human analysis

The poem 'Human' is written by our group. It is trying to describe the journey through life, and the adventure we go through to discover our identity.

The entire poem is written in an "A,B,A,B" rhythm structure. This brings some life and fun to the poem. However, certain paragraphs are written in a "A,B,A,B,C,C" rhythm format. This could mean some significance, that maybe the paragraphs have a special meaning or maybe to sound better. The stanzas that are in this structure are stanza 2,3,9,10,11. Stanzas 2&3 are able to describe the attitude everyone had as a kid, innocent. It tells me about the young life of a rich family, being pampered. This pampering would cause "me" to be extremely dependent and unable to think for "myself". "With no real plans" shows me that as a child "I" did not consider about making plans for the future, leaving it to others to deal with it. In stanzas 9 to 11, they are also special because they are the main point of this poem as it tells the reader the process I went through to be able to find my own identity. From "living in fear" to "knowing how I could" this allows the reader to know that "I" through this three stanzas had totally changed due to finding my identity. 

In stanza eight the world "damn" tells me the frustration that "I" was feeling. Due to the inability to find my identity yet, I had many mixed feelings about it but what was the most evident feeling was frustration as mentioned.  

I'm stanza seven, the word "poof" brings some human feeling to the poem yet in actually truth, "poof" means to vanish which equated death. "poof" shows that the "I" would consider suicide if identity is not found or a bad and evil identities. There is sad truth in what some may consider funny. 

"Disabled" analysis

Disabled

He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark,

And shivered in his ghastly suit of grey,

Legless, sewn short at elbow. Through the park

Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn,

Voices of play and pleasure after day,

Till gathering sleep had mothered them from him.

About this time Town used to swing so gay

When glow-lamps budded in the light blue trees,

And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim,-

In the old times, before he threw away his knees.

Now he will never feel again how slim

Girls’ waists are, or how warm their subtle hands.

All of them touch him like some queer disease.

There was an artist silly for his face,

For it was younger than his youth, last year.

Now, he is old; his back will never brace;

He’s lost his colour very far from here,

Poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry,

And half his lifetime lapsed in the hot race

And leap of purple spurted from his thigh.

One time he liked a blood-smear down his leg,

After the matches, carried shoulder-high.

It was after football, when he’d drunk a peg,

He thought he’d better join. – He wonders why.

Someone had said he’d look a god in kilts,

That’s why; and maybe, too, to please his Meg,

Aye, that was it, to please the giddy jilts

He asked to join. He didn’t have to beg;

Smiling they wrote his lie: aged nineteen years.

Germans he scarcely thought of; all their guilt,

And Austria’s, did not move him. And no fears

Of Fear came yet. He drought of jewelled hills

For daggers in plaid socks; of smart salutes;

And care of arms; and leave; and pay arrears;

Esprit de corps; and hints for young recruits.

And soon, he was drafted out with drums and cheers.

Some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheer Goal.

Only a solemn man who brought him fruits

Thanked him; and then enquired about his soul.

Now, he will spend a few sick years in institutes,

And do what things the rules consider wise,

And take whatever pity they may dole.

Tonight he noticed how the women’s eyes

Passed from him to the strong men that were whole.

How cold and late it is! Why don’t they come

And put him into bed? Why don’t they come?

Wilfred Owen

"Disabled" was written by Wilfred Owen, about a soldier reflecting about his life after battling in the war. The poem is mostly about contrasts of the soldier's present life to that of his past. The poet wrote this poem probably because he is able to relate to the soldier's experiences and wants to convey his personal statement on war and its effect on people.

The poem is essentially about a disabled soldier. In the first stanza, the soldier is sitting in the wheelchair "waiting for dark" The dark does not only refer to the end of the day, but most probably also the end of the soldier's life. This tells me that the soldier feels like he has no more future because he is disabled. His mobility probably meant alot to him therefore he sees this as the end if his life.

In the second stanza, he reflects how his life used to be "In the old times, before he threw away his knees" His choice of words, "threw away" tells me that he felt his sacrifice was not honourable, instead, he describes it negatively, like it was a waste.

 Overall, the poem should be interpreted as an argument for acknowledgment of disabled veterans. Owen’s is trying to show the struggles that these veterans are put through. He calls not only for respect, but also for understanding. “Disabled” was written with the intention of bringing the tragedies of war to light, and asking the public to acknowledge the sacrifices of the veterans.

Human - Bryan Teo, Bryan Tay, Joshua Tan & Evangeline Boo

Human.

Cries were heard 

From the hospital ward

And to some absurd

Where new life is official, from the cutting of the cord.

In white I stand

Playing around

With no real plans

And treated like someone, with a crown.

