The City Planners: Margaret Atwood

FROM STANZA ONE

What are your impressions of the suburbs described in the first stanza? Make sure you have evidence from the stanza to support your points.

The first thing that comes to my head when I read the first stanza is an image of Privet Drive - you know, the one from Harry Potter.

The street is obviously lined with homes ("residential streets"). There are trees planted perhaps periodically along the street ("levelness of surface") around which not a leaf nor a fallen twig lie ("sanitary"). The trees are tall, with thick barks and a dense tapestry, perhaps something akin to oak trees ("assert"). The entire atmosphere of the street is quiet and dull ("no shouting here", "nothing more abrupt") and the only sounds that can be heard are monotonous and dragging ("rational whine"). Even the non-living components of the street lack a certain identity ("discouraged grass") and despite it being a Sunday, which is normally a day of rest and play, no people can be seen in the vicinity (no mention of people in the entire stanza).

What evidence is there to suggest that the speaker is an outsider looking in? Consider the first two lines and also the significance of the dent in the speaker’s car door. What does the word ‘rebuke’ refer to?

The use of the word "cruising" gives the impression that the poet is simply visiting or driving through the "residential Sunday street". Since it is a Sunday, we can assume that the poet decided to go for a drive and ended up visiting the street in question.

Secondly, the poet regards the dent in their car door a form of rebuke to the orderliness of the street. Everything on the street seems to be conformed and tamed, and so the presence of the dent in her car door signifies that she does not in fact belong to the street, because if she did, the dent would have been smoothed out or - perhaps - nonexistent.

Lastly, the poet very objectively describes the street in the first stanza. She describes everything about the sanity of the street that offends her as if she has never encountered any of it before - the last four lines make her sound bewildered at the silence and drabness of the street, giving her the air of an outsider looking at the street for the very first time.

Lines 5-8
the houses in pedantic rows, the planted
sanitary trees, assert
levelness of surface like a rebuke
to the dent in our car door.

The word "rebuke" in this context refers to the discrepancy in the environment of the street caused by the dent in the car door of the poet. It sounds like the pedantic nature of the street rebels against this slight disturb in order that the dent has caused, and in this rebellion their sameness becomes even more pronounced, perhaps even powerful as they 'assert' themselves over the dent.

Make a list of the words/phrases that capture the speaker’s disapproving tone and comment on the precise effects created.

Lines 3-4: What offends us is/the sanities;

This is the first of many phrases in which the poet begins to express her dislike towards the sameness and consistency of the street. The verb offends is used to signify that the poet is very personally put off by what she sees, almost as if the street has become this way just to tease her and the dent in her car door.

This phrase immediately lets us know that the poem we are about to read isn't going to be a positive one. The phrase is a phrase of complaint and frustration, a bold cry of rebellion against conformity, which without delay fills us in on the true views of the poet.

In line 4 we are told directly what the poet claims to be offended by: the sanities that she sees around herself. This is a very odd concept, that someone should be offended by sanities, because aren't sanities and sameness and consistency what keep us sane? But in this case, the sanities are driving the poet round the bend, which gives us the impression that the poet has a very peculiar mind.

She has the mind of a rebel, sporting a tone much like the one Boey Kim Cheng uses in his poem, The Planners. She has the natural tendency to rebel against conformity, which is evident by the fact that she immediately starts off by stating that she is offended, instead of first outlining the general appearance of the street.  

Line 6: assert ; Line 7: rebuke

The use of the word 'assert' in relation to the 'planted sanitary trees' is a personification. The trees are given the attitude of dominance, and a vivid image is created of tall, looming trees frowning down on the poet in her car.

The word 'rebuke' is another personification. The poet gives the trees the power to reject the poet in her car, because she does not belong with them and their 'levelness of surface'. The effect created is something akin to a pebble being tossed into does not belong with them and their 'levelness of surface'. The effect created is something akin to a pebble being tossed into does not belong with them and their 'levelness of surface'. The effect created is something akin to a pebble being tossed into a calm pond: the ripples created by the disturb in surface tension is what the assertive trees are reacting to.

Lines 9-11
No shouting here, or
shatter of glass; nothing more abrupt

than the rational whine of a power mower

The immediate effect created by these lines is the impression of silence upon the street. 'No shouting here' signifies that despite it being a Sunday, there are no children in the lawns playing in the grass and chasing each other, making the sounds of a happy evening. Despite it being a Sunday, no sounds can be heard at all, nothing spontaneous (abrupt) or surprising or new. Nothing even destructive or exciting, like the shatter of glass.

