolls out from the sides of the hills,

   And he starts at a wonderful song --

   At the sound of a wonderful song.

Fifth Stanza: As the water from the waterfall falls, a gunfire is heard from the side of the hills which hits the young man. He sings a song as he is falling to his death. This gives a very saddening feel to the poem and its ending.

And he sees, through the rents of the scattering fogs,

   The corroboree warlike and grim,

And the lubra who sat by the fire on the logs,

   To watch, like a mourner, for him --

   Like a mother and mourner for him.

Sixth Stanza: The man starts hallucinating as he dies, his life flashes in front of him and he remembers the times he had lived in the forest. He sees a lubra(woman) sitting by a bonfire. This woman just might be his mother who is referred to in the next to next line as well. As there is no one there to mourn for him, he hallucinates his mother mourning for him as he descends to his death.

Will he go in his sleep from these desolate lands?

   Like a chief, to the rest of his race,

With the honey-voiced woman who beckons and stands,

   And gleams like a dream in his face --

   Like a marvellous dream in his face?

Seventh Stanza: The death of this man as of the others of his tribe was just as significant as the others. To crown him as a chief or to let him die as a man, on his death bed is not something one should ask. In the time of death, a man’s life is only good if he has something to look back to. Considering the vast cultural knowledge lost in the process of the Australian Extermination, even us as humans have lost a lot of knowledge. But maybe all a man would like to look back to is a memory. A memory which he would keep with him forever. “With the honey…” this line tells us that the man is dreaming now, and can hear a honey-voiced woman. As the woman seems to beckons the man and stand. We can interpret this as being the man’s rebirth as his new mother is holding him in her arms.

Important facts:

·         The second last line of the every stanza repeats as the last line with a little difference in the text. This brings in an echo-y feel to the whole poem and manages to blend in nicely with the end of the poem.