Bruce Dawe is considered one of the most influential Australian poets of the 20th century. Dawe's poems capture Australian life in many ways, whether it's our passion for the AFL in Life-Cycle or our reckless nature towards war like in Homecoming. Dawe creates very complex poems reflecting the author's context corresponding to the time period, your context is based on your reading of the poem, where you can gather different meanings, compared to that of the original intention, hidden in the text . Cycle of Life: Written in the 1960s, this poem is one of the most famous in Dawe's collection. Written to reflect Australia's passion for its national sport, it draws analogies with that of the Catholic religion. This fact can be interpreted in several ways: is it to show the seriousness of our obsession or is it more in the sense of a religious love poem? There are many analogies throughout the poem referencing specific readings of the Bible and Catholic traditions or sacraments. The resemblance between religion and AFL can be used to identify how the sport is like a religion to many people in Australia and, in a sense, is a very appropriate choice. “…and see their team climb the ladder to the sky.” This line of the poem refers to the biblical story of Jacob's Dream, in the dream Jacob sees a ladder leading to heaven, to the kingdom of God and each crooked ladder is marked with a special task that Jacob must complete to ascend to the Lord. . When it comes to the AFL, the ladder clearly states the placement scale indicating which team is better and in reference to "each crook is marked with a special task for Jacob to complete", football teams must win against their rivals to ascend to heaven, which is obviously, the great...... middle of paper ......ng of the poem Life Cycle I understood that the general theme of the poem is to describe Australia's passionate sports culture. The analogies used by Dawe about religion highlight the fact that sport is like a religion for many individuals in the country, and as religion is seen as a main concept in life, the reader can truly understand the message from Dawe. The relevance of the title, religious analogies and references to other famous texts give a strong sense of intertextuality and provide many complex meanings behind simple verses. I really enjoyed this poem and I think it is a very correct interpretation of Australian culture. Dawe's analogies got me thinking and every line of the poem was deeply interesting. The context of the time and author provided additional relevance to my understanding and supported my final interpretation of Dawe's poem..