Free Essays, Term Papers, Research Papers at Anti Essays

“Bushed”- Earle Birney Literary Analysis


Bushed by Earle Birney is a free-verse poem which describes a person who is “bushed“ by themselves on a beach with no contact with society. The poem gives you the idea of how nature can be an intimidating force, and the only way for you to understand it is to be threatened or secluded with it.
The poem describes a person who previously lived a happy life -“invented a rainbow“, but for an unknown reason, the person’s dreams and happiness were struck by lighting into the lake-lap of a mountain, meaning that something traumatic greatly affected this persons life which drove them to live by themselves in the woods. The lake lap of the mountain probably refers to the new life the unknown person has made for themselves, and the mountain represents nature itself. The poem hints to you that this person has learned how to live off the land to create a peaceful life for themselves. The poet uses very descriptive language to describe nature and uses devices such as metaphors and personification to show the significance of the mountain. One strong example is “…he found the mountain was clearly alive”, because it shows the stress and paranoia the mountain causes him. Being isolated causes fear, which eventually causes insanity. The character is so stressed that he is constantly aware of his surroundings, and this causes him to see objects and land as living things.
The free verse form the poet uses is effective in the writing because each verse is a different length, which shows unpredictability that nature can bring. The character describes the forces of nature that they face with imagery, using similes and personification to describe things in detail. The last verse, ‘for the great flint to come singing into his heart’, shows that the man creates happiness and meaning in life by living off the land, and he shows how proud he is by wearing the porcupine quills on his headband.
The main...