Poem analysis

This is the 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

Analysis

The first thing I would like to say. This poem is a rather humorous poem and the poet tried to add humor into the poem so as to arouse the attention of the readers, for example, the highlighted part in red. It really makes one giggle when you come across that part. It also really brings us back to our school life as some of us really did that when we did not study for our exams.

The poem also mentioned how the school starts its day by singing the National Anthem which is what all of us really experienced or did in our school days. The Poem is really based on the true experience of the poet, what the poet really experience about his school.

The poet also included problems in his daily life during his school days, hard to maintain his shoes white especially on Wednesdays.

This poem also tells us the poets feelings and thoughts about his school days. From the humorous stanzas of the poem, it suggest the poet finds that his school days were funny, and he might be laughing away when writing this poem.

The poet also missed his school days, the antics of his classmates, the jokes, the festivals that was celebrated. He remembered what his classmates did during the exam when his classmate did not know how to do the questions. He remembered how Chinese New Year was celebrated and what his teacher Mrs Lim was wearing during the celebration and all kinds of weird things he experienced in his school days.

The poet might also have a tinge of regret of why he kept his eyes closed when the photoin the yearbook was being taken.

Overall, the writer can be seen as someone cherished his school day, and the memories of his school days were etched on his mind till now.