Hope Is Light In The Dark

Rosy Hope

Kath Walker's POEM

This Is the last stanza and is the form of a ballad. There is juxtaposition used in this because ‘to our fathers’……..sorrow;’ & ‘to our……..tomorrow’ because first of all, juxtaposition is when 2 or more ideas, places, actions, or characters are placed together to develop compare and contrast, so we can see 2 ideas or situations of past and future(fathers’ lamentation and children’ joyfulness), where comparison of past and future is made. Lastly, this stanza summarizes the past and future of the Australian aboriginals. Furthermore, as we can see in the poem, ‘look...people’ had the word ‘my,’ which shows the ‘inclusivity’ that the author feels towards the Australian aboriginals. Additionally, ‘when…. shame us’ shows inclusivity by using another word, ‘us,’ which means that the Australian aboriginals, including the author, are positive about having the right to live and be who they are, with their own identity and fame, and not identity crisis that the aboriginals of Australia used to suffer. ‘when a JUSTER justice’ has a word ‘Juster’ (i.e., more just) talks about the ‘exactness’ and ’assurance’ given to the audience (who are the Australian aboriginals), just like typical propaganda, political speech strives to deliver.

‘now light shall……denied us’ includes the word ‘u’s, which again expresses the inclusivity of the author and aboriginal Australians; it fully means that ‘light’ that gives rights and acceptance to aboriginals or ‘time to break the hurdles’ that do not give rights to aboriginals because even Australian aboriginals can aim whatever they want to, and their aims would not be denied. ‘see..promise’ has this word ‘plain’ and another word ‘promise’ so these 2 words are used when politicians or propaganda speakers are striving to convince the audience, so this line means that audience are told to, plainly (clearly) see the promise made, to give them rights to live, reach goals, do what they want to do and be who they are.

“new rights……….tomorrow” includes the words ‘our’ and ‘us,’ which means that again the inclusivity of the author and the audience is expressed; so, to explain what it is, more descriptively, both of them are going to be ‘free like a bird and aim, reach any goal, dream, accomplish whatever they want to, although their ancestors suffered. Still, they and their children will experience a jovial tomorrow (life).

Therefore, after all this, we can see how the words like us, we, and our are typical propaganda words. A word like ‘Juster’ provides ‘assurance’ to the audience of this poem, just like a propaganda speaker or a politician does try to make the audience feel like they can be sure & terms like ‘see plain the promise’ make the audience see the assurance and promise plainly, clearly and surely.