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calista, bernice, danielle, faith, senna, felicia

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calista, bernice, danielle, faith, senna, felicia

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Q2. through diction and imagery, the poet conveys the tension he experiences at the idea of his grandmother getting a burial in an urban world instead of her cremation. The visual imagery of ‘wear away or be dislodged’ conjures an unsettling scene of unrest; the diction ‘dislodged’ connotes being forcefully displaced from a place that is rightfully theirs, also highlighting a sense of suddenness, as though one was driven out of their home. the image of a graveyard, where the dead rest in peace, is juxtaposed by this unrest. the diction of ‘give up’ also implies unwilling sacrifice, magnifying the helplessness of the deceased, the persona’s grandmother, against this unrest. the diction of ‘wear away’ connotes a gradual and peaceful disappearance, which contradicts the diction and implication of ‘dislodged’, conveying a sense of uncertainty at the fate of his grandmother. the negative impact that urbanisation has had on burials juxtaposes and erases the original purpose of burials, to cherish and remember, allowing the. deceased to remain tangible. the persona’s critical outlook on the effect of urbanisation on the buried conveys his conflict on his grandmother’s decision to not get buried.

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tharini rachelle natalie teo caitlyn ng aishu

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tharini rachelle natalie teo caitlyn ng aishu

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the poet conveys his feelings of tension thinking of his grandmother's choice to
be cremated and evaluates if this was her genuine wish or whether she felt
obligated or pressured into this decision through strong diction and imagery
which highlights a tone of sarcasm and irony. This is highlighted in the diction, where the idea of space is emphasised repeatedly in the second stanza. It was
repeated twice but carries 2 meanings, the first being about space, as in area of
rest as well as in a spiritual sense , while the second use of "space" talks about
the grandmother's life, but the constant mention of space makes us think about
land scarcity and the constant need for redevelopment which links to the idea
or conflict that the poet has- on whether his grandmother had made her
decision willingly or out of pressure. However it is highly likely that his grandmother felt obligated to be cremated instead,  as shown through the tone used in the second stanza " my granny, though catholic" where the diction of "though"
insinuates choice and options , which suggests to us that Grandmother knew of her options and was considering and evaluating them. But this is followed by
"was cremated according to her wish" where the use of diction in "cremated"
clearly shows cremation as the final option picked , according to "her wish" . Where the diction of "her" is personal, yet decentralised - although it does refer to grandmother, it does not directly say so which suggests that this was not the poet's grandmothers true "wish" or choice out of all the options. The irony of having to settle for cremation out of all the other options she initially preferred and having this
pressured decision being portrayed as her own personal want makes us as readers
feel immensely disturbed and uneasy over now grandmother would nave been
unsatisfied by her cremation , making the tense feeling palpable  to us, allowing us
to step into the shoes of the poet where he seems to he haunted by and conflicted
over how his grandmother did not have the ideal send off she wish she could have had but couldnt because of land scarcity. Hence robert yeo has effectively conveyed
his inner dilemmas and tensions he experiences to us au the readers due to his cynical and sarcastic tone when he talks of his grandmother making her decision.

The poet's tensions are spotlighted to the readers as he vividly describes of the disrespects the deceased are subjected to when cemetery exhumation occurs allowing us to truly grasp and understand the conflicts he feels internally. This extremely evident in the second stanza in which the poet uses strong diction and imagery to push forth the way the deceased are disrespected "all about urbanisation, how her stone , had she
been buried, would wear away or be dislodged"
the diction of "her stone " is striking to us as the diction of "her" eludes a tone of defensiveness and being territorial which suggests a sense of ownership and belonging to the stone and her space of rest. yet it is ironic as "her stone" is followed by "had she been buried" which further pushes the narrative that the deceased were not given a choice. where "her" also suggests a sense of detachment as there was no stone set out for her in the first place. This evokes a sense of guilt in me and sadness as it is obvious how the wishes of the deceased is disrespected and their lasts requests were never really kept into consideration. this is also supported by the visual imagery of the diction "stone" in which the phrase "set in stone" comes to mind which connects certainty and reliability, yet these stones are easily disposed "wear away.. dislodged" where the strong diction connotes destruction and removal in which the government can rid them easily. adding onto that the use of siblance in "so when she had to give up what space she occupied, she left us" which describes the poet's heartfelt parting. this evokes a sense of sadness making the poets sadness and inner conflict extremely palpable and deserving of our sympathy - where he as an individual can do nothing but watch as the deceased is disrespected, and we as readers are left to feel the poets raw emotions of being unable to give his grandmother the send-off she deserves

