Beach Burial by Kenneth Slessor

Softly and humbly to the Gulf of Arabs

The convoys of dead sailors come;
At night they sway and wander in the waters far under,
But morning rolls them in the foam.

Between the sob and clubbing of the gunfire

Someone, it seems, has time for this,
To pluck them from the shallows and bury them in burrows
And tread the sand upon their nakedness;

And each cross, the driven stake of tidewood,

Bears the last signature of men,
Written with such perplexity, with such bewildered pity,
The words choke as they begin -

'Unknown seaman' - the ghostly pencil

Wavers and fades, the purple drips,
The breath of wet season has washed their inscriptions
As blue as drowned men's lips,

Dead seamen, gone in search of the same landfall,

Whether as enemies they fought,
Or fought with us, or neither; the sand joins them together,
Enlisted on the other front.

Analysis
Kenneth Slessor, an Australian journalist and poet, wrote ‘Beach Burial’ about burial sites along the
coast of Egypt. He focuses specifically on the Arab Gulf that’s near the city of Alexandria. While the
poem does not make all of the elements of an elegy, it does contain a lament or statement of
mourning for those who have died. Throughout the poem, he considers the price of war and the
high number of lives that have been lost because of it.

Summary of Beach Burial

‘Beach Burial’ by Kenneth Slessor is a tragic, but in the end peaceful, poem about bodies washing up
on the shores of the Arab Gulf.

In the first lines of the poem, the speaker describes the way that dead bodies float along the shore
of the Gulf of Arabs. The bodies eventually, gruesomely, wash up on the shore. They’re buried, in
between the periods of gunfire and more death, in graves that are marked by driftwood. Each cross
that’s created for these unknown men reads “unknown seaman”. Eventually, even those markings
disappear, and the remembrance is lost to time. In the end, the poet describes how these men are
united by their common loss of life and their burial in the sand.

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Themes in Beach Burial

Slessor engages with the troubling and dark themes of war and death throughout this poem. ‘Beach
Burial’ is far from uplifting in its depiction of loss. The poet was likely inspired by his own
experiences during the Second World War, which he reported on when writing this poem. He is
therefore, able to depict death in a very realistic and moving way.

Slessor goes back and forth, describing these dead men as heroic and then as nameless, and then
finally as perhaps not even soldiers at all. Their lives were lost to the sea and no one even
remembers who they are after death. The anonymity of death is one of the darkest and most real
parts of ‘Beach Burial.’

By the time Slessor reaches the end of the poem, he is describing the men as being united in their
deaths. Together, they are buried on the shore. They lost their lives together and are now buried
together.

Structure and Form

‘Beach Burial’ by Kenneth Slessor is a five stanza poem that is separated into sets of four lines,
known as quintains. These quintains do not follow a specific rhyme scheme or metrical pattern,
although there are some examples of half-rhyme and internal rhyme in the stanzas. Every fourth and
second line of the stanzas rhymes to some extent, such as “this” and “nakedness.” In regards to
the meter, there isn’t one pattern, but there is a vague organization, with some lines containing four
stresses while others have six.

Poetic Devices

Slessor makes use of several literary devices in ‘Beach Burial’. These include but are not limited
to alliteration, enjambment, and an example of a simile. The latter is seen in the fourth stanza when
the poet uses the line, “The breath of the wet season has washed their inscriptions / As blue as
drowned men’s lips.” Alliteration is another common technique, one that helps to create
more rhyme and rhythm in a poem. For example, “wander” and “waters” are in line three of the first
stanza, and “Someone” and “seems” are in line two of the second stanza.

Enjambment appears when one line transitions into another without the use of end punctuation. For
example, there is a connection between lines one and two of the first stanza as well as lines one and
two of the second stanza.

Speaker: The speaker of the poem appears to be an observer or narrator, recounting the solemn
scene of dead sailors being buried on a beach. The speaker's tone is respectful and contemplative,
conveying a sense of empathy for the fallen sailors and the solemn duty of those burying them.

Sound Devices: Alliteration ("Softly and humbly"), consonance ("sway and wander"), and assonance
("burrows and tread") are used sparingly throughout the poem, contributing to its musicality and
reinforcing key themes and images.

