Douglas Stewart

Douglas Stewart Essay

Douglas Stewart is a poet that uses many different types of poetry and poetic devices. He usually writes about nature in his poems (Snow Gum, The wombat, The lizards, The lady feeding the cats) and writes as though the animals are his old friends. He uses a lot of your senses in the poems. Stewart often goes out and experiences the things he writes about. This makes the bond with nature and himself stronger.

The wombat
In this poem Stewart relates to nature by writing about how the wombat acts to him and what he thinks of the wombat.
"Was there some thud of foot in the mist and the silence
That stiffens whisker and ear in sound's fierce absence"
He writes in a humorous tone -
"Poor lump of moveable clay, snuffling and blinking.
Too thick in the head to know what thumps in your thinking"
He uses imagery to give a lot of effects.
He uses Similes -
"Plunging like red flood water"
This gives the effect of the wombat plunging down at a very fast speed.
He uses Metaphors -
"Ha there! Old pig, old bear, old bristly and gingery"
This gives the effect that he thinks he is a good old friend with the wombat.
He uses Consonance -
"We have one mother, good brother; it is Her laughter
That sends you now snorting and plunging like red floodwater"
Here he says to the wombat we have one mother bringing them closer together.
Onomatopoeia -
Thumps, Trembling, Thud
This is used to make more of your senses being used when reading the poem
Repetition -
"Old pig, old bear, old bristly and gingerly."
This is used to emphasise what the writer is trying to convey.
This was my favourite of all his poems I have read because I liked how he made it humorous and made the wombat look like a fat old lazy animal.