"Beach Burial" is a poem by Australian war poet, correspondent, and journalist Kenneth Slessor. The poem focuses on burial sites along the coast of Egypt (specifically, the Arab Gulf near the port city of Alexandria). Elegiac in tone, the poem laments the tragic loss of life that comes with war, and reflects on the anonymity of the dead men buried in the sand. It makes the point that it's impossible to tell which side of the war the dead men fought for in the first place. Slessor spent time reporting from Egypt during World War Two, so the poem may be based on personal experience.

• Read the full text of “Beach Burial”

• “Beach Burial” Summary

• “Beach Burial” Themes

  • 

    War and Death

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-20

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Beach Burial”

  • Lines 1-2

    Softly and humbly ...
    ... dead sailors come;

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 3-4

    At night they ...
    ... in the foam.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-8

    Between the sob ...
    ... upon their nakedness;

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-12

    And each cross, ...
    ... they begin –

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-16

    ‘Unknown seaman’ – ...
    ... drowned men’s lips,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-20

    Dead seamen, gone ...
    ... the other front.

    

    

    

    

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• “Beach Burial” Symbols

  • 

    The Ghostly Pencil

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 13: “the ghostly pencil”

• “Beach Burial” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “convoys,” “sailors,” “come”
    • Line 3: “sway,” “wander,” “waters”
    • Line 6: “Someone,” “seems”
    • Line 7: “bury,” “burrows”
    • Line 11: “Written with,” “ such ,” “perplexity,” “with,” “ such,” “pity”
    • Line 15: “wet,” “washed”
    • Line 17: “seamen,” “search,” “same”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Softly,” “humbly”
    • Line 2: “convoys,” “come”
    • Line 3: “they sway,” “wander,” “waters far under”
    • Line 4: “rolls,” “foam”
    • Line 5: “clubbing of,” “gunfire”
    • Line 7: “bury,” “burrows”
    • Line 11: “Written with,” “perplexity,” “with,” “bewildered pity”
    • Line 13: “Unknown,” “ghostly”
    • Line 14: “Wavers,” “fades”
    • Line 15: “The,” “breath,” “the wet”
    • Line 18: “Whether,” “enemies”
    • Line 20: “other front”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 6: “Someone, it,” “seems, has”
    • Line 9: “cross, the”
    • Line 11: “perplexity, with”
    • Line 13: “seaman’ – the”
    • Line 14: “fades, the”
    • Line 17: “seamen, gone”
    • Line 19: “us, or,” “neither; the”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1
    • Line 2
    • Line 3
    • Line 4
    • Line 5
    • Line 6
    • Line 7
    • Line 8
    • Line 9
    • Line 10
    • Line 11
    • Line 12
    • Line 13
    • Line 14
    • Line 15
    • Line 17
    • Line 18
    • Line 19
    • Line 20

  • Diacope

    

    

    

    

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    Where diacope appears in the poem:

    • Lines 18-19: “fought, / Or fought”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “Arabs / The”
    • Lines 5-6: “gunfire / Someone”
    • Lines 7-8: “burrows / And”
    • Lines 13-14: “pencil / Wavers”
    • Lines 15-16: “inscriptions / As”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Line 20: “the other front”

  • Paradox

    

    

    

    

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    Where paradox appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “The convoys of dead sailors come;”
    • Line 12: “The words choke as they begin –”

• “Beach Burial” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Gulf of Arabs
  • Convoys
  • Sob
  • Clubbing
  • Burrows
  • Tidewood
  • Perplexity
  • Bewildered
  • Inscriptions
  • Landfall
  • Enlisted
  • Front
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “Gulf of Arabs”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Beach Burial”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Beach Burial” Speaker

• “Beach Burial” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Beach Burial”

• More “Beach Burial” Resources

  • External Resources

    • "Beach Burial" Read Aloud — A reading of the poem, with additional analysis.

    • World War II Poetry — A valuable sampler of WWII poetry curated by the Poetry Foundation.  

    • More Poems by Slessor — A selection of other works by the poet. 

    • Further Slessor Biography — An in-depth account of Slessor's life, provided by the Australian Dictionary of Biography. 

    • Slessor Radio Documentary — A program provided by ABC about Slessor's life and work.  

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Kenneth Slessor

    • Five Bells

    • Out of Time

    • Sleep

    • William Street

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