The Day the Bulldozers Came
Presentation
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English
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4th - 5th Grade
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Medium
NORWANI Moe
Used 12+ times
FREE Resource
28 Slides • 19 Questions
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The Day the Bulldozers Came
by David Orme
Literature in Action / Lesson 61
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The poet...
Born 1948. Trained as a teacher. Full time writer since 1986 Has published over 300 books, including poetry collections and anthologies, fiction for children, non-fiction and teachers books. Married with two grown up children and 3 grandchidren.
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Stanza 1
The persona tells about a day when the bulldozers arrive at the forested area. The animals are going about their lives. The rooks are building their nests high on the tops of the oak trees. Green flies are buzzing about near a pond. A toad is motionless eyeing its food.
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Stanza 2
When the bulldozers arrive, the squirrels run away quickly in every direction. Some run up tree trunks while others try to escape by jumping from one branch to another. The persona describes the branches as "hardly there". This indicates that the trees are very far apart as many have been cut down before the land can be cleared by the bulldozers.
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Stanza 3
The fox's slumber is disturbed when the ground begins to tremble under the weight of the large heavy bulldozers. However, the fox is not worried. He mocks at the thought that the bulldozers can harm him. The fox feels that he is "quite safe" in his underground burrow, which is deep below the Earth's surface. However, the blade of the bulldozer can perch into the soil and reach him.
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Open Ended
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Elements of the poem
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Setting of place
The setting of the poem is the countryside or a forest. There are trees (oaks), a pond and underground dens. This is the natural environment where animals, birds and insects live. The creatures mentioned in the poem – rocks, squirrels and foxes – indicate that the setting is in a western country such as England or America.
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Setting of Time
The poem describes the arrival of bulldozers in the countryside. Bulldozers were invented in the early 20th century. These powerful machines are used to clear forests for development. Therefore, the poem is set in modern times.
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Persona of the Poem
is the third person omniscient narrator. The narrator describes what can be observed, such as the birds building their nest (line 2 -3) and what cannot be seen, such as the fox in its underground den. The narrator is omniscient, for he even knows what the fox was thinking (line 15 -18)
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THEMES
Deforestation and habitat loss
- Bulldozers are used for logging or to clear land for agriculture and housing.
- Deforestation destroys the natural habitat of native wildlife.
- The poem describes how the bulldozers were going to destroy the natural habitat.
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The effect of modern development on the environment
The birds were preparing nests to lay their eggs, the toad was waiting for its meal, the squirrels were scampering around as they always do and the fox was sleeping underground. Later, trees were bulldozed away.
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Machines versus nature
The bulldozers are powerful machines. Nature is helpless against these machines. The creatures were unaware of the destruction coming their way. For example, the fox thought he was safe underground but ‘then the bulldozers came’ and would destroy even what lay underground.
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Language and Style
- Three stanzas of different lengths.
- 19 lines altogether.
- written in free verse and has no rhyming pattern.
- sounds like natural speech or narration. Direct speech is used as in storytelling (lines 15 and 16)
- vague rhythm due to the repetition of the line ‘the bulldozers came’ (lines 1, 7 and 19)
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Repetition
- The first line of the poem is repeated in the first line of stanza 2 and also partially in the last line of the third verse.
- The repeated lines act like a reminder of the important event and help build suspense.
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Imagery
- The poem is rich in visual and movement imagery. Descriptive words like ‘crazy’, ‘green’, ‘sizzled’ and ‘cold-eyed’ are used in the first verse to provide a clear picture of the creatures in their natural habitat.
- No descriptive words are used in the following two verses. This creates a sense of urgency as the bulldozers arrive.
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Imagery
• Movement imagery in the poem is used to depict life and activity in the countryside. Action words like ‘building’, ‘sizzled’, ‘scattering’ and ‘leapt’ are used for movement imagery. • The word ‘sizzled’ is also sound imagery because it helps us ‘hear’ the sound of the insects buzzing.
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Foreshadowing
• The toad waiting to attack and devour the flies foreshadows the fate of the creatures.
• The toad is ‘cold-eyed’ meaning unfeeling, just like the machines that came to destroy the trees and the wildlife living among them.
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Personification
• In line 14, the ground ‘trembled’. This refers to the physical shaking of the earth as the big and heavy bulldozers approach.
• This is also a metaphor for fear. Nature shakes with fear as the machines arrive.
• In lines 15 to 18, the fox thinks like a human.
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Symbolism
• The bulldozers symbolise development.
• They are also a symbol of destruction and violence resulting from human disregard for the environment.
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Open Ended
The Day the Bulldozers Came
by David Orme
Literature in Action / Lesson 61
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