Even if by chance someone decides to use a power mower - which is a kind of lawn mower and would therefore make a significant amount of noise - the only sounds it makes are that of a rational whine.

Here, the poet once again personifies the power mower, giving it the quality of being logical and reasonable (rational) even in its whining. It gives us the impression that the sameness of the street has by now smothered even the loud power mower, until the mower in its obedience does not disrupt the levelness of surface that the trees strive to assert.

How do other words in the stanza convey the soulless atmosphere of the suburb?

'no shouting' à no children playing about

'no shatter of glass' à no excitement or surprises
'nothing more abrupt' à no spontaneity present, not even in the lawn mower
'the discouraged grass' à personification, depicts even the grass as having given up

FROM STANZA TWO

Consider the contrast between the first and second stanzas. What can be made of the driveways that ‘neatly / sidestep hysteria / by being even’? What do the words ‘sanities’ and ‘hysteria’ have in common? And how are they different?

The second stanza starts off with 'But', giving an immediate contrast to what the poet has pointed out in the first stanza. While in the first, the poet has outlines the ways in which she finds the street pedantic, consistent and boring, in the second stanza she ventures on to say that perhaps there are still some parts of the street that retain its spontaneity.

The poet points out in lines 13-15 that the driveways neatly sidestep hysteria by being even. In the first stanza she claims that she is offended by the sanities of the street. What both of these words have in common is that they both refer to a very extreme state of mind, hence showing that once again the poet has personified certain aspects of the street, because streets don't have minds and nor do they have the ability to remain sane or go hysterical.

While sanity can be defined as the ability of a mind to remain rational and sensible, hysteria refers to the complete loss of control and senseless state of panic. These two words form a very big contrast between the two stanzas. At first, the poet claims that the street is too sane for her. However she then goes on the point out that the linear driveways almost lose control over themselves. In this vivid imagery the street seems to be vibrating with opposing forces, forces that only the poet can see.

Link the 'certain things' to what the speakers say they do in stanza three. Consider the effectiveness of the concise line 'certain things' and its positioning within the stanza.

The poet claims that the certain things she has mentioned in stanza two (smell of spilt oil, splash of paint, a poised plastic hose) "give momentary access to/the landscape behind or under/the future cracks in the plaster". She then goes on to predict a time when the houses will capsize and slide into clay seas, a future that she is sure nobody else notices.

In stanza two, after the poet points out two more things about the streets (that their driveways neatly sidestep hysteria, and their roots all display the same slant), then come the words certain things. They have a line to themselves and end with a colon, used to foreshadow the items that the poet is about to list down. Their individuality also calls attention to them, signaling that the things that come after the colon and going to be contrasting the first four lines of the stanza.

In a way, while the first stanza speaks of the sanities that offend the poet, and the third stanza talks about the hysteria hidden underneath the surface, the second stanza shows a clear transition between the two themes. This transition is pioneered by the line certain things.

List these 'certain things' and consider the words and sounds used to describe them.

Four certain things are mentioned by the poet:

·         the smell of spilt oil a faint
sickness lingering in the garages

Here we find the use of alliteration in the sound 's' (the smell of spilt oil a faint/sickness). The smell of the spillage is considered sickening, signifying that the poet considered sickness to be one of the things that disrupts the order and form of consistency in the street.

·         a splash of paint on brick surprising as a bruise

Alliteration in the sound 'b' is used (brick/bruise). The splash of paint mentioned here continues the idea of a mess that sprung up from the mention of spilt oil. A splash of paint could be the residue of a mess created by a past experience, a fun memory, and once again this signifies that according to the poet, fun is another thing that disrupts the linear consistency of the street.

·         a plastic hose poised in a vicious
coil;…

Alliteration in the sound 'p' (plastic, poised). The poet personifies the plastic hose, likening it to a snake poised, vicious and ready to strike. When we actually look at a gardening hose, it wouldn't seem vicious or threatening at all, but according to the poet even the sight of something as mundane as a hose can be likened to a snake when compared to its calm and perfect surroundings. We are now becoming familiar with the incredulity that the poet has been trying to express towards the street.

