Redgum Analysis

814 Words4 Pages
Good Morning 9D and Mr Bos. The song I will be analysing for you today is “I was only 19” by “Red gum”. “Redgum” are an Australian Folk and political music group formed in 1975 by John Schumann. The genre for “I was only 19” is Australian folk. “I was only 19” is easily Redgums best known song and was probably the song that made them so famous. It has peaked at number one on the world charts and is in the Top 30 of all time Australian songs. The reason I have chosen this topic is because it is one of the best Australian songs ever and also my great grandfather fought in the Vietnam War. Throughout the song “Redgum” used many different poetic devices. In this song the only type of imagery used is metaphors. In the line, “It was a war within yourself” the composer “Redgum” uses a metaphor of hardship to describe how hard it was at war. The soldier did not really have a war inside himself however using a metaphor helps us understand the song better. Secondly, another metaphor the poet uses is “It was a long march from cadets”. The soldier didn’t really march from cadets however the writer is just describing how being a cadet is such a big difference to the real army. The line “, “and night-time's just a jungle dark and a barking M16” the writer has used this to explain the commotion of the M16 gun at night. The gun wasn’t really barking however the writer is explaining how loud and irritating it was at night. “But you wouldn't let your mates down til they had you dusted off” is another metaphor used throughout the song. This is a very good metaphor to represent the desire and friendship you had for your fellow soldiers. The metaphor is saying that you wouldn’t stop fighting for your mates until you were dead. Finally, the last metaphor I found was “Til the morphine came and killed the bloody row”. This metaphor clarifies the death of Frankie because it tells how
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