Lesson 3-Analysing a poem

This poem that I would be analysing is :The Son is in Secondary School by Affran Sa’at
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 strong 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

I feel that the poet is reminiscing his childhood memories which have not faded away from his mind.Although his child hood memories originated many years ago,time,the cruel poison,has failed to take away the memory which the author treasures the most in his mind.The poet indulged in his childhood memory by writing a poem about it which indicates that a vivid image of his poem is currently still implanted in his mind.I feel that the poet had probably thought about his childhood memories still locked away from his head to maybe reignite the happiness he had found as a normal school boy in attending school every morning. But I am sure that the poet would have wanted to relive those memories and experience the true meaning of childhood once more while writing this particular poem.
The poem above has exactly 31 lines.A lines are arranged in in quinrains mostly in the last few stanzas and the lines are arranged in a quatrain and couplet in the beginning and the middle stanzas in this poem.This poem contains 10 stanzas.There is no particular beat or rhythm to this poem,it is a free verse poem. There are occurences of illiteration in the majority of the stanzas, in stanzas 1,3,5,6,7 and 8.This poem mainly revolves around the sense sight and have little usage of imagery.The usage of exxageration can be derived from this phrase"Seven the power of five is unreasonable".No similies can be found in this poem and onomaetopia(the usage of sounds) can be foound either.There is litt;e usage of personification,it occurs in the second stanza,"At times black crows try to interrupt".No idioms can be found in this poem and the symbol portrayed in this poem that childhood is happiness.The mood in this poem is mainly positive and the poet trys to convey the message that all of us should treasure our childhood and never allow them to be erased from your memory.

Now,I will be constructing a poem on my primary school life:

Primary school life seems a walk away,
but in fact it is away forever.
Just wished that I could relive those memories,
but everybody knows no one can do such time.

Encountered welcoming friends,
the moment I stepped into school.
Slowly,bit by bit,I crept out of my shell,realising the true meaning of school and friends.
Time waits for no man.

In a flash,the exams had arrived.
I knew it was important.
I told myself no my games,no more fooling around.
It was time to get to work.

PSLE was arriving soon.
This was the ultimatium of primary school.
This would decide your fate.
I breathed in deeply as I entered the examination hall.

The invigilators distributed the papers,
only the flipping of papers could be heard.
Staring at the papers that decided my fate,
I picked up my pen and gave it my all.

In a flash,I am sitting here constructing this poem.
Now a secondary 1 student,
those memories seem a millennium away.

My Favourite Poet-Ted Kooser

Ted Kooser.These two words rang in my mind like a silver ice-cream bell as I marvelled at this American author who was born in Ames,Iowa.It is no doubt that the the this poet had produced marvellous yet fantastic poems in the past.Ted Kooser has an extremely unique feature:the theme of his poems.The theme of his poems give all readers a taste of a slice of life living in the country side,away from the hectic hustle and bustle of metropolitan cities.His theme of writing poems mainly revolving on the everyday countryside gives me a clearer,yet refreshing headset,thus momentarily giving me an opportunity to experience quiet rare peace.(It is quite difficult to find peace with all your assements to mark or all my homework to complete in today's modernised society.)The lazy cows,the azure blue sky,waving green grass in the breeze and the best of all,the remarkable array of colours ranging from orange to red.I must say,this is the perfect cure for letting your hair down after a long day at work or school.My thesis:I feel that Ted Kooser is a man who prefers quiet peace,serenity,surrounded by the wonders of Mother nature.His poems are excellent in many different points of view.For instance,he has penned down poems using the animal's point of view,invoking an emotion into readers who would know have a clearer understanding of what it feels like to be an animal,thus,dissipating anymore queries on animal emotions.This enhances the interesting factor if the poem Ted Kooser produces and emphasises the theme clearly,even taking into consideration the animals' emotions in a peaceful countryside in America.He uses figurative language greatly,almost every one of his remarkable works portray at 3 out of 5 main points in figurative language.The clarity of his poems easily implants the image of a peaceful countryside in the reader's mind,ranging from "No hunting signs" to the silver identification of cows to rare wood and trees.His amazing skills in writing poetry allowed the 70 years old poet to be awarded prestigious prizes in America: two NEA Literary Fellowships (in 1976 and 1984), the Pushcart Prize, the Nebraska Book Awards for Poetry (2001) and Nonfiction (2004), the Stanley Kunitz Prize (1984), the James Boatwright Prize, and the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (2005).On August 12, 2004, he was named Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry by the Librarian if Congress to serve a term from October 2004 through May 2005. In April 2005, Ted Kooser was appointed to serve a second term as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry.He have received many outstanding rewards in his career.The former vice president of an insurance company has definitely made out most of his career.
Need a coffee break with words?Relaxation and comfort away from the ever daunting desk your everyday goal?How about a Ted Kooser poem?It would have wonderful effects on you.
I am absolutely sure of it.

