australian poetry?

Question

can you help me with my speech
i have to
1. techniques used in the peom eg simile, metaphor
2. themes and mesages
3. what makes this poem australian

I had written him a letter which I had, for want of better
Knowledge, sent to where I met him down the Lachlan, years ago,
He was shearing when I knew him, so I sent the letter to him,
Just "on spec", addressed as follows, "Clancy, of The Overflow"

And an answer came directed in a writing unexpected,
(And I think the same was written with a thumb-nail dipped in tar)
'Twas his shearing mate who wrote it, and verbatim I will quote it:
"Clancy's gone to Queensland droving, and we don't know where he are."

In my wild erratic fancy visions come to me of Clancy
Gone a-droving "down the Cooper" where the Western drovers go;
As the stock are slowly stringing, Clancy rides behind them singing,
For the drover's life has pleasures that the townsfolk never know.

And the bush hath friends to meet him, and their kindly voices greet him
In the murmur of the breezes and the river on its bars,
And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended,
And at night the wondrous glory of the everlasting stars.

I am sitting in my dingy little office, where a stingy
Ray of sunlight struggles feebly down between the houses tall,
And the foetid air and gritty of the dusty, dirty city
Through the open window floating, spreads its foulness over all.

And in place of lowing cattle, I can hear the fiendish rattle
Of the tramways and the buses making hurry down the street,
And the language uninviting of the gutter children fighting,
Comes fitfully and faintly through the ceaseless tramp of feet.

And the hurrying people daunt me, and their pallid faces haunt me
As they shoulder one another in their rush and nervous haste,
With their eager eyes and greedy, and their stunted stunted forms and weedy,
For townsfolk have no time to grow, they have no time to waste.

And I somehow rather fancy that I'd like to change with Clancy,
Like to take a turn at droving where the seasons come and go,
While he faced the round eternal of the cashbook and the journal -
But I doubt he'd suit the office, Clancy, of "The Overflow".

Answer 1

1. Techniques - I see a great rhyme scheme going on, both with end rhymes every other line (second and fourth line of each stanza) and internal rhymes as well on lines 1 and 3. I see some examples of alliteration - repeating the first letter of words in a row: like "stock...slowly stringing" with the repetition of "s." Also "sunlight struggles" uses "s," and then "dusty, dirty" uses alliteration, but if you look at the three words "dusty, dirty city" you also get consonance, where the "ty" sound is repeated in the three words. Another case of alliteration is "foetid" (probably British spelling, as I would have spelled it "fetid") combined with "floating" and "foulness" to repeat the "f" letter. The "f" alliteration repeats with "fiendish," "fighting," "fitfully," "faintly," and "feet." I think there is a bit of personification by calling the noise of the tramways and buses "fiendish" as the vehicles themselves do not have any devilish tendencies.
2. A major theme I see is that country life is freer and more desirable than city life. You can take your pick of lines to prove that point.
3. For Australian hints I would say right off the bat that the sheep business in Australia (and New Zealand as well) is legendary. The name "Lachlan" immediately connotes a British or Scottish or Irish origin - which describes where the ancestors of the Australians came from. The first answerer already mentioned Queensland. The mention of the word "bush" instead of "country" or "backwoods" or "wilderness" also immediately identifies this poem as Australian.

Answer 2

Australian Similes

Answer 3

Technique the second and fouth line rym
Australian mate - friend
Drover work with cattle or horse dingy
Queensland is a town in Australia
Dingy - dirty (I think it also mean a boat but I will check)

Answer 4

Queensland is NOT a town in Australia but a state (1 of six) The "Lachlan" refers to a river. -named fter Gov. Lachlan Macquarie. The Lachlan River.