Essay Database

Homecoming by Bruce Dawe ‘Homecoming’ was written in 1968 during the Vietnam War with the intent of making its audience aware of the senselessness and tragedy of war. The poem deals with the numerous stages of bringing the dead home for their ‘homecoming’ – a supposedly joyous occasion worthy of great celebration. The title serves as a constant reminder of what may have been. Rather than coming home celebrating their heroic survival, they are being bought home …

…early for the soldiers to die and they should still be alive, considering all that they endured during the war. The overall tone of the poem encapsulates the hopeless sorrow that Dawe feels for the young people who are killed in wars all around the world every year. His skilful use of figurative imagery arouses sympathy from the audience and cleverly manipulates the audience to understand and reflect upon Dawe’s own attitudes towards war.