Municipal gum poem. Municipal Gum by Oodgeroo webapi.bu.edu 2022-10-30
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A municipal gum poem is a type of poetry that uses the discarded chewing gum stuck to city sidewalks and other urban surfaces as a metaphor for the discarded and forgotten aspects of urban life. The gum, once chewed and used, is discarded and left to harden and stick to the pavement, much like how certain individuals or ideas may be discarded and forgotten in a city.
The municipal gum poem often reflects on the themes of consumerism, waste, and neglect in the city. The discarded gum is a symbol of how quickly we consume and dispose of things, often without considering the impact it has on the environment or the people around us. The gum, stuck to the pavement, is a reminder of how we often neglect the beauty and cleanliness of our cities, choosing convenience over care.
But the municipal gum poem is not just a reflection on the negative aspects of urban life. It also has the potential to highlight the resilience and resourcefulness of the city and its inhabitants. The gum, stuck to the pavement, may be an eyesore, but it is also a testament to the constant foot traffic and life that exists in the city. It is a reminder that despite the neglect and disregard, the city persists and thrives.
In writing a municipal gum poem, the poet has the opportunity to explore the duality of the city and its inhabitants – the beauty and the neglect, the resilience and the waste. The discarded gum becomes a symbol for all the forgotten and discarded aspects of urban life, inviting the reader to consider their own relationship to the city and the impact they have on it.
Municipal Gum · Poem by Oodgeroo Noonuccal on webapi.bu.edu
This poem expresses how life in Australia has changes especially for Aboriginal people. With castration often comes a sense of a loss of pride and power. Gumtree in the city street, Hard bitumen around your feet, Rather you should be In the cool world of leafy forest halls And wild bird calls Here you seems to me Like that poor cart-horse Castrated, broken, a thing wronged, Strapped and buckled, its hell prolonged, Whose hung head and listless mien express Its hopelessness. Nothing can undo what they did and the damaged they have caused. It is manipulated, demeaned, and exploited without regard for its well-being.
In conclusion, Municipal Gum is a poem about the constrictions and change that the European invaders forced upon the Aboriginal community and the environment she believes that the Europeans have deemed themselves ever powerful and practice their power in a manner that is immoral. The word castration is symbolic of how Oodjeroo feels the European have treated Aboriginal people and the environment. The speaker compares the tree to her people, who have been similarly displaced, subjugated, and treated unequally. Municipal gum, it is dolorous To see you thus Set in your black grass of bitumen-- O fellow citizen, What have they done to us? Poetic techniques including metaphor, alliteration, apostrophe, and enjambment was also use in the poem. The poem is only one stanza, with sixteen lines. Noonuccal explores the themes of subjugation, displacement and injustice.
Noonuccal explores the themes of subjugation, displacement and injustice. Editors of Encyclopedia 2021, October 30. Oodjeroo uses various techniques to convey this idea. Municipal gum, it is dolorous To see you thus Set in your black grass of bitumen-- O fellow citizen, What have they done to us? The poem concludes with a rhetorical question directed at the tree as well. Municipal Gum by Oodgeroo Noonuccal Gumtree in the city street, Hard bitumen around your feet, Rather you should be In the cool world of leafy forest halls And wild bird calls Here you seems to me Like that poor cart-horse Castrated, broken, a thing wronged, Strapped and buckled, its hell prolonged, Whose hung head and listless mien express Its hopelessness. Municipal Gum by Oodgeroo Noonuccal Municipal Gum is a poem written by Oodgeroo Noonuccall of the Noonuccall mob and is an example of original Aboriginal poetry.
There are few words. At the beginning of the poem Oodjeroo is addressing the tree. The repetition of sounds is so rich and lilting, I feel as if it could be put into song. The theme I have identified is one of injustice, because the author is clearly writing this to make a point about the oppression, she and all other Indigenous Australians have endured. Municipal gum, it is dolorous To see you thus Set in your black grass of bitumen- O fellow citizen, What have they done to us? In the first half of the poem Oodjeroo is talking about how life was for her and others.
