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My Country and My People

Poem Analysis

Introduction
● This poem was written by a Singaporean poet
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This is because after the
war, when many people were killed everyone started having
children
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● The poet was, in our opinions, trying to describe how they
saw Singapore and what it was like to grow up in Singapore
during the time they were alive
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Stanza 1 Analysis
The first two lines of the poem
illustrates how the residents of
Singapore are a collection of different
cultures, societies and religions
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It is 'neither here nor
there', completely mixed
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With the line 'nor in the comfort of my preferences' the character could
mean that all these different environments are unfamiliar and
surprising for him, yet towards the end of the stanza we can see that he
sees the country for what it truly is and that he tries to embrace it
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The 'guns' are obviously
describing the war times
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● The next sentence in stanza two says 'I held a pencil in school'
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● The next four lines in this poem are describing the other inhabitants of singapore at
the time when the character was living in singapore
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Stanza 2 Analysis Part 2
● The other part of the sentence 'or cutting down those foreign "devils"
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The way the poet uses the word 'Devils' to describe the foreigners make you
think that the singaporeans really hated being ruled by another country and
how they really loathed having foreign countries trespassing on their land
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For example, when the Japanese
invaded Singapore during the war, they forced everyone to learn Japanese
in school
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● In the next sentence it says 'Thus privileged, i entered the Lion City's jaws'
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The city, in this poem/stanza, representing a
heaven and a gateway to better life
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Also the Lion (Merlion) is now the figure of
Singapore
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The second line reads ''I had only my household
cares'', which meant that the character had a lot of
work to do around the house, and he/she tells us
about the poor conditions he/she had to live in and
what a difference it was from the city
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Similarly, a duck that will not lay is useless, and male
papaya trees do not produce any fruit
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It
could illustrate how these 'foreign devils' were taking all that was important to
them and making their lives hard, and it could show how the city was evolving
in ways that wasn't at an advantage point for them at all and leaving many
people victims to poverty
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It shows how the people there do not really care
about their troubles, as they are 'far away' from it
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For example, in lines 2 and 3, it illustrates to the
reader the city is undergoing a change for the supposed
better, in this case from old to new
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Moreover the fact the old tree was described as being
"the great
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Furthermore it
could also mean the new citizens of Singapore are trying to
sweep the remnants of the War away and re-build Singapore
as far away of it's traditional and conflicted heritage
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In the
next line it shows the growing mass of unstoppable population which are unable to "be
curbed"
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This negative
connotation continues as the rest of the stanza basically describes Singapore as being
completely fake and artificial in order to look good for incoming tourists and that no matter
how unsatisfied and outraged the locals were it wouldn't matter because the tourists felt "at
home"
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This is saying that
the character in the poem has never understood
Singapore and they don't understand the beliefs
and culturally aspects of Singapore
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● The sentence 'with my gentle, brown skinned neighbors', is talking about
Malaysia and that Singapore is literally 'next door' to Malaysia
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Also it shows that he has grown up in a multicultural society, with
many languages and cultures
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Stanza 6 Analysis
Perhaps when the phrase "human heart" is used it implies the
centre, traditional, local side of Singapore before it evolved into
the concrete jungle it is said to be
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When it says "fence-sitting" it could
either imply a literal neighbor or perhaps a different race
altogether
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Literary Devices:
Metaphors:
● "Brown skinned neighbors"
● "Lion City's Jaws"
● "A duck that would not lay"
● "Chinas mighty shadow"
● "Digging on the banks"
Repetition:
● "My country and my people" (stanza 1 and stanza 5, also kind
of Stanza 6)
Imagery:
● "The chiseled profile of the sky"
● "Lion City's jaws"
● "life carrying my friends downstream"
● "China's mighty shadow"

More Literary Devices
Tone:
● Negative towards his upbringing
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Personification:
● "China's mighty shadow"
● "Chiseled profile of the sky, took on a lofty attitude"
Alliteration:
● "boom of babies"
● "claim citizenship"
● ''multi mini'' ''milli mini''

Further Literary Devices
Tense:
● Written in first person
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Talking about modern day/ in the present time, and
their views on Singapore currently
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Talking about
the past, and how the character grew up
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● There s a switch in tense in the firth stanza
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She does this to create a staggering and jagged sound, to suit
the tone of the poem
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