10 Owen poems

Um it seems that I shall be the first (be proud of me, Ms Chia!) to post my selection of the 10 Owen poems. They are: Dulce, Mental Cases, Exposure, Disabled, Futility, Last Laugh, Send-off, Insensibility, Greater Love, Apologia.

Poems used for:

Pity for/suffering of soldiers
Dulce, Exposure, Mental Cases, Disabled

Horrors in the aftermath of war
Dulce, Mental Cases, Disabled

Futility of ideals (eg. living, "glory from war" idealistic fantasies)
Futility, Send-off, Last Laugh, Disabled, Dulce

Disillusionment with society and civilians who are "fair-weather friends", or are indifferent
Send-off, Disabled, Insensibility

Disturbing personification of inanimate objects to emphasize disconcertion of poem
Last Laugh, Send-off

Losses/sacrifices (not just physical ones, including humanity, faith) made by soldiers
Mental Cases, Exposure, Disabled

Owen's form as compared to traditional forms and how it emphasizes message of poem
Futility, Send-off

Owen comparing traditional subjects of poetry (eg. flowers, romantic love) to issues concerning war which he considers to be more important (eg. senseless sacrifice of soldiers, sacrificial love)
Insensibility, Greater Love, Apologia

You will notice they are heavy on the poems learnt in Term 2 as I am still quite unfamiliar with the religion ones. Oh well.

Yiling

King Lear

Is an awesome experience. McKellen is The man for the job. I was pleased as punch to see that he could carry Cordelia at the end, as required by the text and how he played with the 5 "nevers", which are so wretchedly hard to pull off. Of course, for such an old pro, I expected every line said by him to be almost pitch perfect and he did not disappoint. For people without the gift, fitness and courage to act, witnessing the simulation of emotions we would not want to confront or think about is quite awe-inspiring. I admire good actors immensely--there are very few who can be properly called actors, who can suspend our disbelief, in the classical sense.

Of course, a great actor needs a great supporting cast as well and everything ran together like a well-oiled machine. a lot of hard work went into being so "pro"...

Trevor Nunn has a certain style. he likes a dumb show at the start: that start of both King Lear and Macbeth (both dir. by Nunn) have dumb shows....

there were some VJC students there and the place was packed with theatre folk: i saw 2 of the 3 Dimsum Dollies there--Pam Oei and Emma Yong and I won't be surprised if Selena Tan was there as well. A sprinkling of newscasters as well. What gave me the extra kick was comparing the Lear performance with the Seagull, seeing as Goneril is also played by the same actress as Arkadina, and so on.

end of year party to see lit trip dvd and catch up

hi lit trip people,

first of all i want to thank everyone for giving solid quotes and photos. kudos to all who posted the quotes in time for Mr Chan's speech.

i was toying with the idea of having an end-of-year party to see all the corny and happy photos that mark thompson has compiled on dvd. but we need a venue.

and if we have enough people, i think i may invite 1 or 2 of my friends who are experienced Europe backpackers to share some tips at our party too, in prep for your own non-school Europe trip.

so, whose house is open to us? :)
--Ms Chia

study smart shortcut: post your top 10 Owen poems list here

Remember what Mr Teo said in the last Owen lecture that you only need 10 of the 32 poems in the A-level syllabus for the actual exam?

I've asked those in my class who scored 35 and above to post their list of 10 poems on this blog, so keep a lookout.

Those of you who did not get 35 and above but who still want to post, by all means do so.

the suggested format (E.g. only)

1. "Dulce" (Can be used for questions on Pity, Propaganda and Disillusionment, The accusatory voice, Pitching to an elite audience)
2. "Smile, Smile, Smile" (Irony, Propaganda (mimicry of it) and etc)

Yes, so pls put a short note beside the title of the poem how many different ways you can permutate the uses of that poem.

:)

imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?

haha,

i learnt from Feng Jie of the photocopy shop that a student pirated my lit trip booklet, asking her to print from an existing bound copy. which is puzzling, as a lot of the info is made up of lists directly relevant only to the lit trip students.

if it's a student who went on the lit trip and lost his/her booklet, all he/she has to do is to ask me for my master copy. it will print better that way.

if it's not a student who went on the trip, i am truly confounded. if you are the student who pirated my booklet, pls confirm the reason, to allay my curiosity.

also learnt from Mr Jeff Lim that some Year 2 students asked if they could access the Year 1 Owen lecture notes that I've generated. Very decent of them to ask for permission beforehand. Of course, any suggestions on how I can improve them would be great, and hopefully the suggestions will not involve a total overhaul, as I did spend an indecent amount of time researching...

nouvelle nostalgia

London & France, where we found ourselves set upon a background of unfamiliarity and diversified culture. The peculiar smell of London's fresh greenery in contrast to the urban skyscrapers set the stage for 32 students, awaiting our impending exploration.