I thought I knew who I am

But no one knew life’s plan

Happy as can be,

With individuals like myself

Content with me,

Living the life filled with wealth

I loved “who I was”

But never knew what life would toss

As the years went by, now in grey

Filled with cruel people around me

I gladly await the end of the day

To avoid the words they place on me

Now lost and alone

Who was I?

Maybe I need a phone

To call and ask if they knew who was I

Traumatized, now clad in black

I avoid the ones they call “man”

On a search for a tag

Which will tell who I am 

I live my life in curiosity and fear

Yet afraid of the truth,

It could be dear

Yet it could be what causes me to “poof”

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I’m now an adult

Yet I know not of who I am

Knowing nothing of the results

Though I’m already half-way through the journey. Damn!

In black I lay,

Questioning humanity.

Living in fear 

Am I even a part of society?

Like a dead soul?

I don’t even know.

In grey, I sit

Wait, has my voice been heard?

Then my thoughts clicked 

What I used to think was turd. 

Now I know

That you got to be bold

In white, I stood

Knowing now I could 

I tried looking through the books

Where all information is put

But who knew all it took

Was to find good.

I have found what people described as treasure

Now with what I believed was the answer

I took my time to measure

What to me felt as though it would cure cancer.

The years went by

Now clear with my identity

Though old and fragile, I believed I could fly

The thought of death gave me no anxiety

I knew who I was

And that’s all that mattered

Though I had my flaws

But to me they just shattered.

My physical health weakened

Yet mentally it was the opposite of chaos

The fear of death would flatten

And not be weak like that of crayons

Nevertheless, the inevitable was evident

I lay on my deathbed

There were so many around me, strangers would think I was the president.

Nobody was desolate

As they all knew

I had already found the key to life

Something whose importance grew

As you age on in life 

"Metho Drinker" analysis

Metho Drinker

Under the death of winter's leaves he lies

who cried to Nothing and the terrible night

to be his home and bread. 'O take from me

the weight and waterfall ceaseless Time

that batters down my weakness; the knives of light

whose thrust I cannot turn; the cruelty

of human eyes that dare not touch nor pity.'

Under the worn leaves of the winter city

safe in the house of Nothing now he lies.

His white and burning girl, his woman of fire,

creeps to his heart and sets a candle there

to melt away the flesh that hides from bone,

to eat the nerve that tethers him in time.

He will lie warm until the bone is bare

and on a dead dark moon he wakes alone.

It was for Death he took her; death is but this;

and yet he is uneasy under her kiss

and winces from that acid of her desire. 

Judith Wright

Introduction
We have chosen this poem to analyse today as we thought that it would be one that you could all relate to. Not necessarily to the homeless man, but to the topic of addiction. Nearly every one here would have known someone who has suffered from an addiction, and knows the effect that it has on not only the addict, but their families. It also highlights the ignorance in today’s society, as many are unaware of their sad existence.

Main Idea
The poem tells the story of a homeless man and his addiction to Methylated Spirits, an addiction which is slowly killing him. Living in winter’s harsh conditions “under the death of winters leaves he lies” he hides away from society. He is alone and ‘cries to nothing and the terrible night’ as he has nothing and there is no one around him. So he turns to the one thing in his life that keeps him warm, methylated spirits.

Personification
The poem continuously uses personification, as a way of interpreting the man’s relationship with the bottle. The bottle is personified as ‘his girl’, his only companion. “His woman of fire who creeps to his heart and sets a candle there”, this shows his love and affection for this ‘woman’. In the next two lines his addiction to Metho becomes evident, as Wright introduces the metaphor of “melting away his flesh… to eat the nerve that tethers him in time” as the addiction is slowly killing him.
the Metho burns him as he drinks it “to eat the nerve that tethers him in time”. He drinks it to take his pain away. The candle burning keeps him warm inside and provides him with warmth that he can not find on the streets.

Similes
Light is compared to ‘knives; whose thrust I cannot turn’ which suggests the pain that light brings to the drinker. Time, to the man, is a never ending trouble. By drinking the Methylated spirits he feels like he is escaping time and escaping from the troubles in his life.

"I'm nobody! Who are you?" analysis

I'm nobody! Who are you?

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us -- don't tell!
They'd banish -- you know!

