A)In the first stanza, the speaker feels unease and is worried for his family members. This can be seen from the fact that he was not able to take lessons in the morning, and waited in “the college sick bay” from morning until 2’o clock in the afternoon. In the third stanza, the speaker felt embarrassed when he was treated as a mature adult by old men who were” standing up to shake my hand”. Also, the fact that they apologised to the speaker made him embarrassed too, and the “whispers informed strangers I was the eldest” made it even worse for him. Also, he probably was shocked to see the other side of his usually stoic father, who “had always taken funerals in his stride” cry so melancholy over the death of his child.
B)The first literary device used in this poem is alliteration. In the seventh and last stanza, the phrase “four foot” is used to show the size and age of the child which passed away in the car accident, by using “a foot for every year”, to indirectly tell the readers that the child died at the age of four years old. Also, the literary device, onomatopoeia and irony are used in the poem also. It can be seen from the third stanza, “the baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram”. The onomatopoeia is “cooed” and irony can be seen from the fact that the child was ignorant of the tragic and the melancholy of the family, and thus was in the mood to coo and laugh despite the sad atmosphere. Also, the speaker also describes in the first paragraph as “counting bells knelling classes to a close”, uses metaphor, by replacing the normal “ringing” of the school bell to “knelling”, signifying inauspiciousness.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Analysis on "mid-term break" poem
The title “mid-term break” actually is talking about the fact that the speaker is taking a break from his studies, due to a reason, and in this case, it is the death of his brother.
The poem begins with an ominous tone as the readers are made aware of an abnormal situation the schoolboy is in. This is established by a series of symbols such as “sick bay” and “bells” –objects associated with misfortune and injury. Also, the precise reference to the time “two o’clock” and the fact that “the neighbours drove me home” instead of the persona’s parents combine to suggest that this event must have had a long-lasting impact on the persona, making him remember even the minute details which build up tension and reinforce the feeling that something dreadful has happened.
The speaker received the news of the death of his brother, and was awaiting the arrival of his neighbour to pick him up. This was because his house was far from the school, and needed someone to fetch him, or he would not have to trouble outsiders like his neighbours to come and fetch him. His parents could not come personally as they were busy with the funeral and were grief-stricken over the death of their child. The speaker was in the college sick bay not because he was unwell or sick, but it was because the school did not have a waiting lounge.
When the speaker returned back home, his other baby brother was laughing and rocked the pram, showing his ignorance of the death of his other brother. He saw his father crying, despite being a stoic man. This can be seen from,” He had always taken funerals in his stride”, but this time he could not manage to put up a brave front when his child has died. On the other hand, her mother was not crying. This was because she probably has bawled her eyes out and could not shed any more tears even if she tried to. The “angry tearless sighs” were evidence that she was not able to cry anymore, thus was sighing instead. The sentence “old men standing up to shake my hand and tell me they were ‘sorry for the trouble’ ”, indicates that they were “sorry” for calling the speaker back home, which disrupted his studies. Also, the speaker felt embarrassed when he was treated like a mature adult because he was shaking hands with old men standing up to shake his hands.
In the poem,”snowdrops and candles” served the purpose of soothing the negative feelings of the speaker’s loss of a loved one. The phrase “Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple” signifies death as poppy is literally red in colour, and in this poem, shows the death of the speaker’s sibling. In the fifth stanza, the speaker expresses it in such a way that he had not seen his brother ever since 6 weeks ago, which can be seen from” for the first time in six weeks” before he left for school, and when he had returned 6 weeks later, he only saw the corpse of his sibling, “wrapped and stanched and bandaged by the nurses”.
The seventh stanza tells us that the baby was knocked down clear by the car driver, with no gaudy scars seen on him. Lastly, the phrase “a four foot box, a foot for every year” shows that the box was very small, and the writer’s sibling died at the young age of four.
The poem starts off with the sad and pessimistic tone, and then ends with making the writer feel sympathy for the dead child.
