Beach Burial Poem Analysis

The poem ‘Beach Burial’ by Kenneth Slessor and the song ‘Keep the fires burning’ by Ivor Novello and Lena Ford. Both of the poem and the song gives an aspect of war. Whilst the poem is all about the loss of life through war, the song gives an idea of the beginning of the war during a march. Beach Burial has a major theme of death as it sends an ironic message that, in death they are all joined together as one. On the other hand the song portrays the feeling that war will be over soon. These both have share an aspect of war whilst one show death and the other hope.

Many images are shown in ‘Beach Burial’ such as a beach and this can be seen as a image in your head when the author said “morning rolls them in foam”. Beaches can represent beauty and

The writer in the poem writes about the death of soldiers as the opening of the poem is quite comforting, and is not words that you would associate with the image of war, the words like “softly and humbly” and “sway and wonder” . It seems as though the writer uses these words to convey a sense of peace to the reader. In comparison to the song the isn’t much of a tone but the tune of it is fast but slows down in the chorus which makes it more distinct and the slowness of it seem more appropriate for the message of hope. The song and the poem show that they are both different because one of them is comforting at the start but progresses to a blunt and shocking end, as the others is comforting.

To conclude, both of these send a message to the reader. The poem tells us that in death, they are all joined together as one and the song sends a message with a feeling that the war will be over soon. In my opinion I think that the poem ‘Beach Burial’ sends a better message of death because it's a poem written for all the soldiers, regardless of what side they are on and that death are all joined