COMPARING SINGAPOREAN

POETS

By Gary, Edward and Laurens and Luo Yang. :D

Poet #1: Arthur Yap

He usually uses legible and easy-to-read English for expression in his poems.

He sometimes adds Singlish into his poems to illustrate the ways of typical Singaporeans.

He makes his poems very descriptive altogether.

Poet #1: Lengths & Subject Matters Arthur usually has his poems with

relatively short lines. He makes his stanza lengths short and

sweet. He probably does not want to bore his readers.

He usually discusses about the life of typical Singaporeans and their interaction with one another.

Poet #1: Other Points to Take Note He does not really make use of sounds

as he usually illustrates the life of typical Singaporeans and does not require much sound effects to do so.

He make sure he simplifies his use of English so as not to confuse his readers with fumbling vocabulary.

Poet #2: Edwin Thumboo He uses very descriptive and advanced

English with much fluency. His descriptive choice of English allow

the readers to image the scenery he is trying to illustrate very well.

Courses.nus.edu.sg/course/ellthumb/site/poems/ulysses.html

Poet #2: Lengths & Subject Matters Edwin makes use of short lines to allow

his readers to comprehend the description he is trying to put across.

He is very erratic with his stanzas. Most are quite long but some are short. He uses this to control the thoughts that come through the readers’ minds.

He discusses about general overviews of subjects and not about very deep topics.

Poet #2: Other Points to Take Note He does not really make use of sounds

as he usually have poems that describe general topics.

Although Edwin mostly uses modern English to express his poems, he sometimes bring in the atmosphere of Middle English poems into his modern ones.

Poet #3: Boey Kim Cheng Kim Cheng, similar to Edwin Thumboo,

uses descriptive and intermediate English with great fluency to express his poems.

He sometimes bring in the thought of mythology into his poems of current happenings.

Poet #3: Lengths & Subject Matters Kim Cheng makes use of decently long

lines to mystify his poems, usually in accordance with the mythical atmosphere he tries to create in some of his poems.

He makes use of singular stanzas to emphasize the mythical atmosphere of his poems.

He discusses on current happenings.

Poet #3: Other Points to Take Note He sometimes makes use of Middle

English to mystify his poems. He excels in trying to make the readers

get the ‘feel’ of the poem by using different techniques.

Poet #4: Angeline Yap

Angeline uses descriptive and varied levels of English in her poems.

She enjoys using simple English in different and unique ways to change the whole meaning of the poem.

Poet #4: Lengths & Subject Matters She uses decently short lines to

emphasize the descriptions she is trying to imply with her English.

She uses the standard 4+ line stanzas to make her poems seem pretty ‘ordinary’ from an outlook.

She enjoys discussing about expository topics like ‘circles’ and elaborating on it with great extents.

Poet #4: Other Points to Take Note She is a very creative poet who enjoys

talking about the different things in life which relate to a certain word.

She makes herself as an author look knowledgeable in her poems by discussing rather intricate topics.