The poem begins with an ominous tone as the readers are made aware of an abnormal situation the schoolboy is in. This is established by a series of symbols such as “sick bay” and “bells” –objects associated with misfortune and injury. Also, the precise reference to the time “two o’clock” and the fact that “the neighbours drove me home” instead of the persona’s parents combine to suggest that this event must have had a long-lasting impact on the persona, making him remember even the minute details which build up tension and reinforce the feeling that something dreadful has happened.
The speaker received the news of the death of his brother, and was awaiting the arrival of his neighbour to pick him up. This was because his house was far from the school, and needed someone to fetch him, or he would not have to trouble outsiders like his neighbours to come and fetch him. His parents could not come personally as they were busy with the funeral and were grief-stricken over the death of their child. The speaker was in the college sick bay not because he was unwell or sick, but it was because the school did not have a waiting lounge.
When the speaker returned back home, his other baby brother was laughing and rocked the pram, showing his ignorance of the death of his other brother. He saw his father crying, despite being a stoic man. This can be seen from,” He had always taken funerals in his stride”, but this time he could not manage to put up a brave front when his child has died. On the other hand, her mother was not crying. This was because she probably has bawled her eyes out and could not shed any more tears even if she tried to. The “angry tearless sighs” were evidence that she was not able to cry anymore, thus was sighing instead. The sentence “old men standing up to shake my hand and tell me they were ‘sorry for the trouble’ ”, indicates that they were “sorry” for calling the speaker back home, which disrupted his studies. Also, the speaker felt embarrassed when he was treated like a mature adult because he was shaking hands with old men standing up to shake his hands.
In the poem,”snowdrops and candles” served the purpose of soothing the negative feelings of the speaker’s loss of a loved one. The phrase “Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple” signifies death as poppy is literally red in colour, and in this poem, shows the death of the speaker’s sibling. In the fifth stanza, the speaker expresses it in such a way that he had not seen his brother ever since 6 weeks ago, which can be seen from” for the first time in six weeks” before he left for school, and when he had returned 6 weeks later, he only saw the corpse of his sibling, “wrapped and stanched and bandaged by the nurses”.
The seventh stanza tells us that the baby was knocked down clear by the car driver, with no gaudy scars seen on him. Lastly, the phrase “a four foot box, a foot for every year” shows that the box was very small, and the writer’s sibling died at the young age of four.
The poem starts off with the sad and pessimistic tone, and then ends with making the writer feel sympathy for the dead child.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Alphabet Poem (Famous Inventors/Inventions)
C was a camera, which took pictures of fishes;
D was a dishwasher, which helped washed dishes;
E was for Edison, who invented the light bulb;
F was a fly swatter, which squelches flies to a pulp;
I was an ice-cream, cold and soothing on a hot day;
J was a jigsaw puzzle, that kept me busy and gay;
K was a kettle, which seemed to glitter;
L was a laptop, that introduced me to twitter;
M was a tricky magnet, which I tried to pry with all my might;
N was Nintendo, that saw me up all night;
O was the odometer, which measures speed;
P was the printer, which many people need;
Q was QWERTY, the typewriter’s keys;
R was the restaurant, where you can order peas;
S was the scotch tape, that replaced the pin;
T was the television, that made my head spin;
U was the umbrella, which provided shade from the sun;
V was the video game, which was super fun;
W was the watch, which evolved with time;
X was for Xerox, which copies for a dime;
D was a dishwasher, which helped washed dishes;
E was for Edison, who invented the light bulb;
F was a fly swatter, which squelches flies to a pulp;
I was an ice-cream, cold and soothing on a hot day;
J was a jigsaw puzzle, that kept me busy and gay;
K was a kettle, which seemed to glitter;
L was a laptop, that introduced me to twitter;
M was a tricky magnet, which I tried to pry with all my might;
N was Nintendo, that saw me up all night;
O was the odometer, which measures speed;
P was the printer, which many people need;
Q was QWERTY, the typewriter’s keys;
R was the restaurant, where you can order peas;
S was the scotch tape, that replaced the pin;
T was the television, that made my head spin;
U was the umbrella, which provided shade from the sun;
V was the video game, which was super fun;
W was the watch, which evolved with time;
X was for Xerox, which copies for a dime;
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Poem by Andy
Young Innocence
Zeal for life
Fun and carefree
Up till primary five
Loss of innocence
As studying and even more studying starts.
