Analysis of "the First Time I Met My Grandma"

Ali Cobby Eckerman is a well- known Indigenous poet of the Aboriginal Australian ancestry from Kaurna in South Australia. She is the author of numerous prestigious books despite having a criminal background and “The first time I met my grandma” was part of her first poetry collections. This poem dictates the connection, between their dreaming land and their people and how precious it is to them, and this was achieved by utilising multiple poetic devices and Emotive Languages.

Ali’s utilization of connective love and dreaming poetic devices throughout the context of this poem truly replicates a symbol of powerful affection. Most of her poems along with “The First time I met my grandma” imitates strong imagery along with a lyrical mode that resembles hope as sentimental. Like in the lyrical outpouring of this poem stating that “I understand my feelings now, tears push behind my eyes I’ll sit on this soil anytime, and brush away them flies, I’ll dance with mob on this red land, Munda Wiru place, I’ll dance away those half-caste lies, ‘cos I got my Nana’s face” as shown here, there is a sense of personal marked authenticity of complete linking and absolute resilience , furthermore establishing the connection to their lands and their gods. Additional devices such as visual imagery was also utilized to additionally enhance the visual impact the text has on the audience as shown “tears pushed pass my eyes as I sit on this soil anywhere, brushing away the flies” she highlights the surrounding environment with these words that show how natural it is, a baron field and just someone sitting down looking up into a beautiful sky while brushing away a fly. These words summarise fundamentally every key aspect of a baron Australian field. Hence poetic devices have been used to truly emphasis not only the emotion but also what true aboriginal land is. 

In addition to poetic devices, Ali uses emotional impact to furthermore elevate the Australian Landscape and its spiritual connection. Especially in the section where its states that “tears pushed pass my eyes as I sit on this soil anywhere, brushing away the flies”. This approach of emotive language use is highly effective for emphasising imagery as it shows the sheer beauty of the Australian land that’s enough to make a person cry. Another example of how emotive language was effectively utilized was “I’ve done nothing wrong, why you look at me?”. Although much of this poem is outlining how beautiful the Australian landscape truly is, this section here was most likely partially describing the racial standings of the white Australians and the Aboriginals. Basically, it’s the fact that white Australians find it very strange that those aboriginals appreciate something that they personally don’t find interesting. 

Ali’s poem “The first time I met my grandma truly capture the essences and beauty of the Australian landscape throughout a range of emotive languages and poetic devices. Emotive language helps enhance the beauty and how precious their connection to lands is. Moreover, poetic devices were used to strongly portray the author’s perspective on the outdoor landscape. Overall, this is a very elegant poem that dictates the significance and how precious they hold it.