He was born in Geelong in 1930, and during the Depression his family moved around country Victoria. He also lived in the inner city and attended Northcote High School. His poem The Family Man is a case in point. This is the story of the suicide of an ordinary man, for reasons unknown to the poet and the man's workmates.
Poetry can shed light on confusion, loneliness, hopefulness, anger, sadness.
Dawe is a master of arresting images. A number of Dawe's poems express philosophical views on life. Dawe captures and celebrates the commonplace in many poems. To his consternation, his female neighbor falls asleep on his shoulder. Bruce Dawe's football poems are probably his best known.