Figurative Language: The poem employs metaphorical language to convey the solemnity and
tragedy of war. For example, the sailors are described as "convoy of dead sailors," and the burial site
is referred to as "the Gulf of Arabs." These metaphors evoke a sense of the vastness and
impersonality of war, as well as the unity of those who have perished.

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Rhyme and Meter: "Beach Burial" does not adhere to a regular rhyme scheme or meter, reflecting
its free verse form. Instead, the poem relies on the natural cadence of language and the repetition of
certain phrases to create rhythm and emphasis.

Theme: The central theme of the poem is the futility and tragedy of war, as well as the universal
humanity of those who are lost in conflict. The poem explores the idea that death unites individuals
regardless of their nationality or allegiance, as they are all buried together in the same sandy grave.

Tone and Mood: The tone of the poem is somber and reflective, conveying a sense of reverence for
the fallen sailors and the solemnity of their burial. The mood is one of melancholy and introspection,
as the poem meditates on the senselessness of war and the shared fate of those who perish in it.

Syntax and Diction: The syntax of the poem is straightforward and accessible, with clear imagery
and concise language. The diction is formal yet evocative, with words like "convoy," "burrows," and
"inscriptions" adding depth and solemnity to the poem's subject matter. The use of specific details,
such as the description of the burial process and the fading inscriptions on the crosses, enhances the
poem's emotional impact.

Analysis of Beach Burial

Stanza One

Softly and humbly to the Gulf of Arabs

(…)

But morning rolls them in the foam.

Slessor uses irony in the first lines of ‘Beach Burial’ by describing dead men arriving, as if they were
alive, on the shore. The bodies more “Softy and humbly,” an interesting, personified depiction of a
body that can, in reality, do neither of these things. The solemn image is continued into the next
times. The bodies move together until they are pushed with foam onto the shore. Despite the
violent nature of their deaths, the imagery in these lines is far from war-like. The bodies “wander,”
as if they have nowhere important to be or any schedule to keep. The bodies “sway” rather than
tumble or cascade through the water.

Stanza Two

Between the sob and clubbing of the gunfire

(…)

And tread the sand upon their nakedness;

The imagery turns darker in the next lines when Slessor spends time describing the war these men
have now escaped from. Even though there’s gunfire “clubbing” in the air around the scene,
someone finds time to bury the bodies. They are “plucked” up from the sand and foam and buried
hurriedly in “burrows.”

The sand is quickly moved onto the bodies, covering them quickly so that those fighting might get
back to the task. Readers should take note of the use of alliteration in these lines that help to create

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a very specific tone for the stanza. This is something that the men fighting have done more than
once; it’s a ritual of sorts, albeit one that is completed quickly.

Stanza Three

And each cross, the driven stake of tidewood,

(…)

The words choke as they begin –

In the third stanza of ‘Beach Burial,’ the speaker describes the hurried way that the men create
crosses out of “tidewood” or driftwood to mark the graves. This is the last marker of their lives, and
it soon falls apart. The words the men write on the wood are only in pencil, and it “choke[s]” before
it really begins, as if the entire situation is too much to bear.

Stanza Four

‘Unknown seaman’ – the ghostly pencil

(…)

As blue as drowned men’s lips,

All the “chok[ing]” “ghostly” pencils are able to get out is “Unknown seaman.” The men don’t have
names; these were lost in the war that took their lives. Those pencil markings, which are hardly
permanent (much like the lives of men in war), will also soon fade. The “wet season” comes and
washes the inscriptions away. The “purple” becomes “blue” like the lips of a “drowned” man (a dark
example of a simile).

Stanza Five

Dead seamen, gone in search of the same landfall,

(…)

Enlisted on the other front.

In the final four lines of ‘Beach Burial,’ the speaker says that these lost men were all seeking out the
same thing—an end to the war or “the same landfall.” It doesn’t matter now (and didn’t really
matter then) whether they were enemies or friends or were even enlisted men at all. They’re
altogether in death, on the same beach, in the same sand.