The 'Unseen' section of Paper 1 usually offers a Singapore poem for you to analyse. You could tackle it as you would any other poem from a different part of the world, ignoring the setting and the possible cultural and historical contexts, and simply zoom in on universal themes. You could also analyse its use of literary devices, structure and form in a generic manner, considering them as tools to convey those universal themes.
But that would be such a pity! If you’ve lived in Singapore most of your life, you could probably bring your background knowledge of local events, language, places, and cultural and social issues to reading the Singapore poem at a deeper level. For instance, you could use your knowledge of a specific district of Singapore mentioned in the poem to argue that the poem is about the problems of a certain community of people who reside or work in that area. Your readings of a local poem would then better engage contextual meanings, compared to commentary by other students who ignore the local references.
HOW TO READ A SINGAPORE POEM LIKE A LOCAL RESIDENT
Giving attention to three elements in a poem (Allusions, Voice and Theme) can help you to engage its ‘Singaporean’ meanings. We will go through each of them. But a warning ahead: to read a Singapore poem like a Singaporean, you must have basic knowledge of important moments and people in the country’s history, more recent events that people are talking and writing about and some understanding of the national culture and that of the various communities. Ideally, you would be familiar with Singapore English, some common Singlish phrases and some frequently used vernacular terms.
Element One: ALLUSIONS
Allusions are references in poems to names of people, things, titles of texts, or historical events. They are usually enormously significant to the writer’s message.
Poetry is the most compressed literary form: as poems tend to be short, every word is often rich with multiple levels of meaning. Allusions are a device poets use as a shortcut to convey a detailed world of meaning. You’ve probably come across many poems, for instance, that allude to Biblical characters, events or symbols and every single time, you’ve probably realised that it is there to point to and elaborate on an idea the writer wishes to discuss.
In local poems, there are two types of allusions—some are direct, instantly recognizable, even by foreigners; others require deeper knowledge of the country.
FOUR THINGS TO DO WITH ALLUSIONS:
Identify them in the poem and reflect on what you know about them.
Decide if they have a literal significance or an extended meaning as symbols, metaphors or metonym in the context of the poem.
Consider how they relate to theme and conflict in the poem?
Think about how the poem represents the thing/event/character alluded to.
EXAMPLE 1: “Changi International Airport” by Gilbert Koh
Let’s work with an example, Gilbert Koh’s poem “Changi International Airport”
You can read the poem here.
Allusions in the poem and what we know about them:
Changi International Airport—It is one of the prides of Singapore, often a winner of global rankings that shows that we have an important place in the world. The airport terminals represent our expertise in engineering and technology.
“swellings of a little nation’s pride”—We often describe ourselves as small, as the “little red dot”. Some of us make fun of our own tendency to always want to be number one in everything.
“our luggage rarely gets lost”—For a long time we’ve boasted that our baggage never gets lost due to the efficiency of our air travel services, unlike lax services offered by other countries.
“purple orchids”—this makes us think of the Vanda Miss Joaquin, the national flower. Orchids often feature as a symbol of the nation in souvenirs for tourists.
“passing through”—There has been anxiety that Singapore lacks cultural uniqueness to attract tourists for long stay. They are always merely “passing through” we say, en route to other more exciting destinations.
Do the allusions have literal or figurative significance?
The title of the poem is “Changi International Airport” and to some extent, you can read it as a poem about the airport. A reader who has never stepped in the airport is given a sense of its features and qualities, the orchid and marine fish exhibits, the modern architecture that looks like a “huge clean box/with glass panels”, the way it is sectioned off into “tidy compartments” to enable various kinds of activities (like checking in, shopping, dining, banking, etc.), and the busy traffic.
However, more importantly the airport functions as a symbol of the nation, of our traits. The pronoun “we” used repeatedly signifies a reference to the nation, not just to Singaporeans in the airport. The shift to a larger meaning becomes clear in the third couplet, “to contain the swellings of a little nation’s pride.” The airport now becomes a signifier of Singaporean traits, especially of our tendency to exaggerate our achievements with the word “swellings” providing a negative nuance. From then on, the critical tone gets increasingly evident. Singaporeans’ attitude towards the airport, our pride in it and our disappointments are used to identify shortcomings in the macro sphere of our national culture. With the rhetorical question “How much can one love/an efficient process?” the speaker suggests that Singaporean pride in efficiency cannot amount to a deeper attachment to the country cemented by love. The imagery of Singaporeans at the airport is used to highlight our propensity to leave the country, searching for better futures elsewhere.
