Analysis of The Son is in Secondary School by Affran Sa’at

My badge has a Latin motto
Hope for the future
The future is hope
Or something

At times black crows try to interrupt
When we sing the National Anthem

It is difficult to maintain
The whiteness of my shoes

Especially on Wednesdays I must admit there is something quite special
About the bare thighs of hardworking scouts

The Malay chauffeurs
Who wait for my schoolmates
Sit on the car park kerb
Telling jokes to one another
Seven to the power of five is unreasonable

On Chinese New Year Mrs Lee dressed up
In a sarong kebaya
And sang Bengawan Solo

The capital of Singapore is Singapore

My best friend did a heroic thing once
Shaded all A’s
For his Chinese Language Multiple-choice paper

In our annual yearbook
There is a photograph of me
Pushing a wheelchair and smiling
They caught me
At the exact moment
When my eyes were actually closed

Affran Sa'at has chosen to write this poem in the form of a free verse, structuring it like daily conversation, as if he is trying to engage the reader in casual conversation, relating events about his school, rather than in a poetic form. The absence of alliterations show that making this poem musical is not the top priority in composing this poem. There were instances where imagery was used. For instance, "black crows" and "whiteness of my shoes". Even though these are not very strong "word pictures", they enable the reader to visualise what the poet is talking about.


Response to threads:
1. The poet misses his secondary school, as he remembers many significant details of it, regardless of whether it happened once or regularly. Many of the things he remember are those of happy thoughts, that he did not leave this school having a grudge with it. He seems to want to go back to secondary school life if he had the chance, to relive his past memories.

2.
Cross atop a building
Angel at the front gate standing
Spiritually filled it stood
A guardian of what is good

Field with memories never forgotten till time's end
A bed of barren, desert land
Hours of tackling, scoring, passing
Disregarding the need for studying or spelling

Classrooms filled with shaky fans
Whiteboard stained with the mark of our hands
A little souvenir for the classes below
A tinted glass window from the shaky side panel

Friends who moved about and stayed
Memories that would never fade
Quarrels, fights, arguments and brawls
Nevertheless a family, one for all

Our science teacher was a young bloke
loved to make all kinds of jokes
English teacher wasn't the same
A big NO to fun and games

Many things to say
Many stories to share
But at the end of the day
It is how you live life, over there

Favourite Poet!!

As you can see from my previous poem, the poet I favor is Robert Lee Frost, though more famously known simply as Robert Frost. Why is that so? One reason is that he was one of the first poets I came to know about and therefore he has left an impression on me with "The Road Not Taken", which was also the first poem that I have read since starting literature.

It was noted that mental illnesses ran through the family, as both he and his mother suffered from depression, while his sister was admitted to a mental hospital. He led a life filled with grief as his children and wife started succumbing to different illnesses, with only two children out of six outliving their parents.

An author who wrote on his life quoted that Robert Frost was "a loner who liked company; a poet of isolation who sought a mass audience; a rebel who sought to fit in." He also "traveled more than any poet of his generation to give lectures and readings, even though he remained terrified of public speaking to the end." Despite initially being regarded as an ordinary "farm-poet", Robert Frost eventually gained recognition through his literary works with realistic depictions on rural life and his command of American colloquial speech.

He attended Dartmouth College and Harvard College, but dropped out halfway to support his family. However, he managed to obtain honorary degrees from several well-known colleges including Harvard Oxford, and Cambridge universities at the height of his fame. A high point in his life was when he read out a poem at JFK's inauguration‘s president. The plan was to originally read out a new poem he wrote for the inauguration, entitled "Dedication". However, but due to certain factors regarding his age and How new the poem was to him, he decided to fall back and read another poem, entitled "The Gift Outright".

Three of Robert Frost's more famous poems include:

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

This poem is basically about the fact that nothing in the world remains pure and perfect for long.

Fire and Ice
Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I've tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

It discusses the end of the world, likening the elemental force of fire with the emotion of desire and hate with ice.

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

This poem was what Robert Frost claimed as one of his favourite poems, saying that it was his "best bid for remembrance". A broadcasting station read out this poem during the report of John F. Kennedy's casket reaching the white house. The person who was reading the poem at that time, Sid Davis, was overcome with emotion when he signed off his report with it.

Sources:

en.wikipedia.org

http://www.google.com/

My Favourite Poem(So far...)

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

1.One method of using figurative language used in this poem is that of symbolism, shown as choosing between two roads to walk on. The choosing of roads in the poem refers to different choices he made in life, and the roads themselves refer to the experiences in life. He chooses to use roads to symbolise experiences in life as the surroundings of the roads represent different phases in life, not all of which are necessarily the same.

Another is the use of personification, also in the case of the roads. As the poem goes, the roads "wanted wear", and as roads cannot think, they cannot want. Wanting, is what humans do.

Use of hyper boles is shown as "somewhere ages and ages hence", as it is exaggerated greatly.

2. This poem is about making decisions in life. And that choices you make will affect you in the future, be it good or bad. What I perceive of this poem is that choices are inevitable in life, and you will only live to regret or treasure it after you have travelled it. I like it with the fact that it relates to normal people's everyday life and that people can understand it better as it is a subject closer to them than some other profound poems. Choices is something we have to make everyday, be it choosing to do your chores or not etc. However, this poem is evidently about making choices that are likely to affect you in life in the future. The way he describes the choices and how he has to make them show that he has not regretted making that choice, despite it being the one less favoured by others. It is simple, yet profound, and the way its message is conveyed is understandable by people of all ages allows me to enjoy it.

The Mercurial Tom

Graveyard of Memories

Destroyed.
Engulfed with emotions.
A chance missed.
Dandelions in arms, he strode in.

Marigolds swayed as he passed,
Engulfed in bitterness he walked on,
Modestly, bowing to grievers.
Over that stone, his destination.
Rain poured,
Integrated with footsteps,
Echoed a sad tune.
Settled his flowers on the "TOMb".

"How can I find another job now?"

The Cure

"The Cure" is a book about two siblings, Raul and Arym, who were abandoned as children and taken into nurture-homes under the care of the Republic, a government that seeks to curb all superstitious beliefs and banish its believers, also known as "unbelievers" of the Republic. Raul could not suppress his anger towards the Republic at times, and it eventually leads him and his sister to be brought to Parens Island in hopes of curing their"unbelief".On Parens Island, healers take charge of small groups of children in hopes of healing them, while serious "unbelievers" are sent to Doctor Tomas for "treatment". As the story progresses on, Raul learns more about the past of the Republic and the religious groups.Uncovering more about the past of Parens Island,he grows in belief towards faith, with his sister following suit despite her initial doubts.The ending is an unexpected one, and the story ends with a line filled with faith.

This book outdid expectations and as the story progressed on, I found myself more drawn into the book and the stories it told.Thumbs up!