Emergency IT Lesson 3: Analysing and Composing A Poem

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

Respond to the following threads. Do note that you are also to comment on your friends’ comments and these will be graded too. : To teachers: (Discussion thread)

1. What are the poet’s thoughts? What were his feelings as he thinks back on these?

He is reminiscing of his days when he was at youth; when his life’s made of very simple, everyday things. As he recollects, he pens down his observations when he was still young; when he still had the time to observe and ponder over many things that cross his eyes.

Right now, while he remembers all these past events which might seem to be insignificant to most people or even to him when he was young – for he’s always observing – he is, in fact, cherishing the times when he had those experiences. He could be deep in thought, feeling his way through his memories. There could be mixed emotions, for not every thing he remembers are good; but memories that last they are.


2. Think back on our days in Primary School. Do you share the same sentiments? What were your memories of those days? Write a poem of no less than 4 stanzas.

Yes, memories of high sentimental value now, memories that can’t be materialised now, but memories that will be archived for sure.

This Growing Tree
Yihan
There was a time when I entered primary school
At a negligible height of 112.
Nanyang rejected,
Tao Nan accepted.
And that’s how it all began.

Right round the school hall
There was a time when I’d play catching.
And together with my friends in Primary 1
Right round the school compound
We’d go exploring.
That’s where the roots start growing.

There was a time in Primary 2
When I’d start drawing
Right in the quadrangle
With my friends watching.
Watching those cotyledons drop.

There was a time when Tao Nan underwent great renovations
And new area implementations
Came propping up one by one.
And before Primary 3 ended,
It seemed like I was in a foreign school.
A foreign school with growing leaves.

There was a time when more excursions came
When my free time was restricted to a frame.
In came the workshops and overnight camps.
In Primary 4
When more work drove,
When the branches starts blooming
On a stove.

Exchange programs.
And even more camps.
A heavier schoolbag.
All of which made those flowers in Primary 5,
Start to grow and come alive.

Then came the times
When we’d learn everything in one semester,
And consolidate anything in the other.

Doing countdowns for the national exam.
Free time then was reduced to zero.
All waiting for us to show what we have
As a hero.

All eyes on us. For we’re on the top.
To maintain those scores of the past.
And hoping that it’ll last.
I thought we were in agony.
Thought the bark’s rotting into an ugly mahogany.

Class Bonding
Was a typical thing.
Immersion Programs and even more camps.
Are added on to the waiting list.
They materialised after all,
And to not much surprise or appall,
We bonded.
We stayed connected.

And that’s when I knew the fruits ripened.

Emergency IT Lesson 2: Favourite Poet

Robert Frost (1874-1963)
"A poet never takes notes. You never take notes in a love affair."
Robert Frost’s strong love for poetry writing and appreciation empowered him to pursue this career as a poet. This entry will include my opinion on him and his works after research, and a sketchy background of his life. Also, 3 of his poems will be featured.
The shortest of his poems I’ve ever read are only 40 words long (entitled “Nothing Gold Can Stay”), even smaller than a microfiction; the longest I’ve read of his poems are a colossal 1409 words long (called “The Death of A Hired Man”), enough to fill an essay.

My interest in his poems lies the consistent taste of originality always present in his writing. He writes from his heart; yet it’s not easy to appreciate his poems just at a glance. Sometimes it requires a second reading, but his poems are somehow captivating – you won’t really feel like stopping unless you have no idea what he’s writing about.

Robert took interest in reading and writing poetry in high school in Lawrence, Massachusetts. His first professional poem, "My Butterfly," was published on 8 November, 1894, in the New York newspaper The Independent. Until her death in 1938, his wife, Elinor Miriam White, whom he married in 1895, became a major inspiration in his poetry.

In his poems, there’s much description and observations, all of which sound very real, but occasionally this brings along monotonousness. Yet his works are still completed with finesse; it’s still a privilege to read his poems. Here are three of them (since a couple of them are too long; we won’t want a long scrolling page here):

Lesson 2 Robert Frost Poems

Bibliography
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/robert_frost/quotes
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/robert_frost/photo http://poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/192

Emergency IT Lesson 1: Figurative Language

As extracted from: FamousPoetsandPoems.com.
Romance by Edgar Allan Poe
Romance, who loves to nod and sing
With drowsy head and folded wing
Among the green leaves as they shake
Far down within some shadowy lake,
To me a painted paroquet
Hath been—most familiar bird—
Taught me my alphabet to say,
To lisp my very earliest word
While in the wild wood I did lie,
A child—with a most knowing eye.

Of late, eternal condor years
So shake the very Heaven on high
With tumult as they thunder by,
I have no time for idle cares
Through gazing on the unquiet sky;
And when an hour with calmer wings
Its down upon my spirit flings,
That little time with lyre and rhyme
To while away—forbidden things—
My heart would feel to be a crime
Unless it trembled with the strings.



Q1: How are the figurative language used in the poem? Give the specific word(s), explain what type of figurative language it is and why the poet chose to use this figurative language?

Personification is used for the first line and 20th line; where ‘Romance’ takes human form and action and where the heart is a crime.

Also, there’s metaphoric expression in the 5th line; the Edgar Allan Poe writes that Romance is a painted paroquet. A paroquet is a small auk inhabiting the coast and islands of Alaska. The upper parts are dark slate, under parts white, bill orange red.

Hyperboles are used in the 8th line and 12th line, where the word ‘very’ is repeated to emphasise and exaggerate on the nouns that follow. Symbolism is also used in the 16th Line, where ‘an hour’ is used as a representative figure to carry greater meaning to ‘my spirit’.


