THE DAY THE BULLDOZERS CAME

FORM 3

THE DAY THE BULLDOZERS
CAME

BY DAVID ORME

Prepared by : Miss Noorifzanney Zainun (MSU TESL Trainee)

STANZA 1 POEM STANZA 3

The day the bulldozers came STANZA 2 The fox
Rooks were building Stirred in his sleep
The day the bulldozers came As the ground trembled.
Crazy egg baskets in the oaks; Squirrels were scattering ‘Ha ha!’ he thought,
Green flies sizzled by the pond Up tree trunks,
And leapt from branches ‘I’m quite safe’
And a cold-eyed toad That were hardly there. Deep down in the Earth,
Waited for them No one can get me here.’
Then the bulldozers came.

STANZA 1 MEANING

The day the bulldozers came MEANING
Rooks were building
When the bulldozers came to
Crazy egg baskets in the oaks; the forest, Rooks (a type of bird)
Green flies sizzled by the pond were making nests in oak trees.
Green flies were buzzing around
And a cold-eyed toad
Waited for them the pond while a toad was
waiting to eat them.
ROOKS
GREEN FLIES

MEANING

STANZA 2 MEANING

The day the bulldozers came When the bulldozers came to
Squirrels were scattering the forest, squirrels were scared
Up tree trunks,
And leapt from branches and they were running up the
That were hardly there. trees.They tried to leap from
branch to branch, but the tree
branches were no longer there,
possibly because they had been

cut off.

SQUIRREL

MEANING

STANZA 3 MEANING

The fox The fox woke up from his nap
Stirred in his sleep but he went back to sleep. He felt
As the ground trembled. the ground shake but he thought
‘Ha ha!’ he thought,
he was safe deep down in the
‘I’m quite safe’ foxhole. However, the bulldozers
Deep down in the Earth,
No one can get me here.’ came and the fox is no longer
Then the bulldozers came. safe.

FOX

MORAL VALUES

• We should respect the nature and the animals that depend on it.
• We should understand that development projects could bring

harm to the nature.

• We should protect our flora and fauna.
• We should be alert to any changes and threats around us.

THEMES

1 DESTRUCTION OF NATURE

The bulldozers are designed to knock down the trees and
flatten lands for development. However, this has resulted in the
destruction of nature. Many trees are knocked down. Animals
lose their home and have nowhere to go.

THEMES

2 MACHINES VERSUS NATURE

The bulldozers are powerful machine and nature is helpless
towards these machines. The creatures are unaware of the
destruction coming their way.

THEMES

3 DISRUPTION OF LIFE

The lives of the animals in the forest are disrupted by human’s
activities. For example, the bulldozers knock down the tree
branches where the squirrels and rooks live. The bulldozers also
disrupt the home of the foxes by digging up the foxholes.

SETTING

PLACE TIME

• Countryside or a ▪ 20st century.
forest. There are Bulldozers were
trees and
invented in the early
underground dens at 20th century.
this area.
Therefore, the poem
is set in modern
times.

TONE AND MOOD

TONE: LIGHTHEARTEDTHEN MOOD: DARK AND FEARFUL
FOREBODING
▪ At the last stanza, the poem strengthens on the
▪ The tone of the poem is light-hearted at first. sense of doom.The word ‘trembled’ used in
The use of expression ‘crazy egg baskets’ third stanza reflects fear.
refers to something fun / amazing.
▪ When the fox thinks it is safe underground, the
▪ The tone turns to serious and foreboding last line that begin with ‘then’ tells us that the fox
starting at ‘cold-eyed’ toad that refers to was not safe in the end.
unfriendly or devoid of feelings.This line
also is a foreshadowing of the death and
destruction that was coming.

LANGUAGE AND STYLE

▪ The poem has three stanzas of different lengths.
▪ There are 19 lines altogether in this poem.
▪ The poem is written in free verse and has no rhyming pattern.
▪ This poem contains direct speech (used as in storytelling) in lines

15 and 16). Example:

‘Ha ha!’ he thought,
‘I’m quite safe’

REPETITION ‘The day the bulldozers came’ is repeated in
▪ words, sentences or phrases used more than the first line of stanza 1 and 2. It is also partially

once in a poem repeated in last line of third stanza.

PERSONIFICATION ‘as the ground trembled’
▪ giving human characteristics to something

that is not human (animals, objects, plants)

IMAGERY Visual – ‘crazy’,‘green’,‘cold-eyed’
▪ words that create pictures in your mind Movement – ‘building’, ‘scattering’, ‘leapt’

(usually appeals to the five senses; sight, touch, Sound – ‘sizzled’
smell, taste, sound)

SYMBOLISM Bulldozers symbolise development. It is also a
▪ something (object, action) that is used to symbol of destruction and violence.

represent something

THANK YOU