In 1970, Oodgeroo Noonuccal under the name Kathleen Walker was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire Civil for services to the community. She was a member of Noonuccal Tribe also called as Qunadamooka people fighting for the rights of Indigenous people. She was a member of Noonuccal Tribe also called as Qunadamooka people fighting for the rights of Indigenous people. This means that the gumtree has been placed in the city scape where it is suppressed and not allowed to spread out and be unique in its own way. Municipal Gum is about the changes in society and the tendency of people to want to control everything. One of the vast differences between European and Aboriginal law is that Aboriginal people did not believe in the ownership of land or of animals and plants. She notices a connection between the tree and themselves.
The poem tells the story of a tree being suffocated by the urban sprawl of a modern Australian city. Municipal Gum is a reference to the Europeans assumptions that everything is theirs to own and control. If Dreamtime didn't exist for the Aboriginal People, then after the incursion of the European, they would have had to invent it for their dignity and sanity. Additionally, it shows the relationshipbetween the Indigenous Australians and their land and how they respect it. It explores the changes in society and the displacement of the Aboriginal people from their land. This immediately creates empathy for both the tree and her people. The tree is stuck there, left there as a reminder of the Aboriginal generations before her having lost their way of life and to some having lost their way in the world.
They despise the pain the tree is experiencing. She returned it in 1987 in protest against the forthcoming Australian Bicentenary celebrations 1988. Good Luck with your assignment. The piece uses a rhyme scheme — AABCCBBDEEFFGGHHG — that switches once the rhyming pattern becomes expected, reintroduces rhymes from earlier in the poem, makes frequent use of near-rhymes, and at one point includes a line that rhymes with no other line in the poem, all of which coalesces so that they create an uncertain, confused tone within the poem. I really liked how you talked about the feeling of dislocation in this poem, because at the same time I felt a kind of kinship between the speaker and the tree, because both were in similar situations.
Von - Oldpoetry Team - Australia From 'The Rainbow Serpent' Perhaps she will come again when the spirits of men and the spirit of this land are once more together as one ~~ These 4 poems are kindly reproduced with permission of John Wiley and Sons, Australia. The last lines solidify a connection that the speaker only hinted at in the previous lines. Rhetorical questions are used to provoke thought and to stimulate a pre-determined response. Oodjeroo uses vivid language to present these ideas. Municipal gum, it is dolorous To see you thus Set in your black grass of bitumen— O fellow citizen, What have they done to us? First and foremost, the poem provides a nostalgic glimpse at traditional Aboriginal culture.
Municipal gum, it is dolorous To see you thus Set in your black grass of bitumen-- O fellow citizen, What have they done to us? Both motifs and symbols in the poem rely on visual imagery that establishes a nostalgic and reverent tone toward traditional Aboriginal culture. Municipal gum, it is dolorous To see you thus Set in your black grass of bitumen— O fellow citizen, What have they done to us? Gumtree in the city street, Hard bitumen around your feet, Rather you should be In the cool world of leafy forest halls And wild bird calls Here you seems to me Like that poor cart-horse Castrated, broken, a thing wronged, Strapped and buckled, its hell prolonged, Whose hung head and listless mien express Its hopelessness. She speaks for the tree almost by explaining how she thinks it would feel, giving it a voice so to speak. It is dislocated, melancholy, and, like the cart-horse to which it is compared, hopeless. Municipal Gum By Oodgeroo Noonuccal Gumtree in the city street, Hard bitumen around your feet, Rather you should be In the cool world of leafy forest halls And wild bird calls Here you seems to me Like that poor cart-horse Castrated, broken, a thing wronged, Strapped and buckled, its hell prolonged, Whose hung head and listless mien express Its hopelessness. Because both are native to Australia, the gumtree symbolizes the Aboriginal people Myers. Gumtree in the city street, Hard bitumen around your feet, Rather you should be In the cool world of leafy forest halls And wild bird calls Here you seems to me Like that poor cart-horse Castrated, broken, a thing wronged, Strapped and buckled, its hell prolonged, Whose hung head and listless mien express Its hopelessness.
The rhyme scheme is AABCCBDEEFFFDGGD. Looking at the horse, the speaker can interpret a sense of hopelessness. Municipal Gum was written by Oodjeroo Noonecaal. This is clear and immanently direct link to the pain and suffering endured by the Aborigines post European settlement. Municipal gum, it is dolorous To see you thus Set in your black grass of bitumen-- O fellow citizen, What have they done to us? INTRODUCTION The structure of Municipal Gum is a sixteen line poem that is contained within one block of text.