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i. Being in the cemetery, the persona felt bitter about the exhumation of graves and found the decision by the authorities to exhume the graves distasteful. In “These tombstones have been uprooted / Chipped madonnas and broken crosses / all weathered grey, are strewn on grass.” the diction of the words ‘uprooted’, ‘chipped’, ‘broken’, ‘weathered’, ‘strewn’ all convey a sense of brokenness and abandonment. They conjure up an image of a dilapidated and abandoned home, which strikingly conveys how the authorities have destroyed and left the cemetery in ruins – which is made even more powerful by the concept of how the cemetery is dead’s home. Madonnas and crosses are important and revered symbols in the Christian and Catholic faiths, and the fact that they are neglected, as expressed in ‘chipped’, ‘broken’ and ‘weathered’, shows the graves in the cemetery, and by extension the dead, are treated with no sense of respect by the authorities. This results in the persona feeling a deep sense of anger, as he sees tangibly how the authorities do not respect the dead and do not care about honouring the past, and are only obsessed with further development, modernisation, and looking into the future. The plosives and clipped endings of the words further convey the bitter and angry tone of the persona as he expresses his displeasure with the authorities’ decision to exhume the graves and destroy the cemetery. Furthermore, in “needed that plot for a park”, the plosives in the pun contribute to the biting tone of how the persona feels deep anger at how so many plots of graves are sacrificed for something as insignificant and with much less value as a park. The persona thus feels that the decision to exhume the graves and leave the cemetery in ruins is not worth the pain that it causes on the living relatives of the dead. Hence, being in the cemetery, the persona feels a deep sense of anguish as everywhere he looks, he seems to be reminded of the authorities’ inherent obsession with modernising everything and working towards the future, but without any care and respect for preserving the past.

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ii) The persona utilises diction to reveal that he is deeply bitter that there was a lack of choice in how his grandmother would be remembered . The diction used to describe the persona’s grandmother’s rationale in wanting to be cremated “how her stone, had she been buried, would wear away or be dislodged” such as “wear away” and “dislodge” connote a sense of uncouthness and lack of respect associated with urbanisation. For the sake of developing an area the dead are disregarded, such that the persona’s grandmother, wanting to have a final place of rest that will not be infiltrated or violated, would want to be cremated. The is amplified by the tone in “She knew room in our affections was all the space she needed”, as the tone is halfhearted and bitter, and sounds as if the words were from the persona’s grandmother herself, who wanted to assure that that was the reason for her wish to be cremated, rather than the ugly truth that tied to urbanisation. Thus, it is made  evidently clear to the persona that his grandmother’s decision to be cremated was not out of choice, but necessity and consideration, giving rise to the bitterness that the persona palpably felt.

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1) How does the poet convey his thoughts and feelings about being in the cemetery in lines 1 - 8? - Natalie Ong, Rheann, Safiyah & Shahana

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1) How does the poet convey his thoughts and feelings about being in the cemetery in lines 1 - 8? - Natalie Ong, Rheann, Safiyah & Shahana

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The poet uses diction to express his bewilderment towards the unexpected exhumation of the cemetery. In the line “Never thought I would see them thus.”, the word “Never” is an absolute to amplify the unexpectedness of the exhumation such that he could have never imagined it in the worst circumstances. The  poet also uses form in the line “it seems the land was theirs for good-” where the hyphen shows the abruptness of the government removing the remnants of the graves without consulting any of the families. The poet also uses plosives in the line “which needed that plot for a park” to magnify his resentment towards the government for exhuming an entire cemetery for something so minor. This also suggests his distaste towards the government and their decisions, which overall contributes to his disbelief and criticism towards the government, evoking a sense of pity from the readers.

The poet uses vivid imagery to convey his sense of loss towards the exhumation of the graves. This can be seen from the lines "these tombstones have been uprooted" The diction in uprooted gives a vivid visual imagery of something like a tree being forcefully removed from its natural habitat or space. This suggests how the whole cemetery was forcefully exhumed, showing how the persona feels a sense of helplessness towards the removal of the graves. In the lines "chipped Madonnas and broken crosses all weathered grey, are strewn on grass", the symbols of religion are shown in them. The visual imagery of "all weathered grey" shows how the tones have been there for a long time, showing how the cemetery has a long history and tradition. The diction of the destroyed religious symbols, "chipped, broken and strewn" shows how the tombs have been treated without respect to the dead and religion, with the overall visual imagery of destruction shows the government's disregard for tradition. All of this evokes a sense of resentment in the reader towards the exhumation of graves and a sense of loss that the graves with a long history are being disrespected.

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The poet expresses disapproval and utter dismay which culminates in a critical tone towards the development of the Christian Cemetery. The use of diction such as ‘uprooted,’ ‘chipped’ and, ‘broken’ in describing the elements of the Christian Cemetery highlights a certain degree of force used to remove the tombstones to make space for land. Furthermore, such diction serves as a visual imagery  which parallels the aftermath of a war, makes the disintegrated elements of the Christian Cemetery as a result of the brute force used more palpable and visually evident to the reader. The extent of the disintegration of the Christian Cemetery is further emphasised through the diction of ‘strewn’ , highlighting the abundance of tombstones being forcibly removed and drawn up from the land. the act of force in removing elements within the Christian Cemetery when paralleled to it seems ‘the land was there for good but for the Urban Renewal Development which needed that plot of land’ makes evident the poet’s disapproval and criticism of such forceful acts as in his perspective it is deemed as unwarranted to show such disrespect for the dead eleders by clearing the land to make space merely a park. The hyphen behind ‘good’ is significant as it not only highlights the expectation of the ‘dead’ that the land was theirs to stay but in reality, such expectation is subverted and replaced by a state of chaos and force done unto the tombstones, highlighting a measurable amount if tension. The juxtaposition between ‘park’ and the uprooted tombstones also serve to suggest how the needs of the authorities to urbanise takes precedence over the preservation of a plot of land which gives the dead peace. Thus through the use of diction and juxtaposition, the poet expresses his contempt and disapproval for such forceful and disrespectful act with respect to the development of the Christian cemetry .