The novel environment; the footsteps that sound different on foreign grounds; the laughter that rang in the air consistently for 9 days or so; these contributed to the inexhaustible list of experiences I've had on the Literature Trip.

But what have I missed the most for the 9 days? The utter warmth of the Sun's radiant glow upon my skin, the sweat that remained under my skin for 9 days, even the occasional squint of my eyes. The sensational weather of homeland.

I miss London & France; but most of all, I miss Singapore because it's where I feel so appreciated and identifiable; where my family and friends reside.

- Group 5

Anecdotes from the A11 girls (I'm sorry! I don't remember our group number.):

Culture in the UK comes cheap. It almost seems that nothing complements a cup of afternoon tea and scones better than a piece of engaging theatrical work.Entire theatres dedicated to the showing of just one play or musical, and these theatres in no lack too! Tickets to shows are inexpensive and judging by the multitudes, there is certainly no lack of interest. We also enjoyed free entrance to the museums and were bowled over by the sheer mass of artefacts, leaving us highly discontented with our dear homeland's rather noticeable lack of such defining culture.

The strong sense of discontent and unease at viewing first-hand the massive losses of the war; witnessing with slight disgust the opulence and redundance of the Versailles; the exhilaration of standing at the top of the Eiffel, looking down at the rest of Paris - all of these were part and parcel of our experience in Europe. No culture is complete or perfect - under the gloss on the surface lies the displeasing and unsavoury part of the new society. But appreciation and tolerance is what brings the understanding of culture closer - both that of the foreign land, and of our own.

what do we tell them?

Do I tell them about the Eiffel tower, Versailles, the imperial was museum?
Or do I tell them about the 600 graves at the Anglo-Franc war memorial, or the graveyards all over the Somme?
Do I tell them about Westminster abbey, the tombs of kings or perhaps Notre Dame, one of the largest cathedrals in the world
Or do I tell them how I can feel god just looking outside my window at the vast green pastures, the beautiful trees and think about how amazing creation actually is?
Do I tell them about how friendly they are, the excellent service, how please and thank you are words that you hear almost everyday?
Or do I tell them about how we had to always go out in a group for fear of getting mugged, how sometimes we were afraid to turn left outside of our hotel?
What do I tell them?

done by group 6

Hi Ms Chia!

This is the anecdote from group 3:-

Upon setting foot in France, we found ourselves bombarded by posters in a foreign language completely alien to us, but there were some that transcended all languages - the ones that were conveyed through body language. Oh liberal France! Nude magazine covers could be found at all newsstands while liberal TV programmes were open to the public. This is a phenomenon which we will never expect to find in conservative Singapore.

The exquisite french cuisine was an eye-opener when it came to the escargots but after four days, us true blue Singaporeans missed our favourite curry chicken and satay. Indeed, french cuisine has sugar and everything nice but they lack spice! Oh chilli was greatly missed! Not to forget water! We would never take it for granted again. In Singapore, water is easily available and even tap water can be drunk! But in France, water was twice as expensive as wine!

There's really nothing like home. Indeed, on this trip, we realized there is nothing like our signature 'lah's and 'lor's, nothing we missed more than knowing at one glance which is a one dollar coin (We fumbled with our wallets for every purchase! Two pounds is a coin!), nothing we yearned more than our own comfortable beds and teddy bears and nothing we treasured more than being able to see familiar faces everywhere!

quotable quotes

hi, Mr Chan our principal would like

quotes from students

--for their learning and reflection from the "Beyond Borders" trips

for his College Day speech

the theme for this year's speech is on globalisation.

these quotes should pepper the speech with interesting anecdotes along the lines of:

1. what's most culturally interesting/impressive about your country of visit, in relation to Singapore culture?

2. How does being in a foreign country make you more aware of your being Singaporean?

3. What does "home" mean to you? How has your visit changed your experience of what home is?

the anecdotes/quotes should be funny, witty, concise....

group leaders, pls post at least 1 solid anecdote per group on this blog or email it to me by tomorrow. Just got the request today. thanks!

I'll offer one of my own:

1. what i found most interesting: the row of wig shops in the "African" sector of France. Obviously, French women of African origin do not like the hair they were born with, or they have social pressures to undo the hair they have. we hardly see wig shops in Singapore and certainly not 5 or 6 of them in row!

Ms Chia