·         …; even the too-fixed stare of the wide windows

Personification once again, this time of the wide windows that the poet likens to the stare of eyes that never blink. Here the fact that is being exemplified is that even though the windows are wide, either the curtain have been drawn shut (signifying antisocial tendencies) or the curtains are drawn open and nobody is looking out. The poet is very clear in pointing out that she sees no people at all on the street. Perhaps this is why she personifies unanimated objects instead.

A "too-fixed stare" can also call to mind the eyes of a dull or even dead person. We can hence conclude that according to the poet, the street is either dull, or dead.

FROM STANZA THREE

Discuss the image of nature presented in this stanza, commenting closely on the effects of key words.

The idea of nature's role in this stanza kicks off with the mention of landscape behind cracked plaster. These words are used to create the idea of a greener, fuller and perhaps even livelier street that is hiding behind a layer of plaster. We are encouraged to imagine bits of green peeking through cracks in the plaster, and that these cracks grow with time so that eventually (and hopefully) the layer of plaster collapses altogether.

Nature is referred once again later in this stanza, as "clay seas". The poet says that when the cracks in the plaster develop, the houses that she finds so offensive will capsize (be upturned, destroyed, ruined) and slide down into clay seas. Now with the words 'clay seas' she is encouraging us to visualize a vast expanse of area in which a destroyed house is dumped - namely, a wasteland. So what she is trying to get across is that the only way to cure the street of its sanities, is to destroy and get rid of it completely.

The last reference to nature is made in the phrases "gradual as glaciers/that right now nobody notices". This idea could be directly linked to the polar ice cap scenario in today's world, caused by global warming. The polar ice caps have been slowly melting and shrinking, but this is a very gradual process that requires intense observation by global warming specialists.

In the same way, the poet refers to herself as the only observer in the capsizing of houses, because it is a slow process that right now nobody notices. Notice how she says 'nobody' instead of 'nobody else', because she does not consider herself part of this community, merely an outsider looking in.

FROM STANZAS FOUR-SIX

What attitude towards The Planners is revealed in the descriptions in these stanzas?

The Planners are described to have 'insane faces' likened to that of political conspirators, they are said to be 'scattered over unsurveyed territories' and 'concealed from each other' in their 'private blizzards'. They 'guess directions', 'sketch' (plan) rigid lines on a wall of 'vanishing air'. And lastly, they 'trace the panic of suburb order' in a 'bland madness' of snows.

The use of the word 'insane' as one of the first adjectives for The Planners is very vivid. We can now picture The Planners as a bunch of madmen, derailed by their thirst for consistency and order in the cities that they intend to plan. This could also be the image that the poet is projecting onto The Planners, because according to her nobody could plan a street full of sanities without being at least a little bit insane.

The next three lines of the fourth stanza go on to describe the planners as a disorganized committee of scatter-brained people. They are scattered, signifying that they aren't grouped together or even coordinate with each other. They are concealed, reinforcing the above. And each is in his own private blizzard. What is a blizzard?

This is a blizzard.

In a blizzard, nobody would be able to see clearly or find somebody in all that snow flying about. This once again emphasizes that The Planners are not able to cooperate in their planning, hence they are disorganized and driven insane by their own ideas.

In stanza five, we are told that despite not being able to coordinate, they still continue to plan. They guess directions, sketch transitory (connecting) lines rigid (hard, straight) and onto a wall of vanishing air. The vanishing air here describes the temporariness of their plans, because of the blizzard in which they have stuck themselves. None of their plans stay concrete or even consistent (due to lack of coordination), which is at a contrast to the concise streets that they are actually planning.

In the last two lines that make up stanza six, we are presented with two oxymorons. The first is the panic of suburb order. The order that the poet refers to here is the order that she has described in stanza one, and so in a way she is returned to the main roots of this poem, which is the sanities of the streets that offend her so. She restates the insanities that go into planning the sanities by using the word panic to describe suburb order.

The second oxymoron is the bland madness of snows. This is a restatement of the poet's oxymoron in stanza one, the rational whine of the lawn mower. The poet here is continuing the extended snow metaphor that she started with the mention of blizzards. Even though the snow makes the job of The Planners confusing, the confusion and excitement is still bland (tasteless, dull), not unlike the whine of the power mower that is, at all odds, still rational in its sound.

That's it for this poem! I'm going to be rushing to finish the other poems in this anthology, as well as the stories in the Stories Of Ourselves anthology, but hopefully I'll be done by this Saturday. I hope this helped!