Here,take a break by reading Ted Kooser's magical poems:

Horse
In its stall stands the 19th century,
its hide a hot shudder of satin,
head stony and willful,
an eye brown as a river and watchful:
a sentry a long way ahead
of a hard, dirty army of hooves.


How To Foretell A Change In The Weather
Rain always follow the cattle
sniffing the air and huddling
in fields with their heads to the lee.
You will know that the weather is
changing
when your sheep leave the pasture
too slowly, and your dogs lie about
and look tired; when the cat
turns her back to the fire,
washing her face, and the pigs
wallow in litter; cocks will be crowing
at unusual hours, flapping their wings;
hens will chant; when your ducks
and your geese are too noisy,
and the pigeons are washing
themselves;
when the peacocks squall loudly
from the tops of the trees,
when the guinea fowl grates;
when sparrows chip loudly
and fuss in the roadway, and when
swallows
fly low, skimming the earth;
when the carrion crow
croaks to himself, and wild fowl
dip and wash, and when moles
throw up hills with great fervor;
when toads creep out in numbers;
when frogs croak; when bats
enter the houses; when birds
begin to seek shelter,
and the robin approaches your house;
when the swan flies at the wind,
and your bees leave the hive;
when ants carry their eggs to and fro,
and flies bite, and the earthworm
is seen on the surface of things.


In the Corners of Fields
Something is calling to me
from the corners of fields,
where the leftover fence wire
suns its loose coils, and stones
thrown out of the furrow
sleep in warm litters;
where the gray faces
of old No Hunting signs
mutter into the wind,
and dry horse tanks
spout fountains of sunflowers;
where a moth
flutters in from the pasture,
harried by sparrows,
and alights on a post,
so sure of its life
that it peacefully opens its wings.


Citations:http://www.tedkooser.net/index.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kooser


Done By:Gary Leong(16)
Class:1A1

Lesson 1 Figurative Language Assignment

This is the poem I would be working on:

A Birthday Poem by Ted Kooser

Just past dawn, the sun stands
with its heavy red head
in a black stanchion of trees,
waiting for someone to come
with his bucket
for the foamy white light,
and then a long day in the pasture.
I too spend my days grazing,
feasting on every green moment
till darkness calls,
and with the others
I walk away into the night,
swinging the little tin bell
of my name.