Concentration on my path,
Sometimes bearable, soemtimes fun
Pressure cooked,
Environment does not pun
PSLE over,
And studying done
Now times aplenty,
And we are stumped.
Besides ourselves,
With Rambunctious fun
Then we are spent and
Boredom sets in
Twirling my finger
I pray that results could be
Obtained soon
I hate the nagging thought that something
Is looming amidst my fun
Zeal for life
Fun and carefree
Up till primary five
Loss of innocence
As studying and even more studying starts.
Concentration on my path,
Sometimes bearable, soemtimes fun
Pressure cooked,
Environment does not pun
PSLE over,
And studying done
Now times aplenty,
And we are stumped.
Besides ourselves,
With Rambunctious fun
Then we are spent and
Boredom sets in
Twirling my finger
I pray that results could be
Obtained soon
I hate the nagging thought that something
Is looming amidst my fun
Favourite poem
Homework! Oh, Homework!
I hate you! You stink!
I wish I could wash you away in the sink,
if only a bomb
would explode you to bits.
Homework! Oh, homework!
You're giving me fits.
I'd rather take baths
with a man-eating shark,
or wrestle a lion
alone in the dark,
eat spinach and liver,
pet ten porcupines,
than tackle the homework,
my teacher assigns.
Homework! Oh, homework!
you're last on my list,
I simple can't see
why you even exist,
if you just disappeared
it would tickle me pink.
Homework! Oh, homework!
I hate you! You stink!
Reason for choosing this poem: I feel that this poem is very funny, and expresses the author's detest and hate for homework, to such an extent that he would rather put himself in danger, to do his homework and that is also probably what most students feel as well. The author used hyperbole, like''Homework! Oh, homework! I hate you! You stink!'' to express to what extend does he detest homework.
I hate you! You stink!
I wish I could wash you away in the sink,
if only a bomb
would explode you to bits.
Homework! Oh, homework!
You're giving me fits.
I'd rather take baths
with a man-eating shark,
or wrestle a lion
alone in the dark,
eat spinach and liver,
pet ten porcupines,
than tackle the homework,
my teacher assigns.
Homework! Oh, homework!
you're last on my list,
I simple can't see
why you even exist,
if you just disappeared
it would tickle me pink.
Homework! Oh, homework!
I hate you! You stink!
Reason for choosing this poem: I feel that this poem is very funny, and expresses the author's detest and hate for homework, to such an extent that he would rather put himself in danger, to do his homework and that is also probably what most students feel as well. The author used hyperbole, like''Homework! Oh, homework! I hate you! You stink!'' to express to what extend does he detest homework.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Village by the sea presentation
Biju
In the story, Biju, probably the richest and biggest fisherman in Thul is a proud person, who always flaunts his wealth before other villagers. Being rich, he is the first person in the village who could afford to build a motor-powered boat for fishing. This struck awe in all of the villagers, amazed by his wealth. Being a rich person, he was also arrogant and socialised very little people from the village as he despised them for being poor. He boasted about the motorboat he was going to build day and night, and supervised the work everyday. During the Monsoon season, when it rained day and night, hardly stopping, a few fishermen, who were not satisfied with staying at home, decided to go out to the sea, when the clouds became clear one day, even though it was still monsoon season, and ended up getting their boats sunk. Biju offered his unexpected help to search for the missing fishermen, and found out that 3 were dead, whereas the rest fell ill, starved and suffered from fever. As expected, he boasted about the greatness of his motor boat after the incident even more.
Hira Bai
In this story, Hira Bai takes on the role of a kind and cheerful old lady. She offered help to Hari’s family whenever they approached her for aid. She is the mother of the 3 Khanekar brothers, who indulged themselves in toddies after the death of their father. Hira Bai was also a drunkard, but she was not as indulgent as Hari’s father or her 3 sons. As the Khanekar brothers’ wife all left them after seeing their plight, Hira Bai took care of her 3 children.
