Irina's Poetry Corner

Dear SunWinkers!

“The time has come,” the Walrus said,

“To talk of many things:

Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax–

Of cabbages–and kings–

And why the sea is boiling hot–

And whether pigs have wings.”

Lewis Carroll

Well, I got Len to write a poem, so pigs must have wings…..

Anyway, poetry is many things, and consists of many things, and we are going to talk about one of them. Today I want you to think about the placement of the words on the page.

Now, poetry is an oral medium. A good poem must be read out loud, both by the poet in the process of composition, and by the discerning reader.

It follows that the organization of a poem affects how it sounds when read out loud. When it is written in a fixed form, such as a ballad, the form is imposed on the content, and the content…

Blooded in German New Guinea

Note that in writing this post, as primary sources are hard to obtain, I drew on information from internet sources that contained inconsistent data. I attempted to use the information that appeared to be consistent. (References supplied and sources cited in Part 2)

It was not during the landing at Anzac Cove in 1914 that Australian soldiers were blooded in WW1.  It was on 11^th September 1914, on the road to Bita Paka in German New Guinea.

Background

This account focuses on the important events of the Australian amphibious expedition of the force called the ANMEF in 1914 that seized German New Guinea and the territories of its protectorate, amounting to 100. 000 sq miles of land, stretching from German New Guinea mainland to Admiralty Islands, New Ireland, Bougainville and Nauru.

August 1914.  Map of New Guinea.  The German controlled areas are shown in…