Figurative language are widely used in this particular poem.Figurative language have already been used in the first 2 lines of the poem.The phrases" sun stands with its heavy red head" is personification.Personification implies giving an object abstract ideas of a human quality,generally. In this particular example, a sun is a star.A star is being related to having a "heavy red head",which indicates the usage of a non-human object being related to specific human qualities.This is the usage of personification.
As seen in the phrases " come with his bucket",this implies the usage of a metaphor.A metaphor means directly comparing seemingly unrelated objects to the poem,without using words such as "and"or"as". In this poem,the word "bucket" is related to the word "sun".As we all know,it is common knowledge that a human object is totally unrelated to a massive ball of energy in vast space,a star.However,the words"for" and "light" in the poem suggest a figurative relationship between the "Sun" and the "Bucket":The bucket is here to collect light given out from the sun to allow the night to take over.This creates an image in the reader's mind,giving them a clearer understanding of the events happening in the poem. Moreover,there is also another usage of figurative language hidden in this sentences.Symbolism occurs when these 2 words"night" and "bucket" appears.Symbolism means using a representative figure to carry the additional meaning often verooked by readers. As everyone knows,a bucket can only contain an average amount of liquid or an average size object,unlike a cement mixer.The hidden relationship between the words "bucket","light","night".A bucket,being an average sized container,scoops light up bit by bit.Similiar to the night,night approaches slowly,devouring the light;Lesser light is received from the sun as night creeps slowly.I guess you can see the symbolic relation ship between these three words now.
Moreover,the usage of hyperbole occurs as the poem reaches its definite end.Hyperbole is and exxagerated statement in poetry,being used to invoke an emotion in the reader,thus emphasising the theme of this poem.The words "feasting","grazing","walking away","swinging" and "bell" indicates the usage of hyperbole.These words invoke a sense of,sort of a type of laziness.The reader would have similiar emotions to the cow in the poem,having the same routine day by day till night approaches.Nothing can be done to change this routine and the them of this poem,"laziness"is emphasised.

Why do I like this poem?
This poem is an excellent poem.For starters,the usage of 3 types of figurative language,hyperbole,personification and symbolism gives the reader a full insight to what is really happening in the poem and clearly understand the surface below;the hidden meanings.By reading this poem,the reader would understand how to appreciate the fact that hidden meanings concealed beneath the surface gives the reader a taste of a slice of life.The theme of the poem is simililar to the scenes of everything life:Avoiding the jam on the road,seated in office after an uncalled frenzy.

Word Count for my reflections on why I like this poem:
100 words

Target Practice

I espied my enemy in the distance.

Swiftly ,I loaded my weapon.

A resounding click.

This was it.

The sitting duck was unaware of the skilled combatant's presence.

I gingerly took aim.

Bang!

The sound of victory reverberated through the house.

Shrill Screams.

"MUM, ASK TOM TO STOP TARGETING ME WITH HIS DART GUN!"

Smirked.

Word Count:55 words

Done by Gary Leong

My Reflections-The Tale Of Despereaux by Kate Dicamillo

Wonderful.This word echoed in my mind as I placed this magical book gingerly on the table,satisfied that I had a good read.The Tale of Despereaux is an excellent fiction book.I was extremely engrossed in this fairy-tale like adventure that I had my eyes glued to this book and could not put it down until I finished it.It creates an atmosphere of magic and this implants a world filled with castles,talking mice into the reader's avid mind.This book mainly revolves around a mouse with abnormally large ears called Despereaux Tilling.His adventures and quest for love and honour as a magnificent knight for his princess  grips the reader's attentions with immediate effect.Despereaux is different from the other mice in a positive manner;instead of chewing crunchy paper from books which other mice treat as a delicacy,Despereaux reads the content of a book,savouring every word of it.The story is about a beautiful princess rescued by a heroic knight in shining armour.This,however,manages to give the reader a hint of the events which were about to happen next.This drives the reader to read on,eager to know the outcome of the story.Desperaeax is unique in a positive manner;for instance,he reading a book in a library or rescuing the princess from the cunning,sinister rats make him a brave knight.This aspect makes the story a fairy-tale springing to life through words weaved in a nonetheless beautiful manner.This book is absolutely a fantastic,beautifully created fairy tale which ultimately,gives all readers a sense if satisfaction after reading.I can assure you of that.The author's ability to use the theme of mice along with bravery and love and transforms it  into a fairy tale impresses me.Her story flows with a smooth transition, piecing the story perfectly  together like a jigsaw puzzle,allowing the reader to fully interpret the story over time.Combined with twist and turns,an adventurous mouse with great ambitions along with bravery,courage and honour,this is a book you would not want to miss.

I am sure of it.

Mercurial Tom-Imminent End

Absolute destruction.

Screams of agony.

Horrified civilians scurried across.

The paradise had transformed into a slaughter house.

A green spaceship crashed into a building,deafening sound.

Civilians strewn across the mahogany ground.

He was impatient.Time was running out.

The world,his world, had to be destroyed.

BotTOM line.

"Mum,where's my toy monster?"

Word Count:54 words