Love,
BioKrys

The Planners: 7 Discussion Questions

1.      A Summary Of The Content Of Each Stanza

Stanza 1:

I've always felt that this poem starts off very strongly. The poet wastes no time in dilly-dallying about or giving an introduction to his subject - he jumps right in. His very first word refers to The Planners, and the second word refers to what they are doing. This, coupled with the repetition of the word "they" as well as a verb to follow ("plan", "build") brings about a sense of urgency. We feel like what the poet describes is happening now and that he wants to escape it. Pronto.

Over all the first stanza speaks of what "they" are doing - planning, building, gridding. The sameness and consistency of the poet's environment is expressed in the phrases "in alignment with the roads" and "desired points", as well as the phrase "grace of mathematics" which is a juxtaposition used to depict that the poet finds what the planners are endeavouring to accomplish (or, perhaps, already accomplished) rather baffling.

Additionally, the personification in the last two lines ("the sea draws back", "the skies surrender") briefly explores the utter power of the planners, and the terrific hold they have even over nature. The verbs draws (to pull away) and surrender (to give up) begins to give the poem its negative tone, which will be further emphasized in the next two stanzas.

Stanza 2:

In this stanza, the distress of the poet leaks through. We have an extended metaphor of dentistry running throughout the paragraph; this further emphasizes how the poet feels towards the planners, for the idea of dentists never does bring about good memories.

Furthermore, the poet points out that the "flaws" and "blemishes" of the past are knocked off with "dental dexterity". He goes on to say that the "gaps" that knocking off these blemishes leave behind are filled up with gleaming gold à new buildings. It feels like an elaborate project that the planners are carrying out, what with the use of vivid verbs such as "knocked" and "plugged" to describe their actions.

Halfway through the stanza, the poet has had enough. We have a broken phrase in line 17, simply stating "Anaesthesia. Amnesia. Hypnosis.". It feels by now that the poem is so numbed by the actions oft the planners that he is not capable of forming a complete phrase to depict their effect on him. Instead, he uses these three words detachedly and with no context. Interpreting these words, while it may be a free interpretation, is also rather fixed, because he follows this line quickly with a decisive phrase.

They have the means / They have it all so it will not hurt,

And so overall we can conclude that in this stanza the poet depicts clearly and with an extended metaphor how cruel and ruthless the actions of the planners seem to him.

Stanza 3:

This is the shortest stanza, perhaps because the poet has by now become so overwhelmed by the actions of the planners that he is barely able to give the poem a suitable ending.

The first line starts with "but", once again bringing about a sense of urgency in the fact that the poet couldn't be bothered starting the stanza more appropriately. But my heart will not bleed/poetry. Not a single drop à a very stark contrast to the first two stanzas of the poem.

This stanza concludes the poem rather unexpectedly, with a conclusion we were not expecting to find. While from the first two stanzas we could feel the frustration and itchiness of the poet to do something, the last paragraph seems like the poet has given up, much like how the sea surrendered to the force of the planners.

(Alternatively, the poet did manage to escape the wrath of the planners, seeing as Boey Kim Cheng left Singapore not long after writing this poem - probably to seek inspiration somewhere else.)

2.      From Stanza 1: What does the use of the words "gridded", "permutations of possibilities", "points", "grace of mathematics" (which are associated broadly with mathematics) reveal about the speaker's attitude towards planners and city planning?

These are generally very technical points. The poet incorporates these words into the first stanza of his poem with ease, giving us the impression that he is well used to thinking or using these words daily or regularly. Some of these words vividly describe the poet's surroundings - the very surroundings he is rather unhappy with - and the nature of words like "gridded" and "points" informs us that the poet is not happy with the rigidness of the landscape, the sameness and uniformity that the planners seem to be enforcing on everything.

Additionally, the two phrases permutations of possibilities and grace of mathematics help emphasize the power of the planners. They are so powerful in their actions that their options are limitless, and they can bend even something so exact and concise as mathematics into a graceful, almost delicate art. The poet seems to be resentful of the planners, this assumption being backed by the fact that this is the only stanza in which these technical terms are used. (After proving his point, the poet moves on to prove other points.)

3.      Explore the personification of the sea and skies in the final two lines of stanza one. What do the images suggest about the relationship between man (more specifically, planners) and nature? What do you think is the speaker’s view of planners?