Hira Lal
In the story, Hira Lal is the watchman of Seabird, and had been assuming that role for 12 years. He is a friendly and approachable person. When he first met Hari, he treated him indifferently, and put him down when he heard he had come for a job at the Sahib’s place. However, after finding out that he was homeless and jobless, he offered to bring him to his friend, Jagu’s place for a free supper to satiate his hunger.
In the story, Biju, probably the richest and biggest fisherman in Thul is a proud person, who always flaunts his wealth before other villagers. Being rich, he is the first person in the village who could afford to build a motor-powered boat for fishing. This struck awe in all of the villagers, amazed by his wealth. Being a rich person, he was also arrogant and socialised very little people from the village as he despised them for being poor. He boasted about the motorboat he was going to build day and night, and supervised the work everyday. During the Monsoon season, when it rained day and night, hardly stopping, a few fishermen, who were not satisfied with staying at home, decided to go out to the sea, when the clouds became clear one day, even though it was still monsoon season, and ended up getting their boats sunk. Biju offered his unexpected help to search for the missing fishermen, and found out that 3 were dead, whereas the rest fell ill, starved and suffered from fever. As expected, he boasted about the greatness of his motor boat after the incident even more.
Hira Bai
In this story, Hira Bai takes on the role of a kind and cheerful old lady. She offered help to Hari’s family whenever they approached her for aid. She is the mother of the 3 Khanekar brothers, who indulged themselves in toddies after the death of their father. Hira Bai was also a drunkard, but she was not as indulgent as Hari’s father or her 3 sons. As the Khanekar brothers’ wife all left them after seeing their plight, Hira Bai took care of her 3 children.
Hira Lal
In the story, Hira Lal is the watchman of Seabird, and had been assuming that role for 12 years. He is a friendly and approachable person. When he first met Hari, he treated him indifferently, and put him down when he heard he had come for a job at the Sahib’s place. However, after finding out that he was homeless and jobless, he offered to bring him to his friend, Jagu’s place for a free supper to satiate his hunger.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Comparison of the urban and rural life
(Urban life) 1. Medical facilities like hospitals and pharmacies are readily available.
(Rural life) 1. Had to travel far before they could reach a hospital.
(Urban life) 2. More equality between men and women
(Rural life) 2. Less equality between men and women
(Urban life) 3. People were not superstitious.
(Rural life) 3. People were superstitious.
(Urban life) 4. On the road, cars were a common sight.
(Rural life) 4. On the road, cars were not a common sight.
(Urban life) 5. People owned watches and clocks to help them tell the time with.
(Rural life) 5. People told the time by looking at the sun.
(Urban life) 6. Women had their own way of thinking and have their own rights.
(Rural life) 6. Women were submissive and took on the job of taking care of the household due to the 'traditional family style'.
(Urban life) 7. More industrialization,more pollution.
(Rural life) 7. Less industrialization, less pollution.
(Urban life) 8. Lived in apartments.
(Rural life) 8. Most lived thatched huts.
(Urban life) 9. Higher crime rates, thus need policemen to maintain law and order.
(Rural life) 9. Low crime rates, so does not need policemen to maintain law and order.
(Urban life) 10. Lesser natural environment, lesser greenery due to development and industrialization.
(Rural life)10. More natural environment, more greenery due to lesser development and industrialization.
(Urban life) 11. More technology, has television sets, refrigerator etc.
(Rural life) 11. Lesser technology, few people own televisions sets and other electronic gadgets.
(Urban life)12. Everything has to be bought, and at high prices
(Rural life)12. Could rely on nature by getting fish from the sea, coconuts from trees etc.
(Urban life)13. Well prepared for elements like monsoon season
(Rural life) 13. Ill prepared for elements like monsoon season
(Urban life)14. Presence of electricity
(Rural life)14. Electricity not present
(Urban life)15. More job prospects
(Rural life)15. Less job prospects
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