The poem ends by presenting Singaporeans as disappointed with the country, suggesting its inability to satisfy us emotionally and culturally. In the last four lines of the poem, the inability of Singaporeans to understand the rest of the world by watching the comings and goings at the airport becomes a metaphor for the inadequate quality of cosmopolitanism in Singapore, for our shallow, limited contact with other national cultures. The decision to “not stay here and watch/ the whole world here” also ominously hints that Singaporeans leave for other shores to escape being trapped in cultural insularity and petty prides.
Hence, we can see that all the allusions take on figurative meanings that link the experience of visiting Changi Airport and our feelings towards the airport to ways in which the country fails to offer us a more culturally fulfilling life.
How do the allusions relate to theme and conflict in the poem?
There is a conflict between pride and love in the poem. Our feelings towards the airport are used to suggest that mere pride in achievement cannot sustain national identity—that we must have qualities that foster love.
Another tension in the poem is between modern efficiency and the lack of cultural and spiritual depth. The airport signifies both qualities. The description of the modern architecture as being like a “huge clean box” captures modern aesthetics and spiritual sterility with the reference to cleanliness. The purple orchids and marine life may be organic but as exhibits, they’ve become transformed into dead things that we like. The speaker appears to regret the way the airport’s modernity and ours has displaced a more meaningful life.
How does the poem represent the things alluded to?
Changi International Airport now appears to represent our inadequacies rather than our successes. Interestingly, although it may be an “international” airport and a symbol of our recognition by the world, it points to a low level of cosmopolitanism. It becomes an icon perhaps of some Singaporeans’ paradoxical attitude towards the country, both proud and disdainful. Our achievements despite our little size is not presented here as something to be proud of but as a sign of a narrow mindset, satisfied with petty accomplishments. Our much-touted efficiency here seems to limit our creative engagement with life.
EXAMPLE 2: “Work in Progress” by Felix Cheong
You can access the poem here:
The allusions here are less obvious and applicable also to other national contexts but Singapore residents can also pick out local cultural meanings.
Allusions in “Work in Progress” and what we know about them:
“Work in Progress”—This phrase is used widely around the English-speaking world to signify projects and even identities that are still evolving. But in Singapore, the phrase more commonly refers to the “Work in Progress” signs that are found in the road and building construction sites that dominate Singapore. The local joke is that you can’t leave the country for two weeks without returning to find a new building in your neighbourhood.
“coastlines/eaten by tides”—Coastline erosion is a fact of natural life but in Singapore, our coastlines are 'eaten' by land reclamation. Urban development projects have led to our beaches losing their previous splendor. The “tides” are not those of the sea but tides of modernization/urbanization.
“streets and lands/are chewed and spat/between the pages of directories”—In Singapore, streets are often re-named so that directories may not always reflect the changes. According to one study, 188 old street names were erased from 1971-1981, and nearly 200 were erased from 1988-2000. Much of this was due to the displacement of rural settlements by increasing urban development.
“concrete heap”—As urbanization ravaged the natural landscape, Singapore was often referred to as a “concrete jungle.”
“nothing is saved/ but face”—the saving of face is viewed as an aspect of Chinese culture. To “save face” means making attempts to cover up our humiliation, often by hiding mistakes, shameful deeds or unfortunate occurrences or explaining them away. As saving face is an important aspect of local culture, others are also expected to avoid humiliating a person by not referring to their flaws or errors in judgement. It’s a cultural custom that has been studied and linked to inefficiencies in management since it allows incompetent, wrong-headed practices to continue.
Do the allusions have literal or figurative significance?
The construction site sign “Work in Progress” here becomes a symbol of our obsession with construction, but also of our lack of identity. We never ‘arrive’ due to the constant “upheaval” of our national cultural life. The disappeared original coastlines are viewed as a loss even though the republic has literally become bigger with land reclamation. As we proceed through the poem, the title phrase takes on an ironic hue since there is no “progress” but only repeated interruption, a pattern of building and destruction. The work we do leads to us becoming only “a country of dust.” The changing of street names becomes a metaphor here for a lack of respect for a society’s need to find an authentic cultural route through modernization: these changes make our ‘directories’ useless, obstructing our navigation through life. Images of chewing and spitting out old street names convey the alleged thoughtlessness with which such change decisions are made.
How do the allusions relate to theme and conflict in the poem?
The poem invites us to think about the idea of “progress.” Does the quest for ‘progress’ mean that one must lose one’s past, or is contact with our roots important to moving forward as a nation? The idea is floated that losing one’s history, “crumbling” our past, actually guarantees that progress will always be out of our reach. The image of a cultural heritage as a “concrete heap” which we “retro-fit,” i.e. add new modern elements to an old building, suggests that we will always be building our national culture on an inferior foundation.
It is interesting that the Chinese custom of saving face is linked to the theme of cultural inauthenticity, even sterility through the image of "dust”). This suggests that what survives of our ethnic cultures does not constitute the best part of our ethnic heritage. The contemptuous tone of “nothing is saved/but face” underlines this.