Personification: Even the sea draws back/And the skies surrender.

This line is the first of many that depicts the control of the planners: they are described to exert power even over nature, and the imagery induced by the verbs "draw" (withdraw) and "surrender" depicts nature as a small, even scared animal scuttling away into safety.

From here we can also sense of foreshadowing as to what the poet is about to speak of. In the first stanza (excluding the last two lines) he explains what the planners have been doing to his country, but immediately after he tells us that the planners are unstoppable, he points out the effect that their invincibility is having on nature.

We can deduce from this that the planner has noticed the way nature has been shrinking, perhaps diminishing at the hands of the planners. This can also be related to the general idea of globalisation that has taken over the world: the defeat of nature in lieu of making new buildings, more offices, more homes. Humans have begun preceding over nature, and the poet is bewildered by this observation.

4.      Consider the effect of the repetition of the word ‘They’ and also where each instance of the word appears in the poem.

The word 'They' is repeated generously throughout all three stanzas of the poem, and in all cases the word is immediately followed by the actions that the planners are taking.

They plan.
They build.
They build and will not stop.
They erase the flaws.
They have the means.
They have it all so it will not hurt.

If we read the above lines by themselves, the story they spell out is a dark, foreboding one. These words alone induce a kind of dread in the reader, and create the impression that "They" are an unstoppable, undefeatable and infinite force. They will not stop. They have the means (so it will not hurt). These phrases also call to mind a doctor, who must inflict pain occasionally in order to bring about a desired resolution, and it also calls to mind anaesthesia (will not hurt) which the poet mentions in line 17 ("Anaesthesia, amnesia, hypnosis.").

5.      List each reference to dentistry and dental work in stanza two, and consider closely the effect created by using each word/phrase. Does it enhance your appreciation of the poem to relate the descriptions here to your own experiences of going to the dentist?

"They":
 >erase the flaws
>knock off blemishes of the past
>with dental dexterity

Dexterity à skilfully, gracefully, quickly, cleverly.

Erase the flaws à most literal definition of perfection

The use of the metaphor in these lines gives the illusion that "they" are on a mission of erasing the past. The poet interprets their efficiency by using the metaphor of dentistry, reminding us of how big a perfectionist a dentist can be. A dentist, who leaves no trace of stain or decay behind, is in the poet's point of view an accurate representation of the planners.

The short and snipped phrasing of the first three lines of this stanza helps to carry across the displeasure of the poet.

All gaps are plugged
with gleaming gold.
The country wears perfect rows
of shining teeth.

The metaphor is further extended in these lines.

The phrase gleaming gold restates perfection (later mentioned as 'perfect rows' again). This phrase cannot be taken literally because the newness to a country can't actually shine like gold. But it is evident that to the poet, these buildings stand out like sore thumbs. Most people would see these new buildings, a stark contrast to the old (probably dysfunctional) structures that they have replaced, as a development for the better.

However, the poet uses evident exaggeration in line 15: perfect rows of shining teeth. The poet sounds resentful in these lines, like a little boy looking on at a beach party that he's excluded himself out of. First, the planners had erased away the "blemishes of the past"  and now we realise that the poet was rather fond of these blemishes. The poet then goes on to describe the new country he sees around him, a country full of perfect rows of shining teeth, a country whose past he misses so dearly and whose present he will never grow to love.

This is where the extended metaphor ends. An overall view of the effects of the metaphor:
>it is used to depict the perfection of progress

>it also depicts the resentment of the poet towards progress
>the efficiency of the planners in taking away everything that the poet held dear to himself is vividly described
>the poet mocks the planners by exaggerating their perfection, and is bitter towards them.

6.      Consult a dictionary for relevant meanings of the words in the line ‘Anaesthesia, amnesia, hypnosis’. Then consider what contribution this line makes to the poem as a whole. What does it reveal about the speaker’s attitude towards ‘They’?

Anaesthesia
Relevant definition: the loss of sensation with or without loss of consciousness

By using this word the poet tries conveying that the entire city, its people and the future and fate of his country is in the hands of the planners, and he - the citizen, onlooker and possibly the only one conscious of thought - is also aware of the fact and inevitability that he cannot do anything to change the destiny of his landscape.

