Dialogue in text adds to our understanding about people, social issues and life. Poems that use dialogue include ‘ Weapons Training’ (WT) and ‘ Pleasant Sunday Afternoon’ (PSA), written by Bruce Dawe. The themes these poems express include ‘ strive for happiness and fulfilment and make the most of life. Another text that also displays these themes is ‘ V For Vendetta’ directed by James McTeigue. The poem ‘ Weapons Training’ written by Bruce Dawe is monologue from military instructor that is lecturing recruits on what to do in a battle situation.
Dawe expresses his ideas about military life using techniques such as humorous tone and vivid imagery. Dawe uses humorous tone in the poem to express how the speaker is of a higher rank and therefore very self-confident, because of this he humiliates his recruits. An example of this is when the speaker says ‘ open that drain you u call a mind and listen’, the speaker says this to make the recruits feel small and defenceless so they fall inline. This is all so the recruits pay attention to what he says so they hopefully survive battle. Vivid imagery is used by Dawe to show the recruits and readers what can happen in war, ‘ they’re on you and your tripe’s are around your neck’, this is saying that if the recruits don’t listen they may be killed. The speaker paints this image because he believes that this is what it takes to keep them alive.
Commercialism and symbolism is used in the text and it is shown by “ twenty-eight magnificent fully illustrated volumes”. This is a sales pitch to get people to buy the encyclopaedias. The encyclopaedias are a symbol of wealth and knowledge and it seems as the sales man is selling knowledge and wisdom and the speaker believes that by buying the books he will better his family. Irony is used throughout the poem, an example of this is the title “ Pleasant Sunday Afternoon” the title coaxes you to believe that the poem is about a “ pleasant” Sunday afternoon, he chooses to do this to present a satirical view of this lifestyle. When ‘ V’ introduces himself to Evey, ‘ V’ uses alliteration, seen in the line “ vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin”.
This draws attention to V’s name and character. It also gives the dialogue a poetic, lyrical tone. The letter v is symbolic of V’s ideas about the government and the importance of standing up for you right to improve society. The repetition of this letter highlights this. In his introduction V uses formal language, seen in his line ‘ let me simply add that it is a very good honour to meet you’. This show the viewer that V is not a hateful intelligent man hell-bent on revenge as the beginning of his introduction suggests but he is also polite, kind and well mannered.
Doug Byrne