How dreary to be somebody!
How public like a frog
To tell one's name the livelong day
To an admiring bog! 
Emily Dickinson

The poem addresses the question of not only identity, but also of social status and recognition. It might have also hinted at what kind of society that Emily Dickinson might have lived in. Also, she makes the engages the reader directly by confessing to the reader on her thoughts of being somebody.
The stanzas :" I'm nobody! who are you?, are you nobody too?" asks the reader a direct question while confessing about her social status. This first 2 stanzas were most likely written as a  hook to catch the reader's attention, as well as invoke curiosity in the reader. The next 2 stanzas:"Then there's a pair of us-don't tell!, they'd banish-- u know!" might have hinted at the kind of society that the poet was living in. "then there's a pair of us-don't tell!" shows how it was not common to be a nobody in her society as most people might have had a certain level of fame. the next stanza is interesting because it says how nobodies in that society were banished. the poet might have meant that the nobodies- in that society were the outcasts, and were unrespected as well as ill treated. "Don't tell!" also shows how the nobodies secretly might have wanted to be well known and did not like being a nobody.
The next stanza:" How dreary to be somebody! How public like a frog!". The first Stanza Shows how the poet feels that even though being well known had is benefits, the poet feels that to maintain that status is too dreadful and tiresome, and therefore not worth it. "how public like a frog!" shows how the poet feels that the people that were well known were so desperate for fame that they would do anything for it , and the very thought of that disgusts her, possibly like a frog. The last 2 stanzas:"To tell one's name the livelong day To an admiring bog!"shows how she feels that famous people were wasting their lives by being famous. "to tell one's name the livelong day" suggests how the famous people spend a lot of time telling their achievements(what made their name well known) to other people. "an admiring bog!" shows how the admirers were unconcrete, and the famous people were wasting their time as the admirers could stop admiring them at any moment if they did not maintain their reputation.
This poem addresses the problems of being famous and also manifest the benefits of being unpopular. It invokes that thought of whether being famous might truly be worth it. It is also unique because its simplicity leaves the reader with a lot of questions to think about.

the merlion analysis

Alfian Bin Sa'at

"I wish it had paws," you said,

"It's quite grotesque the way it is,

you know, limbless; can you 

imagine it writhing in the water,

like some post-Chernobyl nightmare?

I mean, how does it move? Like a 

torpedo? Or does it shoulder itself

against the currents, gnashing with frustration, 

its furious mane bleached 

the colour of a drowned sun?

But take a second look at it,

how it is poised so terrestrially,

marooned on this rough shore,

as if unsure of its rightful 

harbour. Could it be that,

having taken to this unaccustomed limpidity,

it has decided to abandon the seaweed-haunted 

depths for land? Perhaps it is even ashamed

(But what a bold front!)

to have been a creature of the sea; look at how

it tries to purge itself of its aquatic ancestry,

in this ceaseless torrent of denial, draining

the body of rivers of histories, lymphatic memories.

What a riddle, this lesser brother of the Sphinx.

What sibling polarity, how its sister's lips are sealed

with self-knowledge and how its own jaws

clamp open in self-doubt, still

surprised after all these years."

"Yet...what brand new sun can dry

the iridescent slime from the scales

and what fresh rain wash the sting of salt 

from those chalk-blind eyes?"

A pause.

"And why does it keep spewing that way?

I mean, you know, I mean..."

"I know exactly what you mean," I said,

Eyeing the blond highlights in your black hair

And your blue lenses the shadow of a foreign sky.

It spews continually if only to ruffle

its own reflection in the water; such reminders

will only scare a creature so eager to reinvent itself."

Another pause.

"Yes," you finally replied, in that acquired accent of yours,

"Well, yes, but I still do wish it had paws."

Analyse:
The merlion is an interesting poem that makes use of a conversation between 2 people to show the thought contrast between most Singaporeans and foreigners
The stanza "I wish it had paws" is the start of the conversation with the author and it suggests how most Singaporeans think, they feel that the merlion should have paws to make it look better. The author's response :"It's quite grotesque the way it is you know, limbless; can you imagine writhing in the water like some post-Chernobyl nightmare" shows how the author thinks that the reason why you wished for it to have paws is because it was not possible to swim properly without limbs, thus creating the possibility that most Singaporean's thought process was deeper, and not so superficial.
The stanza:" a pause" suggests two different responses to the author's analysis of the merlion. The Singaporean could either have been thinking hard about what the author had said, or he could have been totally lost. The next stanza  when the Singaporean starts a new suggestion:"and why does it keep spewing that way? I mean, you know, I mean" "I know exactly what you mean" eyeing the blond highlights in your black hair and your blue lenses in a foreign sky It spews continually to ruffle its own reflection in the water; such reminders will only scare a creature so eager to reinvent itself" shows how the author is a foreigner and how he thinks that the Singaporean is thinking poetically as to why the merlion keeps on spewing water.

Finally the next few stanzas :"another pause. "Yes", you finally replied, in that acquired accent of yours, "well yes, but I still do wish it had paws" confirms that the author is speaking to a Singaporean, and that the Singaporean's thoughts were all based superficially and that there was no deeper thinking behind that.