This word also depicts the planners as some sort of all-powerful force that has robbed the poet of his ability to respond, so that now he is just sitting there on the fence, in a detached sort of panic akin to a Sherlock Holmes who can't quite use his brilliant mind to process anything anymore.

Finally we can conclude that:
In this case the poet is speaking of the kind of anaesthesia in which there is a loss of sensation WITHOUT losing consciousness. Speaking in biological terms, the poet's sensory neuron is working, he can feel the panic and is aware of the detrimental effect of the planners, but his motor neuron has been cut off and so he cannot respond to the situation coherently. Not anymore.

Amnesia
Relevant definition: a condition in which a person is un remember things because of shock

The use of this word after "anaesthesia" continues the medical terminology. The poet has already experienced the horror of progress and now he has been forced to forget. It reinforces the power of the planners in the view of the poet.

First, they have the power to do and they have the power to ruin and now they have the power to take away the poet's memory and manipulate the people into accepting their new fate. It gives the illusion that the poet is staring dumbstruck in the mouth of change, except now when he looks away he can't even remember what he has seen, because he has been shocked into forgetting it all.

Finally; the use of amnesia reinforces the utter power that the planners have over the past. The amnesia that the poet experiences is a result of his previous anaesthesia, due to the trauma of what he has witnessed happening all around him.

Hypnosis
Relevant definition: a state that resembles sleep but in which you can hear and respond to questions and suggestions

Use of this word after amnesia and anaesthesia signifies that the poet is helpless at the hands of the planners. The planners have been successful in manipulating him into accepting the change. The poet can now respond  but only to the planners' suggestions.

The planners are hence all-powerful, manipulative and controlling. First they take away the poet's power to respond, then they steal his memory and then his freedom of choice. A part of the planners' mission of progress may be to change the poet too because they don't want free-thinkers in this new country.

They want robots.

Overall analysis of "Anaesthesia, amnesia, hypnosis."u

Common denominator à power.

Let us also consider the way the poet delivers this phrase. It stops the flow of the stanza and demands attention, almost like the true message the poet is trying to get across.

He is so affected by his despair at what the planners are doing that he can't be bothered putting them into phrases. He just says it out. The detached and broken structure of this line can be directly related to the detached and broken state of the poem.

7.      What do you make of the ‘bleed poetry’ metaphor in the context of the poem? His heart would not bleed ‘a single drop / to stain the blueprint / of our past’s tomorrow’. How do you finally interpret this, and do you find it an effective ending to the poem?

But my heart would not bleed
poetry. Not a single drop
to stain the blueprint
of our past's tomorrow.

Bleed à the poet is hurt, the planners have hurt him. His words are the blood he refers to, and his heart is the past of the city, that has been torn apart.

Poetry à the fourth wall between the poet and the reader is broken. Here the poet is directly referencing his poem. The caesura (pause enforced by the period) in the middle of the phrase calls attention this word. The blood falling from his heart is his poetry, it is all the poet has left and he will not let it ruin or be ruined by anything.

Single drop à nothing at all. The poet is submissive. The poet has given up.

Stain à after illustrating so clearly the pristine environment of progress, this word shows how dirty he regards his poetry in comparison. He is convinced that his words will positively ruin the good future that the country has in store for itself.

Blueprint à the plans for the future of the country have already been made; they are pristine and clean, not blemished and flawless, and are the object of the poet's resentment

Past's tomorrow à the future is now.

Is this ending an effective one for the poem? It surely speaks of a resolution. The poet decides to keep his opinions to himself and shows his poetry to no one, hence indirectly saying that he knows deep down that progress is giving his country more benefits than harm. Despite how he depicts his heart to be bleeding, he is still willing to deal with progress for the sake of his fellow citizens.

(Boey Kim Cheng moved out of Singapore not long after writing this poem, so I suppose everybody was a winner in the end.)

I hope you found this discussion insightful!
With love,
BioKrys

The Planners - Boey Kim Cheng

The Planners

a poem by Boey Kim Cheng

This is the first poem I studied from Part 4 of Songs Of Ourselves, an Anthology of Poetry in English for my Literature in English 'O' Levels. To date, this poem remains one my most beloved pieces of writing, and as you read on I hope you feel the sense of reverence and excitement that I feel when I study this poem.

Structural Analysis

This poem is written in free verse.

Thanks, Google.

