Gumtree in the city street,
Hard bitumen around your feet,
Rather you should be
In the cool world of leafy forest halls
And wild bird calls
Here you seems to me
Like that poor cart-horse
Castrated, broken, a thing wronged,
Strapped and buckled, its hell prolonged,
Whose hung head and listless mien express
Its hopelessness.
Municipal gum, it is dolorous
To see you thus
Set in your black grass of bitumen—
O fellow citizen,
What have they done to us?
Notes
"Reproduced with permission of John Wiley
and Sons, Australia".
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Comments
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rhyme
From guest poem-master (contact)
rhyme is a very superficial technique which adds only to the rhythm however not the message or meaning. i would not use this technique xx -
poetic devices
From guest K Garrett (contact)
how about imagery, juxtaposition and personification
The poet died in 1993 - the poem will stand as it it is seen here for posterity.
Von - Oldpoetry Team -
helpful link
From guest Candice (contact)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RshUn6ii I am studying this poem for my degree at uni I hope this link helps others and explains what Oodgeroo was trying to say in her verse
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Help
From guest Help (contact)
i can't belive how many poeple are doing this for english :L. i don't quite understand but what technique is most used in the poem -
I love this poem
From guest Jennifer (contact)
I love this poem, it tells people that mordernisation has destroyed alot of our beautiful environment. -
I NEED SOME HELP
From guest John (contact)
I NEED SOME HELP UNDERSTANDING THE POEM AS I HAVE AN ESSAY TO DO ON IT IN ENGLISH AND I NEED TO KNOW WHAT TECHNIQUES SHE HAS USED THROUGH THE POEM AND WHY SHE MIGHT HAVE USED THEM.I DO KNOW THAT SHE HAS USED RHYMING THROUGHOUT THE POEM SO I JUST NEED TWO MORE AND WHY SHE USED THEM. -
My take
From guest Kevin (contact)
Kath is using the gum tree as an allegory for the containment of her people, aliens in their own world, captive by the constraints of "civilization" and its trappings. If Dreamtime didn't exist for the Aboriginal People, then after the incursion of the European, they would have had to invent it for their dignity and sanity. -
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Assignment
From guest Natalya (contact)
This is really good. I'm also doing an assignment on it but i need pictures as well and everything gets pixilated when i make it bigger...i just need a picture of a municipal gum...can anyone help me? -
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reply for Natalya
The Gum Tree in this poem is not actually called a ‘Municipal Gum’ it is now seen as part of the municipality that is the town built up around and the ‘back grass’ is now bitumen. It may also mean that it is a representative of all the other trees that have been felled to clear the way for the white mans buildings.
She speaks for the tree almost by explaining how she thinks it would feel, giving it a voice so to speak.
The tree is stuck there, left there as a reminder of the Aboriginal generations before her having lost their way of life and to some having lost their way in the world.
Good Luck with your assignment.
Von - Oldpoetry Team - Australia
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for guest clare
Please read the comments below -they will make this poem so much easier to understand. There is one from me from some time ago plus others who each have a different understanding of the poem. read them all and form your own opinion.
Von - Oldpoetry Team
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Help
From guest Wayne Kerr (contact)
I am doing this poem for English essay
Help Me please.
MOD MESSAGE
Perhaps you could try trading one of the 13 comments below this one. -
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WOW
From guest Cristen (contact)
My Name Is Cristen I Am 12 years of age and im am very mooved by your poem. I am suprized that the white people have been soooo mean to the Aboriginal people. Thank You!!! Yours Sincerly Cristen (12) -
I love how she uses the long lovely line "In the cool world of leafy forest halls/And wild bird calls" and the short 4 syllable coda after. Changing from a 10 metric foot line to a four metric foot line creates such a haunting effect, almost as if you can hear an echo through the trees, a
forest-echo. What a powerful finale!
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I am sorry
From guest Ulla Rauh (contact)
To me the poem "The Unhappy Race" or "The Myall Speaks" of Kath Walker is one of the best I ever read. It is just true. Why is it not in here?
I am a white German-Hungarian woman.
MOD MESSAGE
The work of Kath Walker (AKA Oodgeroo Noonuccal) is still under copyright to her estate and publishers. John Wiley and Sons, Australia. They have given us limited permission to post the 4 poems. -
school
From guest panda (contact)
i have to do an essay about 3 poems of a particular poet this website is a great help -
From guest chris johnson (contact)
I love this poem, it is great and i love the author, her words just seem to speak to me
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WOW!!
