ANZAC in ANZAC

ANZAC or Australia New Zealand Army Corps was a corps formed as the result of World War I. As it is told, World War I or Great War was a war between the Triple Entente (Great Britain, France and Russia aided by United States of America, Belgium, Japan and others) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, aided by Turkey and Bulgaria) (Rivera, 2011). This war happened almost for four years. It started from July 18^th, 1914 and ended on November 11^th, 1918. As one of Great Britain colonies, Australia, cooperated with New Zealand, formed an army named ANZAC. These two countries sent their soldiers to help Great Britain in the war. ANZAC was the first army Australia constructed after the federation.

ANZAC soldiers landed in Turkey on April 25^th, 1914 after they were stationed in Egypt to have some sort of trainings. However, a tragic mistake happens. The location where Australian soldiers landed were too close to the enemies’ position and too far from British soldiers’ camps. It caused the help in the term of weapons from Great Britain could not be gotten as soon as possible. Due to this fact, Australian soldiers lacked of weapons and helps. Subsequently, they could easily be defeated by the enemies’ soldiers, who relatively had more complete and modern weapon than Australian soldiers did.

The result of this war was the Triple Entente won the war. However, there was no winner in the war. Every country involved suffered and lost many souls. In Australia’s side, there were many Australian people included in ANZAC died in this war. There were for about 61, 522 Australian people who died in Great War from 417,000 Australians who had enlisted for service in World War I (Rivera, 2011). It reached almost 65% from all people included in World War I from Australia who died, wounded, sick and also went missing. Australia did suffer a lot from its involvement in the Great War.

Furthermore, to commemorate this heroism, nowadays Australian people have the so called ANZAC day. ANZAC day is celebrated on April 25^th every year.  It is memorialized by having ANZAC parade which includes all the veterans from the wars and current members of Australian corps. It is televised and watched by thousands of people in Australia. In addition, on this day, people throughout Australia baked biscuits named ANZAC biscuits. This biscuit is actually originated from the food that ANZAC soldiers ate when they were involved in the war. These are some of many ways Australian people appreciate what the soldiers had done to the countries.

There are many literary works created to depict what happened in ANZAC and the war the soldiers involved. A poem by Bartlett Adamson entitled ANZAC is one of them. Here is the poem

ANZAC

 by Bartlett Adamson

By purple hills and opalescent sea
And sunlit leagues of plain they lived, and they
Were summery-hearted all, and life was gay,
And peace was theirs, and love, and liberty.
And when the clarion sounded suddenly,
They went, a rollicking band of boys at play
Tilted at doom, and there, at Anzac Bay,
Died...but they taught the world what men they be.

And Anzac now is an enchanted shore;
A tragic splendor, and a holy name;
A deed eternity will still acclaim;
A loss that crowns the victories of yore;
A glittering golden dome for evermore
Shining above the minarets of fame.

George Ernest Bartlett Adamson or mostly known as Bartlett Adamson was born on December 22^nd, 1884 at Cascade, Ringarooma in Tasmania, Australia. His mother was Scottish and his mother was English. He once became a clerk in New Zealand. However, he was always interested in literature. He published a volume of verse, Twelve Sonnets in 1918. Besides, he also created many poems after that such as White Stars on the Blue, Strike for Indonesian Freedom, The Oath of Eureka and, of course, ANZAC.

As the title suggests, this poem tells the readers the story of ANZAC. This poem consists of two stanzas and fourteen lines. Fourteen lines may not be enough to depict all what had happened in the war involving ANZAC. However, the narrator tries to describe her/his point of view about what happened at that time and the effect of it towards people.

The first stanza consists of eight lines. It can be divided into two parts. Each part consists of four lines. The division here is caused by the same ideas that are conveyed in the lines in each division. The first part of the first stanza consists of the first four lines. They are constructed in run-on line sentence. As we can see that they are actually involved in one sentence, but they are divided into several parts in the form of lines. These lines tell the readers about the condition of Australia before the war happened.  Australia looked lovely in the perspective of the narrator as described in the poem. The utilization of the word opalescent, gay, peace, love and liberty proves it. Furthermore, seen from the way how the narrator depicts the situation in Australia at the time by using those lines, the portrayal that comes to mind is that Australia is really beautiful, has good scenery with the purple hills, opalescent sea and sunlit league. In addition, people were happy living in Australia. It is depicted in the second and third lines “they lived and they were summery hearted all, and life was gay”. The reason why these people were happy living in Australia was that due to the peacefulness, love and liberty existed in the country. The fourth line portrays it.

The second part of the first stanza also consists of four lines, which is the rests of the lines in that very stanza. They are constructed based on enjambment too. These lines tell the readers the time when the war began. It is represented by clarion that sounded suddenly. Clarion is the medieval trumpet that is usually utilized as a sign to tell people that there is a war starts. Another sign that these lines illustrate that the war began is the rollicking band played. A band is usually played when the soldiers are sent to the battlefield. The band is played in boisterous high spirits along the way. This band is intended to give spirits to the soldiers in particular so that they have high motivation to fight and win the war.  The war meant here is World War I. As aforesaid, it is told that British government asked Australia to help its soldiers to face the war. The seventh line shows that Australian soldiers struggled at doom in the war. They tried so hard to face the enemies. Nonetheless, many of them died in the battlefield, as in the poem represented by Anzac bay. In the poem, the narrator does not see that this happening is to be regretted. S/he portrays that the death of those soldiers in the war teach other people and maybe her/himself that that is how men should be. They should fight for their country and make it proud of them.

The last stanza tells that the narrator tries to portray people’s impressions about ANZAC at the moment. Anzac bay today is depicted as an enchanted shore in the poem. A coast that is beautiful and captivating. Nevertheless, it cannot be forgotten that there once was a tragic occurrence taking place there in ANZAC era. ANZAC, based on the narrator’s point of view, is remembered as something holy yet tragic. Tragic because there were many people died in fighting at the war. This memory, however, will eternally stay in Australian people’s mind every time they hear ANZAC talked about. The bravery of ANZAC soldiers will still be admired. It is depicted in the poem that there is a memory lingered among the beauty of Anzac bay and the glittering golden of its water. A memory, as stated in the fourth line of the second stanza, of a loss that crowns the victories of yore. The victories of the Great War that, however, caused Australians to suffer from losing people they loved. They lost their fathers, husbands, boyfriends and friends. The costs that they had to pay were too much. Currently, if Australian people hear Anzac bay mentioned, what comes to their minds is the beautiful sea with the reflection of the sunshine that shine the tower of ANZAC fame long time ago, as stated in the very last line of the poem.

In a nutshell, ANZAC is one of many essential stories in Australia History. There are many stories involved in it. As one of the essential parts of Australia, there are many literary works concerning ANZAC. One of them is a poem entitled ANZAC written by Bartlett Adamson. This poem illustrates how Australia was a peaceful land before the episode of ANZAC. Australian people were pleased living in the land. This condition, afterwards, changed when there was a clarion sounded suddenly to tell Australian people that there was a war began, World War I where Australian government should sent its army to help Great Britain facing the war. This war virtually caused them to suffer. They lost people they loved in the war. They lost many souls, yet they still thought that it should not be bemoaned for it was how men should be. At the present time, whenever Australian people hear about ANZAC, they imagine about the opalescent sea where there was once a tragic war, a glittering golden that crowns the victory of the war Australian people experienced a long time ago, a light that shines the tower of Australian fame.