Bruce Dawe

The Second World War changed many things: the face of Europe, the balance of world power, and, perhaps less notably, the perception of the common Australian. From Federation day to the 1940s, most poets wrote about the ideal 'aussie'; the strong, silent outback-dweller; the Man from Snowy River or the Man who went to Ironbark. The 1950s were a time of change, and Australian Literature changed too, from aggrandizing the increasingly rare 'Dundee's, to noting …

…has highlighted the changes in Australian literature. Changes brought about by himself, for he is truly the most influential Australian Poet of this century. By departing from the common norm of Outback mythology to discuss the curve of a man's life, his passion for sport and the ways in which suburbia has taken over Australian lives, he earns his title of the 'People's Poet'. Bruce Dawe has changed the perception of the average Australian worldwide.