Five Bells And Redfern Analysis

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The novel Five Bells by Gail Jones and the poems Redfern by Kevin Gilbert and Storm Over Sydney by John Tranter all depict Sydney in different ways through using poetic techniques to show how the narrator or character each describes Sydney. In Five Bells, James and Pei Xing contrast each other greatly even though they both have had very traumatic pasts and have both come to Australia to find refuge and a new start. James describes Sydney very negatively whilst Pei Xing shows total appreciation of her new home. The poem Redfern portrays Sydney similarly to James, in a negative or dark way, however Storm over Sydney shows Sydney as a buzzing, rural city in a positive way. James in Five Bells sees Sydney as a negative place as he carries his traumatic past with him…show more content…
The poem uses poetic devices such as imagery to describe the hurry of the city, for example, “cars wobble and skid on William Street”, the image shown here is a busy street filled with people trying to avoid the rain and traffic and readers can see the fast pace of the city and the pandemonium derived from the storm. Tranter has interspersed ordinary activities into his description of such a hectic and unordinary storm to remind the audience of the contrast between the chaos of the storm and the simplicity of the people rushing through it, “I fossick and dawdle under the supermarket aisles safely underground, among the paper plates and jars of honey”. This quote is describing his lazy and delayed movements which contrast with the uncontrolled movements of the storm. The purpose of putting “honey” in those lines was to again contrast the vigorous storm with the slow and relaxed movement of honey. Tranter has used many poetic techniques to describe Sydney as a city full of unpredictable scenes of activity mixed with the regularity of the people experiencing
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