This is not so much an ‘anti-modernity’ poem but one critical of the way that Singapore has modernized itself. The conflict is between rootedness and instability. The suggestion is that a higher regard for our older cultural values and customs may have produced a sturdier modernity.
How does the poem represent the things alluded to?
If urban renewal and the constant digging up of our land were parts of local life that we associated with our modernizing spirit, this poem presents it as a sign of our thoughtlessness, a refusal to consider our cultural evolution. The single-minded focus on “work”, or the economic rationale, is presented here as the route to cultural inferiority.
Element Two: VOICE
Another feature of poems that refers to local contexts and offers specifically Singaporean meanings is that of voice. Many Singapore poems are written without any recognisable features of local speech and are addressed usually to a global audience. However, there are some that do feature local use of English and incorporate vernacular expressions with the aim of discussing our way of life or social issues that trouble us.
These voices with local inflections may be that of the speaker of the poem or of characters whose speech is quoted in the poem. A famous example of the latter is that of “two mothers in a hdb playground” by Arthur Yap, a poem that is constructed from a conversation in Singlish between two mothers.
A good reader will be able to discover the purpose of using these voices and link them to theme.
These are three main purposes that drive local poets to use Singaporean voices:
To help us understand fellow-citizens, especially those from different socio-economic backgrounds than ours
To give Singaporeans, especially those from less-privileged communities, a chance to express their thoughts and feelings
To give a Singaporean perspective to poetry in English.
THREE THINGS TO DO WITH 'VOICE':
Firstly, try to identify the voice. Can you build a profile of the speaker or character?
Examine the language for diction, idioms, grammatical structures. Do the character’s concerns and language choices indicate their age, gender, ethnic, class and education background? Does it sound like the voice of a recognisable Singaporean social type? What is the speaker’s mood or frame of mind?
Secondly, try to identify the writer’s purpose in using that voice.
Is the purpose to celebrate people from that local community? Is it to criticise them or their values? Is the voice used to discuss a certain social issue, to develop a theme? Could the purpose be to give you entry into the perspective and mindset of a certain type of Singaporean?
Thirdly, try to identify the effect the voice has on you.
Does it evoke your sympathy or disapproval, your contempt or admiration? Think about how the voice has impacted you emotionally.
Let’s try this with Alfian Saat’s poem “Missing”.
He go to school. Never come back. I make police report. Newspaper, Crime Watch. They even put his picture, He and the other boy, On poster, with reward
From fast-food restaurant. I ask from the RC man: Can I have it from the Lift lobby noticeboard. He give me and also say sorry. I have it in my bedroom. Every morning with half- Open eyes I remind myself My son: the one on the left. Got calls come in once. Say they saw him in Penang, selling videos. Or in Bangkok, begging. Child prostitute they say. Sometimes no voice at all. Hello? Hello? Who is this? I am your son. Then hang up. So many things to remember. His school is still there. I walk to it sometimes; Pretend I am him. Praying come kidnap me Take me away now. Got one artist try to draw My son's grown-up face. I ask him draw one For every year. He say cannot. Got one time I was on TV. Crying, with schoolbag on my lap. Keep saying, good boy, always help me Do housework. Now I say let me Do the housework. Let me wake up To the mess he left behind.
Try to build a profile of the speaker or character through their voice.
The speaker of the poem is a parent whose son has gone missing together with another boy. The many grammatical errors of tense the speaker makes, using present tense when past is appropriate, suggests the parent is not well-educated. We see this in the opening lines, “He go to school. Never come back”, and also in the line “He give me and also say sorry.” There are also truncated sentences such as “Newspaper. Crime Watch” where the speaker identifies the places in which the son’s photograph has appeared (“Crime Watch” was a local crime news TV programme in the 1980s). Note that the subject and verb of the sentence are missing.
An easily recognised feature of Singlish is the inappropriate use of the word “got” in “got calls come in once”, “got one artist” and “got one time”, where it is used, not as the past tense of “get,” but as a substitute for “there were/was”. This consistent bad grammar suggests the speaker belongs to the working or lower middle class.
The allusions to the RC (Residents Committee) and “lift lobby noticeboard” indicate the speaker lives in a HDB estate and that the action is located in Singapore. The reference to the son “always help[ing] me/do housework” suggests the parent could be a woman (though not necessarily) but certainly this was a single-parent family, given the absence of references to the other parent. The speaker’s inability to remember which boy in the poster was her son and her waking up with “half-opened eyes” suggest she may have suffered a stroke from the shock.
The speech is structured by the speaker moving from memory to memory, and using a fragmented narrative mode rather than a reflective mode—these suggest that the parent has a non-intellectual, emotion-based way of thinking.
What is the purpose of using this distinct Singapore voice?
