LITERATURE FORM 3 THE DAY THE BULLDOZERS CAME

Thursday
18th March 2021

LITERATURE FORM 3

POEM

THE DAY THE BULLDOZERS CAME

BY DAVID ORME

Prepared byTeacher Nor Yusrina binti Ahmad @ Saifuddin
SMK Sungai Isap Kuantan

(credit to Teacher Tasha’s Blog)

The Poet

The Poem

Meaning of the Poem

• STANZA 1

• When the bulldozers came to
the forest, Rooks (a type of
bird) were making nests (egg
baskets) in oak trees. Green
flies were buzzing around the
pond while a toad was waiting
to eat them. This shows that
anything random can happen
on any given day. It’s just a
way of life.

Meaning of the Poem

• STANZA 2

• When the bulldozers came to
the forest, squirrels were scared
and they were running up the
trees. They tried to leap from
branch to branch, but the tree
branches were no longer there.
The bulldozers had knocked
them down. This shows that,
when we are not prepared for
emergencies, we tend to panic
and behave helter-skelter.

Meaning of the Poem

• STANZA 3

• The fox woke up from his nap but
he went back to sleep. He felt the
ground shake but he thought he
was safe deep down in the
foxhole. However, the bulldozers
came and dug him out of the soil!
So, this shows that planning and
preparations are all good and
smart. However, there’s always a
chance and risk that something
might go wrong.

Elements of the poem:-
Persona

• The persona of this 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)

Elements of the poem:-
Settings
PLACE TIME

• A countryside or a • in the early 20th century
forest in a western (Bulldozers were invented in
country such as early 20th century.)
England or America.
• These powerful machines
• There are trees (oaks), are used to clear forests
a pond and for development.
underground dens, Therefore, the poem is set
the natural in modern times.
environment where
animals, birds and
insects live.

Elements of the poem:-
Tone and mood

Frantic and Panic Unexpected

Confusion

Elements of the poem:-

1.Destruction of nature Themes 4. Disruption of life

The bulldozers are designed to knock The lives of the animals in the forest
down trees and flatten lands for are disrupted by human’s activities.
development. However this has resulted For example, the bulldozers knock
in the destruction of nature. Many trees down the tree branches where the
are knocked down. Animals lose their squirrels live.
home and have no where to go.

2. Change is inevitable 3. Alertness

Life is always changing. Change cannot be It is important to be alert to our surroundings.
avoided. For example, the fox believes that as long as he
For example, the bulldozers are invented to hides in the hole, he will be safe. However he
replace the animals and help human to does not realise that the change that humans
develop new lands. make is now able to harm him even though he is
deep in the ground.

Elements of the poem:-

We should be alert to any threats and changes around us.

Moral We should be ready to face changes.
values
We should respect the nature and the animals that depend on it.

We should protect flora and fauna and the only Earth we have.
We should understand that development projects can bring harm to
the nature.

Exercise :
Complete the blanks in the passage below about the poem The Day
the Bulldozers Came by David Orme. Use the words given.

hide habitat machines destroyed

underground trees

The poem describes how a normal day in the countryside was
interrupted by the arrival of bulldozers. These (1) ________________
came to clear the (2) _____________ and prepare the land for
development. The natural (3) _____________of the creatures
described in the poem was to be (4) ___________________. The
frightened animals had nowhere to (5) ______________. Even the fox
in his (6) _______________ den was not safe.