3. Individual perspective

3. Individual perspective

Viewing guide

Before

  • Discuss and define the English textual concept of perspective.

  • Think about the poem that you have started writing and note down your ideas in the same place you have your creative writing ideas and drafts.

    • Is there a cultural context for the poem that you are writing?

      • If so, will this content represent a general view of the overall cultural group or is it a reflection of your own personal views?

      • If not, do the views represented in your poem reflect the views of others?

  • What significance does Samuel place on his belonging to a specific cultural group?

  • Read the poem ‘hotel bone’.

    • What references can you find in Samuel's poetry that show his cultural heritage?

    • What political views is he expressing?

  • What other poems have you read that have a strong connection with a cultural context?

  • Does every piece of writing have a cultural context?

  • Do you have any political or cultural views that inspire you to write?

  • How does changing the audience impact your choice of words?

This exercise is designed to get students thinking about writing from a specific perspective and for different audiences. Students should be encouraged to interrogate their own cultural perspectives and tap into that for inspiration.

Students may be reluctant to keep re-working the same poem. They need to practise the draft and revision process a few times on one poem, however there is no reason why, after that, that they cannot start a new poem. Encourage them to create the poems as an anthology, structured around an idea or a theme.

Syllabus outcomes

  • responds to and composes increasingly sophisticated and sustained texts for understanding, interpretation, critical analysis, imaginative expression and pleasure (EN5-1A)

  • effectively uses and critically assesses a wide range of processes, skills, strategies and knowledge for responding to and composing a wide range of texts in different media and technologies (EN5-2A)

  • selects and uses language forms, features and structures of texts appropriate to a range of purposes, audiences and contexts, describing and explaining their effects on meaning (EN5-3B)

  • investigates the relationships between and among texts (EN5-6C)

  • describe the factors that contribute to an Aboriginal person’s identity (AS5.1)

  • explains adaptations in, and the changing nature of, Aboriginal cultural expression across time and location (AS5.4)

  • analyses the interaction of the wider Australian community with Aboriginal Peoples and cultures (AS5.8).

Interviewer: What insights do your readers get from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in your poetry?

Samuel Wagan Watson: Well, I'd like to think that my readers are only understanding my perspective and not thinking, that this is what every indigenous person thinks. I write mainly for a wider audience, I don't expect indigenous people to go into a big Borders bookstore and geez, I only have one copy of my book as it is because they are quite expensive. So look, I aim at a wider market. I don't try to be overly opinionated of my work. Yeah, I just hope that the readers will look into my work and think this is what Sam's thinking, this isn't the wider opinion in the indigenous community and I have to tell you Brisbane's got one of the biggest urban indigenous communities in Australia. We're not … we're not a community that is all together. There is not a lot of unity in our community and my opinions are very different from my father's and my brother's.

Videos

1. Becoming a poet

1. Becoming a poet

2. Advice to aspiring poets

2. Advice to aspiring poets

3. Individual perspective

3. Individual perspective

4. Poetry writing process

4. Poetry writing process

5. Poetry structure and form

5. Poetry structure and form

6. Poetry reading

6. Poetry reading