Jason McCall, more communally known as Rupert McCall has been called the modern
day banjo Patterson and Henry Lawson. He has the ability to express his emotions
though his poetry with a warm and compelling simplicity. He has the ability to
combine passion with humor in his poetry which captures the hearts of all true
Australian’s, from school kids to sports fans and blue-collar workers to
businessmen. When reading Rupert’s poetry it’s easy to get caught up in the
emotion, patriotism and true aussie pride that he has of this beautiful country
that exists in his poetry. Rupert McCall is a 26-year-old solicitor who has put
his legal career on hold to peruse his number one passion - poetry and creative
writing. He went on a tour of the 163 world hotspots as part of his research and
mental preparation for his third book entitled “Green and Gold Malaria”
which has already sold 60000 copies. Rupert has also produced a CD, which has
nearly reached gold status. The image that comes across in his poetry is one of
a “True Blue Aussie”. He writes about things in a way that only a true
Aussie would understand. His poetry is on topics such as cricket, AFL and proud
Australian moments such as the Australian Rugby team winning the World Cup. If
an immigrant from Italy was to read Ruperts poetry, they would not appreciate
it. Because he writes about Australian issues that only true Australians would
understand. So they would think that he has a screw loose or something. The
three poems featured in this anthology are “Green and Gold Malaria”, “The
Tubby Little Trooper” and “A Land of Backyard Cricket”. Green and Gold
Malaria tells a story of an Australian man who comes home from overseas and goes
to the doctor to get the verdict on an allergy he gets when he’s witnessing
Australians who have done heroic things in there field of expertise. Whether it
be the Anzacs in the Anzac day parade or Border making a gutsy ton. The doctor
then goes on to tell him that there is no cure for it because it’s just
“Good Old Aussie Pride”. If an immigrant from East Timor was to read this
poem they would not understand The message in this poem is that Australians are
proud of this beautiful country and the people who live in it and represent it.
Throughout this poem there have been three types of poetic devices used.
Alliterations have been used in the lines “And Matilda sends me waltzing with
a billy-boiling shiver” Billy-boiling being the alliteration. Another one
appears in the line “`From the beaches here in Queensland to the sweeping
shores of Broome” sweeping shores being the alliteration this time. The last
alliteration in this poem appears in the line “The medical profession call it
‘green and gold malaria’ ”. Green and Gold being the alliteration. Another
poetic device used in this poem is a personification that appears in the line
“Well, the Doctor scratched his melon with a rather worried look”. The poet
using melon as a symbol for the doctors head. The rhyme scheme used in this poem
is AABB. ‘The Tubby Little Trooper’ tells a story of David Boon arguably
Australia’s bravest cricketer ever to take the field. The poem is written from
a teammates point of view who compares the battles he had on the field to war. I
think the purpose of this poem is to reflect to the readers the guts and the
determination of this great man has to win. There are several poetic devices
used in this poem they are a metaphor, in the line “ he is good old fashioned
guts. There are quite a few alliterations in this poem. The lines “ we are
standing sure and strong”, “This tubby little trooper make his stand”,
“and I shiver Green and Gold” and “without a word to say” all have at
least 2 words starting with the same letter in close proximity to each other.
There are two onomatopoeia’s used in this poem they are located in the lines
“missiles fly and bullets rattle” rattle being the noise bullets make when
shot out of a gun. And the other being in the line “when his crashing bat
salutes the roaring crowd” There is two onomatopoeia’s in this line they are
crashing being the noise of bat hitting ball and roaring symbolizing the noise
the crowd makes. The rhyme scheme used in ‘The Tubby Little Trooper’ is
AABAAB. This rhyme scheme makes each verse six lines long. The poem ‘A Land of
Backyard cricketers was written by Rupert McCall. For him to recite at the First
Annual Alan Border Medal Night. It tells a story that many true Australians
could relate to. A story of backyard cricket. It describes the emotions that
were present, the rules that excited and the dreams of one day, just maybe
wearing the baggy green. At the end of the poem he decides to tape up the old
ball mow a wicket and call his mates to play some good hard backyard cricket.
The message that this poem presents is that all true Aussie have played backyard
cricket at one time in there life and had the dream of playing for their country
and getting to wear the baggy green. The four poetic devices used in this poem
are personification in the line “An until you knocked his melon off, you
hadn't cleared your name”, melon being the personification. There where quite
a few similes used in this poem so here are only some of them. “Then,
sometimes when you took the crease, you'd face like Allan Border” face like
Alan Border being the simile. “As you 'walked the walk' like David Boon and
'talked the talk' like Richie” this line has two similes in it they are
‘Walked the walk like David Boon’ and ‘Talked the a Talk like Richie’.
There is another five lines in this poem that contain at least one simile.
Alliterations were used a lot in this poem, actually there is eleven lines that
have alliterations in them. Here are some of them “Through a window, where I
stare upon a yard that needs a mow”, ‘window, where’ being the
alliteration. “To be bowled by one's own brother was the ultimate in shame”,
‘be bowled by’ is the alliteration. “And just ask Adam Gilchrist if that
dream was worth his while” has two alliterations in it. These are only a few
of the alliterations used in this poem. The rhyme scheme that the poet used in
this poem is AABB. It’s very rare to see poetry like Ruperts where it’s
readable where you don’t have to sit down for hours and think about what the
poem means. The image that Rupert sends across through his poetry is that he is
very proud of this country and the people who live in it. As Ruperts publicity
increases his poetry will become more and more popular. Rupert McCall will go
down in history just as banjo Patterson and Henry Lawson did.