Similar in theme and tone to Bruce Dawe's 'Homecoming', Kenneth Slessor's 'Beach Burial' describes the burial process during war, and allows the reader to compare how vastly different this process is to a burial during peace time. The poem presents the poet's attitudes concerning war – the insignificance and unnecessary sacrifice - through the use of language, symbolism, imagery and rhyme.
             In the first stanza, Slessor explains how the bodies of many dead seamen have been helplessly floating around in the water, before rolling into the shore. He effectively uses part-rhyme: come and foam, under and wander. Sound repetition is also used in the opening stanza as it is again continuously throughout the poem: gunfire and under, come and humbly. These word combinations add to the sombre tone of the introductory stanza by making the stanza flow smoothly, as opposed to harshly and disjointedly.
             Softly and humbly to the Gulf of Arabs
             The term 'humbly' is applied to the dead soldiers, representing how delicate. They no longer have their strength or honour and self-respect. Despite any ideals they may have held, or sacrifices they were willing to make for their country, they have ultimately been 'humbled'. Meanwhile, 'come' does not refer to the dead soldiers, but the sea, which makes the dead soldiers come. These convoys of dead soldiers do not come voluntarily or actively – the sea brings them. This adds to the image of the soldiers being humbled – they no longer have their pride and individuality, the power to chose their own destiny.
             The 2nd and 3rd stanzas go on to explain the mass burials of soldiers – no longer individuals, or enemies fighting one another. Nothing can distinguish one man from another as they are buried beneath 'sand upon their nak
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