| "Beach Burial" | |
|---|---|
| by Kenneth Slessor | |
| Written | 1944 |
| First published in | Southerly |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Publication date | 1944 |
"Beach Burial" (1944) is a poem by Australian poet Kenneth Slessor.[1]
It was originally published in Southerly journal in 1944, and was subsequently reprinted in the author's single-author collections and a number of Australian poetry anthologies.[1]
The poem was written around the time of the battle of El Alamein in 1942 while Slessor was a war correspondent. It reflects his experience of seeing dead seamen being pulled from the surf and buried in the sand in graves marked with a cross bearing the words "Unknown Seaman".