The colloquial Singapore English and the other allusions to Singapore establish this situation of child trafficking as a local problem. It interferes with the notion of Singapore as a clean and crime-free country.
As a DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE, the poem also uses the speaker’s voice to explore her character and mindset. In a dramatic monologue, a person’s speech is addressed to another person or group but the reader does not hear the voice of the other party. Dramatic monologues are used for the purpose of characterisation, to depict the speaker’s personality and psychology.
Here the single parent’s speech is used to not only depict her background but also to portray the depths of her despair. Disjointed sentences in local English such as “They even put his picture, /He and the other boy, /On poster, with reward//From fast-food restaurant” and the drifting from one thought to the next suggest she is distracted, disoriented, unable to find some grounding in her life.
Theme-wise, the speaker’s voice effectively conveys the helplessness of the underprivileged in Singapore when life takes a tragic turn. Society does try to help—a fast-food restaurant posts a reward for finding the kidnappers, an artist gives her a drawing of her son grown-up when years have passed after he went missing, and the RC and the media publicise the abduction. But the speaker lacks the power to push the search to a successful conclusion. The constant reminders of her class status through the use of colloquial local English makes the reader wonder if, with better financial resources, she might have been better able to find her son.
The poem also makes us realise that public support can only do so much—no matter what their class background, ultimately people are alone with their tragedies, isolated in their grief, often locked into their past.
This depiction of her isolation is reinforced by the speaker’s tendency to quote herself--for e.g. when she recalls asking the RC man, “Can I have it [the poster] from the/Lift lobby noticeboard” and when she remembers how she would pretend to be her son and hope the kidnappers would “come kidnap me/Take me away now.” We see her being caged in her own mental universe of memories.
What effect does the voice have on the reader?
The use of simple diction and syntax as well as the imagistic nature of her memories evoke strong emotions from the reader. For example, her mention of herself “crying” as she sat for a TV interview, with a “schoolbag on my lap” and remembering in broken English how she “Keep saying, good boy, always help me/ Do housework” highlights how this person has lost the only thing of value in her bare life. This tugs at our heartstrings. With the linguistic errors constantly reminding us of her lack of social power, we are prompted to feel guilt, to wonder if we have taken sufficient care of the needs of people like the speaker.
We also feel angry and indignant at the callousness of strangers who make prank calls to this defenceless person who has nothing in her life, people who call to say, “I am your son. Then hang up,” toying with her pain.
There is poignancy in the ironic ending of the poem. The speaker wishes that she could wake up again to the “mess [her son] left behind”, referring to how she would not mind tidying up after him as she used to do. The reader, however, taps into the metaphorical meaning of “mess” as referring to the way the boy’s abduction has destroyed his mother so that she is the one who is a “mess”. That word and the speaker’s disorganised narration of the past conveys her vulnerable mental state.
Element 3: THEME
You won’t be wrong if you ascribe universal themes to Singapore poems. For instance, it is acceptable to say that Alfian’s poem “Missing” explores the psychology of parents losing their children or that it depicts the devastation caused by human trafficking. But the better student will try to also identify themes that connect to the Singapore context.
Singapore has a reputation as a clean, relatively crime-free country. “Missing” makes us question that image. It suggests that the higher sections of society may be crime-free but that those lower down may be more vulnerable to becoming victims of crime. Human traffickers tend to prey on the poor, the orphans, those without family as nobody may even notice their absence. The speculation about the boys’ whereabouts in Penang and Bangkok also suggests that there are (or were) human trafficking crime networks that connect Singapore to other Southeast Asian countries. The poem takes the gloss off Singapore’s image.
The poem also makes you wonder if people in such tragic situations, especially those from disempowered groups such as single mothers, receive scant emotional and psychological assistance from Singapore society (even if they are supported in terms of police investigations and media attention). The RC man for instance is only able to give the speaker a tepid “sorry” rather than any useful emotional support.
Some Singapore Themes
It may help to have a list of themes in mind to check off when you confront a Singapore poem in the ‘Unseen’ section of a Literature exam.
Four historical phases are usually recognised in Singapore poetry, with certain themes dominating them:
1890S-1963—OUR COLONIAL/MALAYAN YEARS
Anti-British theme, assertions of native culture and Asian identity
1965-1980—THE NATION-BUILDING YEARS
Reflections on Singapore identity, our return to Asian ethnic roots, the culturally disruptive force of modernisation/urbanisation, and anti-Westernisation are some recurring themes at this time.
1980s-1990s
Young voices enter the scene offering ‘hip’ language and women write about female identity. The nature of urban life is a special focus at this time.
2000s-present
The new millennial poetry is often focused on looking beyond Singapore, presenting cosmopolitan sensibilities and exploring our culturally hybrid, Western-Asian identities.
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