“Beach Burial” is informed by, and may have been directly inspired by, Kenneth Slessor’s occupation as a wartime correspondent during World War II. As a journalist, Slessor traveled to and documented conflict in Britain, North Africa, Greece, and Syria. The poem’s tone and style reflect Slessor’s unique perspective as a wartime correspondent. The speaker frames themselves as an outsider, observing the sailors and remarking on the unknown “[s]omeone” who commemorated their graves. The speaker is juxtaposed with the dead seamen, as he mourns them rather than participating in the conflict or action that has led to their death. Similarly, the poem focuses on vivid, visual imagery, which reflects the style required of a journalist. Like a writer or photographer, the speaker zooms in on the most striking and important details of the scene to convey an underlying message to the reader—here, the poem both depicts the death of the sailors and mourns their anonymity. Also like a journalist, the speaker is unflinching in his depictions of the violence and pain caused by war.
Wartime correspondents were placed in a unique role in that they had to both navigate trauma and capture images of the horror that they witnessed to raise awareness and preserve the story of the conflict for history. “Beach Burial” could also be read as Slessor grappling with and exploring this uneasy position. The poem largely uses sparse but vivid details, focusing on a straightforward, visual depiction of the scene. At the same time, the speaker incorporates subtle details—like the fact that the sailors can no longer be identified as allies or enemies—to establish an anti-war message. Thus, the poem itself strikes a balance between pure imagery and information, and a broader communicative purposes.
Some wartime journalists served as propaganda artists for the state. Slessor himself was the Australian government's official war correspondent, but this job seems to have made him particularly sensitive to the dangers of complicity with war. Writing counter to the purposes of government propaganda, Slessor sharply rejects a pro-war view in his poem, focusing on horrific yet mundane details and emphasizing the uselessness of the violence that led to the unnamed sailors’ deaths.
