Hope Is Light In The Dark

Kath Walker's Free Verse Poem

One of the main literary devices used here in “to our fathers’ sorrow” and “to our children’s tomorrow” is juxtaposition. It is an intergenerational perspective that cites ancestors and successors experience. This distinguishes between the suffering of past Aboriginal generations and the hope held for future ones.

“Look up, my people” asks them to look up and above. They experienced legal and social discrimination, segregation, and denial of land, voting, education and employment access. The speaker is not separate from the struggle but part of it.

Through “a juster justice,” the phrase conveys a demand for fairness and an improvement on the status quo. It confronts the nation’s failure to deliver that justice to Aboriginal people, demanding that this has to be acknowledged and answered for.

The line “Now light shall guide us. No goal denied us” uses light as a metaphor for truth, recognition, and empowerment. It symbolizes the start of aboriginal people reclaiming their rights, history, and dignity because no “goal” ever denied them, which reduces focus on the depressing aspects of the past and leaves no space in emphasizing future as present. “See plain the promise Dark freedom-lover!” urges Aboriginals to see how crystal-clear, pure and plain is the promise of a progressive future free of past injustice by celebrating Black resistance and embraces racial pride.

“When none defame us No restriction tame us Nor colour shame us”. Anaphora in ("no ; nor... us". Tame is a powerful word that sheds light on erasure and mock those exercising true self-expression from looks to lifestyle. It cites racism and systemic oppression.

“New rights will greet us New mateship meet us And joy complete us In our new Dream Time” thematically concludes the point she’s making. Dream Time is about the sacred cultural heritage. She asserts that the Aboriginal Australians will receive full participation in society as equals. This empowering poem was written when they weren’t counted in the national census until the 1967 referendum.