Les Murray Essay

Les Murray’s “Morse” is a poem about Bill Tuckett and his heroic surgery, however through the effective use of sound techniques several levels of meaning are created; of the Morse code and how poetry is dying out. Les Murray emphasizes throughout the poem isolation, Morse code and conveys the heroism of Bill Tuckett using plosives, rhyme and rhythm. One of the sound features used to convey the heroism of Bill Tuckett is plosives. Les Murray crafts “Morse” into a poem with words that is interpreted in more than one way.

Plosives such as c, k, t and p sound like tapping noises, very much like that of Morse code. To the reader this link to Morse code is very entertaining because the constant tapping such as the “ck” and “tt” of “Tuckett” and the “p” and “t” of “patient”. This evokes a positive atmosphere; one to support the heroism of Bill Tuckett conveyed through this humorous tone. Furthermore Les Murray uses plosives in “pluck” and “epoch”.

These are words that are rarely used in this age are considered archaic which in use matches the era of Bill Tuckett.

This adds realism and humour to “Morse”. This realism emphasizes the isolation of the area and how there is nobody except Bill Tuckett to do the surgery which increases the heroism of Bill Tuckett. Plosives also are very short syllables which speed up “Morse” evoking an urgent atmosphere. Les Murray conveys the urgency to give the effect of Bill Tuckett trying to quickly send Morse to others.

Get quality help now

Sweet V

Verified

Proficient in: Hero

4.9 (984)

“ Ok, let me say I’m extremely satisfy with the result while it was a last minute thing. I really enjoy the effort put in. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

Even though he is a hero because of the surgery, his fast sending of Morse has made a hero is Morse as well.

Les Murray Essay

The plosives in “Morse” convey heroism through the tapping noise, being archaic and the urgency. Another of the sound features is rhyme which conveys the heroism of Bill Tuckett through isolation, urgency and entertainment. Les Murray uses some assonance in “slit but slit” and “razor blade” portraying dark images of horror and evoking a negative atmosphere. However the words that rhyme end in plosives like “lack” “luck”, and “pluck” which creates an echo. The echoing of sounds is very entertaining to the reader which evokes a positive atmosphere.

The contrast between the positive atmosphere and the negative atmosphere reduces the intensity of the horror which conveys Bill as being less horrible through is horrifying actions of the surgery but instead very heroic for what he has done. In all lines of “Morse” they end in a plosive except for the line which ends in “gone”. Les Murray uses this to emphasize the line “Morse keys have mostly gone” which is suggesting that Morse or even poetry is being used less and less.

Les Murray is emphasizing the point to convey the importance of the theme and show that since it is running out and he is using Morse effectively, Bill Tuckett is heroic. Rhyme in “Morse” conveys the heroism of Bill Tuckett through the pleasure of rhyme and his Les Murrays’s use of Morse. Heroism is conveyed by Bill Tuckett through rhythm. “Morse” is made up of short syllables and long syllables. Les Murray creates the effect of short corresponding to the ‘dit’ of Morse code as well as the long syllables corresponding to the ‘dah’ of Morse code which is entertaining to the reader because there are several levels of meaning.

Because it is entertaining this reiterates the positive atmosphere therefore emphasizing the Positivity of the heroism of Bill Tuckett. A pause is used in Stanza one where there are lots of commas between “heat”, “glare” and “dust” to portray imagery of a difficult environment. Les Murray is emphasizing how it’s hard for Bill Tuckett to cope and conveys heroism. Throughout Stanza two there is a lack of pauses as there is no full stops therefore evoking an urgent atmosphere. This urgency reiterates Bill Tuckett sending Morse and conveys Bill Tuckett as being heroic.

Rhythm in “Morse” conveys the heroism of “Bill Tuckett” through the syllables corresponding to Morse code and pauses conveying the difficult environment. In “Morse”, Les Murray conveys the heroism of Bill Tuckett effectively through rhythm, rhyme and plosives which portray several levels of meaning. Themes of isolation, the loss of art; poetry and Morse are conveyed through the urgent and positive atmosphere. Les Murray conveys to the reader that the art of poetry is important and should be recognised and appreciated.