Additionally, there are no indentations marks in the entire piece. These two features of the poem - free verse, no indentations - seem to rebel against the general voice of the poem, which is the voice of complaint against conformity; i.e. the entire outlay of the poem seems to be conforming. Hence we can conclude that Boey Kim Cheng wants his poem to mock the subject, what with its lack of rhyme and identifiable rhythm, as well as its evident blandness.

We can also deduce from this implied mockery that Boey Kim Cheng is a voice from the other side of a field, and that there are still people who have not yet given into the pressures of conformity enforced upon them by the Planners. (Who are the Planners? I'll get to that in a bit.)

Word by Word Analysis

Let's start from the very beginning - a very good place to start.

·         Lines 1&2:
They plan. The build. All spaces are gridded.
filled with permutations of possibilities.

Notice now that throughout the poem, the poet has capitalised the first letter of the word 'they'. This could mean (really, it's rather  natural to deduce) that he is referring to the same group of people repeatedly when he uses "They". Who are they, though? And what are they planning and building?

This is a very sharp introduction to the poem. It's evident that the poem is going to be about a group of people ("they") and that's it going to be architectural ("plan", "build", "gridded") in nature. We are also made aware of the evident power of  "them" because of the phrase "permutations of possibilities".

Do you know what permutations are? Combinations. Numerous, unending combinations. If the spaces that they grid and plan and build are filled with permutations of possibilities, that means that they are all-powerful, of great substance, maybe even God-like. But who are they? And what does the poet feel about their power?

·         Lines 3-6
The buildings are in alignment with the roads
which meet at desired points
linked by bridges all hang
in the grace of mathematics.

Here he is further describing the extent to which "they" are in control. The general idea in these four lines is one of evenness and conformity - everything makes sense. Straight lines ("in alignment with") and clean endings. Everything is so even and specific that even the mathematics of this landscape feels graceful.

Now this is a juxtaposition. Grace literally means to move freely and without restraint, yet mathematics speaks of rules and regulations and lots and lots of limits. Have "they" begun to thrive in their calculations? Or has the definition of freedom in the poet's world shrunk so far that even mathematics now seems appealing? Either way, it's a delirious scenario indeed.

These four lines help to paint an image for us. We can see through words like "buildings", "roads" and "bridges" that the poet is describing a city, a county or an estate. This helps cluing us in on who "they" might be - the planners (from the title of the poem) who were in charge of designing the layout of the landscape in question. But once again ,we don't receive any hints as to what the poet thinks of "them".

·         Lines 7-9

They build and will not stop.
Even the sea draws back

and the skies surrender.

Here we see the true extent of "their" power. The sea and skies give in to them. They have control over nature. How crazy is that?

Personification is the poetic device used by the poet in these lines. The idea of  the sea drawing back and the sky surrendering to humane forces can't be taken literally (obviously.) but are of very important metaphorical resonance. It's one thing for the planners (which we can now establish is the true identity of "They") to have control over the layout of the city - the roads, the buildings, the gracefulness of mathematics - but it's another thing for them to have free reign over nature. Surely the poet can't be happy with this?

Alternatively, the poet may also be referring to the impacts on nature that the planners have brought about. Let us consider for a moment the drama of globalisation that has been occurring in the world today - is this not similar to what the poet has described in early lines? The taming of nature. The refining of angles and correction of landscape to bend it to our needs and wants and desires - they have adverse effects, too. The most popular of these is global warming. Extinction of animal and plant species. Are we not scaring nature away? The sea has drawn back. The skies have surrendered. And we have brought this about.

Here, we also begin to have an inkling of what the poet may feel towards the planners. Consider line 7: They build and will not stop. I'm reminded immediately of a little boy sitting on the floor with his palms over his ears and his eyes tightly shut. Will. Not. Stop. They are uncontrollable, and the poet is intimidated by them. The poet is scared. The poet is frustrated and mildly annoyed at them - why won't they stop? Why must they abuse their power? How are they abusing their power? We'll find out soon enough.

·         Lines 10-12
They erase the flaws,
the blemishes of the past, knock off
useless blocks with dental dexterity.

We are introduced here to the dentistry metaphor which will be extended over the rest of this stanza.

Let us start with the enforcement of perfection. This is indicated by the two phrases: "erase the flaws" and "blemishes (knocked off)". Isn't the very definition of perfection to be without flaws? So here we understand the true objective of the planners: the achievement of perfection. They are after that idea of complete correctness and cleanness and they will eliminate everything that stands in their way.

