Analysis of Poem (Home-learning)

Poem

The Son is in Secondary School by Affian 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

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Analysis

The poem is written in a free verse way without organized stanzas consisting constant number of lines, rhymes scheme and rhythms.

The whole poem revolves around a theme: the memory the poet, which is already in Secondary School, leaves in his Primary School. The badge symbolizes the hope that the poet had of the future for which he , as others do, had to leave his Primary School. The first verse accentuates the high hope the poet had for his future,symbolized by his badge. The second verse made the crows to seem as if it did not respect the poet's country by "interrupting" him while he was singing the National Anthem. But the crow could not be blamed for "interrupting" due to its illiteracy ,uneducated status and incivilisation. Thus, the word "interrupt" could be interpretted as a personification devised on an animal - a crow.

In the third stanza, the poet missed the days when he would probably do some fun activities and get his shoes dirty while in the fourth stanza the envy the poet had on the diligent scouts who was had strong thighs.

The author sounded sarcastic but in a good way by describing the method his friend exploited on the Chinese test paper "a heroic thing" due to the amusement he felt about his friend's "cleverness".

Overall, the poet missed his primary school days very much.The whole poem was about the sweet moments he had in those days, despite imperfection such as the photo in his school annual yearbook where his photo was taken while his eyes were shut.But after all, they amused the poet very much.