All these uses of figurative language accompany the poem and the writer’s expressions. Since this poem is much of self-reflection and thinking, and that the ‘I’ in the poem is the only character, these are used to add gloss to the words of the poem, thereby bringing taste, feel and authentication to the poem.




Q2: Tell us why you like this poem in no less than 100 words.

Adjectives and nouns are mixed and spiced with figurative language – all of which are of the same mood (such as drowsy, thunder, trembled, crime and shadowy) – this makes the poem play along with the feelings the words within bring.

The poem emphasises a lot on sentimentalism, and evolves around strong emotions. Above all, it has connotations, some of which are covered under figurative language. Edgar Allan Poe has written tight and uses the strongest and best verbs to weave out the poem.

Upon reading, for a while I felt that it was written on the spot, without any planning. The poem has a natural flow to it and it does not have an artificially fabricated structure.

With all these in mind, it’s a five-star poem written by a five-star poet. Simple and Perfect. An excellent masterpiece.

Book Review #2

Mathematics From The Birth of Numbers
Author: Jan Gullberg


1093 pages


In rudimentary terms, this book is the encyclopaedia for Mathematics, covering wide, boundless areas of Mathematics that the normal textbooks would never deem to explore. Ranging from primary concepts like Rules of Divisibility, to in-depth studies of Logarithmic Equations and Vigesimal Numeration, this book is filled to the brim with the information just about any mathematician quests to recover (like venturing into pi [π].)


In fact, it is like a 1093-page-long report on one huge topic: Mathematics. Utilising many pictures, diagrams and figures to lay the concepts of Math concepts, this book offers a wide repetoire of topics covered, or uncovered, by many other Math-related books I've chanced upon. A gift to every mathematician, this book is ideal for reference for project and research work. With all knowledge absorbed and kept in this book, it's definitely not possible to treat them as a book for recreational reading. Yet it's an excellent study resource.

Know of the birthdays of any mathematician? Look no further. This is the best you can give.

Book Review #1

An Illustrated History of China's War of Resistance Against Japan
Author: Zhang Chengjun and Liu Jianye


170 pages



This book features China's Resistance against Japan in the early 20th Century, gradually showing how Japan's defence rose to power, and eventually taking over China, and capturing their land bit by bit. Along the way, the book features many pictures of the Resistance and the Japanese Army alike, emphasising on how gruesome the whole war was, and how justice was redeemed after Japan's fall.


This book utilises more pictures than text, each reflecting greatly, the situations of war. Through them, readers are provided constant insights on how WWII in China was like. Maps and Diagrams of Army Strategy and Structures are frequently used. This book would work very well for Project Work, but definitely not for leisure reading.

It contains much information, either through text, but mainly through the black-and-white images reflecting the spirit of the armies, the tensions of their leaders, and the pain of their civilians. The images and information are transparent and impartial; this book is strongly recommended to those who want to view war at different perspectives; war before Japan's attack on Singapura.

Another Microfiction

One Man's Land
Yihan

2nd Draft

Sitting in the corner,
He yelled in fluent Cantonese.

"Drugs are the best. Yes, THE BEST!"

He paced listlessly,
Slamming handles; kicking walls.
Then he cried.

I looked intently at him;

There’s a tag dangling from his ear.

And on his clothing, seven outstanding words read:

“National Moral Home for the Disabled Adults”.

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1st Draft
He yelled in fluent Cantonese;
Sitting in the corner,
As though afraid of the commuters.

"Heroine is the best. Yes, THE BEST!"

He walked to and fro the carriages,
Slamming handles; kicking walls.

Then he cried.
I Looked intently at him;
His crestfallen face of self-defeat.

There’s a tag dangling gently from his ear.

Integrated Humanities Incoporated Into Language Arts

One of our June Holiday Homework for IH Integrated Humanities was to read up a set of handouts regarding the Japanese Occupation and come up with a set of our own notes. As I was reading the handouts, I found out a segment of the information that is related to the novel that we recently studied in Language Arts Class: Animal Farm.

Here is the extract from the handouts:
"They were promised their pre-war allowances, though payment was not always made in full. An Advisory Council of State was established with representatives from all the communal groups. Here the Sultan was only the Vice-Chairman or Adviser to the Japanese Resident who was Chairman. This was worse that the State of Council of British days, and since nobody dared to speak up or oppose the Japanese, the meetings were always a one-sided affair."

See how related it is to the text, with Napoleon practising autocracy on the animals - in this case, the people of Malaya and Singapore. In today's world, it's North Korea against the World.

If you have any comments or anything to share, do drop a comment if you have an account, or the tagboard if you don't. Glad to have shared so far.

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Image Courtesy of iStockPhoto

The Mercurial Tom

Solemn Love
By Yihan
2nd Draft

“I’ve Good News!”
No reply.

“Dr Armstrong, yer’there?”

On his desk, a note read: “Take care of Tasha, Ollie and Milson.”
There’s a million-dollar cheque for them.
"Better tell Armstrong about this," he remarked.

The assistant walked to the surgical instruments.

Then running out of the room in tears,
The door closed peacefully behind him.

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55 Words

1st Draft

“I’ve Good News!”
The air was still.

“Dr Armstrong, yer’there?”
No reply.

On his desk, a note read:
“Take care of Tasha, Ollie and Milson.”
There’s a three-million-dollar cheque for the three children.

Darrell walked near the surgical instruments.
And saw it.

Running out of the room in tears,
The door closed peacefully behind him.


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55 Words
Image Courtesy of: iStockPhoto