The phrase "with dental dexterity" brings us back to the ever nostalgic dentist's chair. When we think of dentists, what do we recall? Pristine floors. Sterile equipment. (Painful check-ups...) They never leave behind any marks, much like the planners. What are the planners getting rid of, though? What is the planners' equivalent of a bad cavity?

The blemishes of the past. According to the planners, our past is not something to learn from but something to be embarrassed of. Isn't that why they are erasing the buildings of the past? Knocking them off. Cleanly. Leaving no trace behind. Perhaps this is what the poet has qualms with. This is what ticks off the poet - the mission of the planners to forget, forget, forget.

·         Lines 13-16
All gaps are plugged
with gleaming gold.
The country wears perfect rows
of shining teeth.

More of that dentistry metaphor! Lovely.

These four lines mainly reinforce the perfection-crazed characteristic of the planners. Not only have they knocked off  the old, perhaps ugly or uneven structures of the past, but they have replaced them with something almost other-worldly.

The empty spaces that the old pieces of architecture had left behind (gaps) have been filled up (plugged) with newer, more developed and standing out upgrades (gleaming gold).

The country wears perfect rows of shining teeth. The planners are the dentist, and the country is their set of decaying teeth. It is their job to fix it now. The phrase 'rows of shining teeth' probably refers to the city skyline, which is made of buildings not quite of the same size (some up, others down) zig-zagging across the sky haphazardly but, still, neatly. The word 'teeth' is an animal attribute, and when it is used in describing the city, it makes the city seem alive. Additionally, the word shining used in correlation with teeth feels like an exaggeration (buildings can't shine?) which reinforces the idea of perfection that the planners are desperately after.

Last bit: gold teeth? They look out of place, do they not? Much like the new buildings which, even though they look good in the landscape, still feet out of place and unfamiliar to the poet.

·         Lines 17-20
Anaesthesia, amnesia, hypnosis.
They have the means.
They have it all so it will not hurt,
so history is new again.

I will explore in great detail the significance of Line 17 to the rest of the poem, in my next post which is an essay to the question "How Does Boey Kim Cheng convey his attitude towards the planners in his poem The Planners?"

This bunch of lines conveys heavily what Boey Kim Cheng feels towards the planners. A sense of helplessness, he is robbed of the power to respond to the changes that are being made around him.

It is a very powerful line of the poem: they have it all so it will not hurt. He sounds so defenceless and vulnerable here.

Consider the context of line 20 (so history is new again.) They have the means to erase memory, to hypnotize and completely control, and they have the means to rob away pain. And so history is new again. They have completely erased the blemishes of the past - a project previously referenced to in line 11. The planners have, in a way, rewritten history. It is a paradox in itself - how can history be new, when all that is of historical importance is a thing of the past? We are given the impression that the planners are writing their own version of history, and this is what the poet has a problem with.

More to follow about these lines in my next post - stay tuned! #StopSelfPromotion2k14

·         Lines 21-23
The piling will not stop.
The drilling goes right through
the fossils of last century.

And that's how far they are willing to dig. Through the fossils of last century. The piling will not stop - this enforces the fact that progress is so ingrained in our heads that we can't help but continue. And soon enough, anything (fossils) that connect us to the past (last century) will be gone.

·         Lines 24-27
But my heart would not bleed

poetry. Not a single drop

to stain the blueprint

of our past's tomorrow.

This is where the poet admits that even if he could, he would not interrupt with the progress made by the planners. He will not let sentimentality escape him in the form of his poetry, which he likens to blood falling onto blueprints. Blood which, evidently, leaves a stain on the plans that the planners have already prepared for the future of the country. Lastly, the last line contains the oxymoron "past's tomorrow" which exemplifies the fact that we are already living in the future.

And this stanza makes us wonder - despite the poet's qualms with the planners, perhaps he is too intimidated, or detached, or even lazy, to bother making a difference.

My next post will be an essay to the topic "How Does Boey Kim Cheng convey his attitude towards the planners in his poem The Planners?" This is a very popular question with regards to this poem, so I took a shot at answering it. Additionally, I will be analysing the poem The City Planners by Margaret Atwood in the near future. This is a poem that is heavily compared with The Planners by Boey Kim Cheng so I will write a comparative essay regarding these two, too.

Stay tuned!
BioKrys