From guest Ash (contact)
Wow!! i love this poem! I love the cantrast, the metaphores and the whole thing!! all i can think of is WOW!!! -
From guest gemma (contact)
Hi I have this poem for english my task is to deconstruct the poem and write 1 paragraph on why i chose the poem and also 1 paragraph what i think about the theme,tone or mood i love your website it is good thanks -
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hello!
From guest kate (contact)
hi im ALSO in yr 9 and also studying oodgeroo 4 english. i just wanna say shes an amazing, inspiral women. -
oodgeroo
From guest Shauna (contact)
Hi I am in year 9 and we are study Oodgeroo in English and i was really interested in the work that she did and i really enjoy reading this poem Municipal Gum as she uses strong words to say how she is feeling. -
I am only 12 but I realy admire Kath Walker!
I am doing a project on Kath Walker for school and she has really touched me and I think her poems are awesome! -
This poem is spectacular! Oodgeroo never fails to amaze me. Rest in peace.
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im using this poem in a speech we have to do at school. It has a very defined metaphore which is why i chose it and because it actually means something.
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this is cool
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Back in the Dreamtime the Gum would have been in a natural environment, surrounds by the bush, sky and other trees - not so now; as it stands as a singular monument to the trees felled to make way for the modern roads, buildings etc. It is as a comparison to the Aboriginal people too who also had their 'Mother Earth' taken away and re-used for modern society I feel that this poem to the Gum Tree is seeing at it stands right now - surrounds by the modern generation of concrete and bitumen to how it used to be before white man came to Australia.
After the comparison Oodergoo is asking the Gum Tree 'What have they done to us?' both tree and Aboriginal being displaced and in a foreign, unnatural environment.
That's my take on this poem.
Vonny
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this poem is awesome!!!!
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Im doing a year 12 text study on Kth Walkers poem No more boomerang, and i have to incorporate some of her other poems,Municipal gum is such a great poem i love it...
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the poets on the page helped me feel the inner warmth of what this country and how this country addapts to it's lifestyle. i think kath walker is very inspirational. her talent is absolutely professionalised in the way she wants her poems to be. thanks kath walker for giving me inspiration, for doing my aborigional speach (which is all about you), and thanks for giving me all the information i needed to allow me to get a good mark. hopefully i do get a fantastic mark for my speach, and i basically just wanted to say how greatfull i am to get help from a true aborigional australian poet!!!!!
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her poem is great. it is one of my favourites!!
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I think Kath Walker is very inspiring. Her detailed poetry is an amazing talent that I am also very passionate about. I am doing a set of aboriginal poems for my year 12 english application, and I just want to say thankyou Kath for your excellent poetry and help you have given me.
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kath has excellent poetry and her poetry has a lot of meaning i beleive it should be put in all school libraries throughout australia because at my school they dont have any books recognising and giving credit to an aboriginal poet.
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She is a pretty good writter and people should be infuenced by her.
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hey im doing an assignment on kath walker and i just wanted to say shes really good and wrote heaps good poetry.. if only everyone could see what she explains.. ive neva heard of her before this but shes heaps good
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A poet I've never heard of, so it's the first piece I've read by her. It, to me rests so much on the bleakness of society. Not so much the emptiness or even the fortitude but the bleakness. Perhaps only I get that view and perhaps not but it's my view just the same.
A good piece written by Noonuccal.
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Hi im in yr 9 and doin poetry and Oodgeroo Noonuccal aka Kath Walker is what our assignment is on. I love the poem Municipal Gum and thats the poem im doing for my assignment. If she was still alive i think she would even more help the aboriginal people.
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Her writings are inspiring. She captures the reader with her delicate writing power,reflecting upon issues which need to be taken into more account in society today!!
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I think that Oodgeroo is a great ambassador for Aborigiinal people.
The relationship between indigenous and white australians has benefited immensely fom her work. -
jst wanted to say im doing a project on kath walker and i just wanted to say that i think that she is a real legend she has great poetry and the best way of getting black and white rights accross I did not know much about her until now and im glad that i now do know more about her cause she is my hero!!!
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