Jack Cornstalk as a Drover

Jack Cornstalk as a Drover - meaning Summary

A Drover's Weary Horizon

The poem captures a drover’s experience in the Australian interior, evoking heat, dust, and the slow, unending progress of travel. Terse images—dry scrub, a drowsy day, and a horizon that simultaneously nears and recedes—convey physical exhaustion and a sense of futile yearning. The mood emphasizes isolation and the relentlessness of the landscape, suggesting the emotional and temporal costs of a life spent moving through vast, indifferent country.