Sons of the Earth
Australian Aborigine
I am of the earth.
I am the son of the earth.
I am the trees, the rivers and the rocks.
I am the kin to earth’s nature.
I am kin to earth’s creations.
The earth is my mother.
The white man is also of the earth.
But he is mad.
For what man in his right mind
Would rape his own mother?
Analysis
Study
1. Origin
Let us first discuss the title of the poem. “Sons of the Earth,” merely means that this poem is intended for all people to read. Sons of the earth refer to all black African people who make a living for his or her life. Though this poem was written by an Australian, he referred sons of the earth to all people around the world. Second, the author of the poem was an Australian aborigine. Australian aborigine means that the author of the poem is a black Australian. Aborigines lack confidence as they enter a field previously monopolized by whites and are handicapped by limited education. Aboriginal poets face one other drawback which confronts the members of many other indigenous minority (and majority) groups writing in the world today. Simply, it is that of dealing with the English language and making it their own.
2. Form and Structure
As what you can see, this poem is a free verse for it follows no rhyming and no specific number of syllables. The author used the first persona. Since he is an Australian aborigine, he speaks directly what he wants to say to the white Australians. It consists of two stanzas and even the stanzas have unequal number of lines; the first stanza consists of six lines while the second, four lines.
3.Theory Marxism was applied in this poem. The Marxian analysis begins with an analysis of material conditions, taking at its starting point the necessary economic activities required by human society to provide for its material needs.
Analyze
Component The author used the term “earth.” Earth in this poem does not literally mean the world, rather, the country Australia. The author expressed his respect to his country and though persons of his the same group do the same, the white Australians suppress them. The author also expresses the abuse being done by white Australians to their country.
The author of the poem earns his living through the presence of his needs in nature. Food, shelter, and clothing can be found in nature. Take a look in this line;
“The earth is my mother”
This line suggests that there are ways on how earth becomes our mother. As mentioned earlier, earth provides our needs in order for us to survive.
Interpret
Worth of the material
This poem is of great value. Look at this lines:
The white man is also of the earth.
But he is mad.
For what man in his right mind.
Would rape his own mother?
White man refers to the white Australians during that time. There was once a division between the black and white Australians known as Apartheid, classification of the higher and lower class. If we are going to relate it to the present time, white man refers to anyone who abuses what the earth has. People find their needs on earth yet they destroy it. They do not know on how to take care of the nature. They do things that will only be good for their own benefit.
When will they realize their mistakes? When earth will already be void? It’s too late…
