a death in the ward(chan bao qiong, johnny voo kai lik, lau chin chin)
TRANSCRIPT
Poetry Explication
By:Chan Bao QiongJohnny Voo Kai LikLau Chin Chin
A Death in The Ward
By Wong Phui Nam
Let Us Know The Poet…
Wong Phui Nam
• Date of Birth : September 1935 • Place of birth : Kuala Lumpur• Education :– early in two Chinese schools in Kuala
Lumpur's Chinatown. –Batu Road School– Victoria Institution in 1949–University of Malaya in Singapore for a BA
(Hons) in Economics
• Occupations:–Assistant Controller of the Industrial
Development Division of the Ministry of Commerce in Kuala Lumpur– joined the Malaysian International
Merchant Banking Ltd
• After he retired in 1989,–he wrote a poetry column for The New
Straits Times and taught briefly at a private college. –He is now a training and marketing
consultant in a private company.
Background of Poet
• When Phui Nam was four years old, his mother died of kidney failure.
• His father died five years later in April 1944, during the Japanese Occupation.
• These had affect him a lot in his early writing.
In Poetry…
• had dabbled in poetry while at the V.I. but had not shown his works to anyone.
• was inspired by the Singapore poet Edwin Thumboo who had just published his first work Rib of Earth
• edited the student journal The New Cauldron
Dabble in- take part in an activity in a casual or superficial way.
• later chiefly responsible for two anthologies Litmus One: – Selected University Verse, 1949-1957 – Thirty Poems
• Most of the poems Phui Nam wrote during the sixties first appeared in Bunga Emas, an anthology of Malaysian literature edited by fellow Victorian T. Wignesan.
• 1968:–They were subsequently collected in
book form and published as How the Hills are Distant (Tenggara Supplement) by the Department of English, University of Malaya.
• 1970s & the early 1980s:– remained relatively silent
• 1989:–2nd volume Remembering Grandma and
Other Rumours was published by the English Department, National University of Singapore.
• 1993:–His Ways of Exile was published by Skoob.
• Phui Nam's poems have appeared in –Seven Poets– The Second Tongue–The Flowering Tree–Young Commonwealth Poets '65–Poems from India, Sri Lanka, Singapore
and Malaya
Synopsis
• The poem is about
–A death occurred in a ward–The writer witness a death when
he was admitted in the hospital
• First Stanza–The old Manickam gave up to
continue survive.• Second Stanza–The condition before Manickam
died–He kept on retching.(make the sound
and movement of vomiting)
• Third Stanza–The writer was admitted in the
ward, together with old Manickam• Fourth Stanza–The writer was admitted in the
hospital because he got jaundice.–He did not want to be in the ward. –It told the time, that is on 6 p.m.
• Fitfh Stanza–Decribes the acts of medical
personnel on Manickam’s death• Sixth Stanza–The writer imagined he was dead
and wondered the condition during his death–Describes the condition after
Manickam’s death
• Seventh Stanza–Describes the scene in the ward in the
morning– The writer however hoped to continue
survive.• Eighth Stanza– The writer recalled back the death
happened around him.–Describe the situation during in the public
morgue.
Theme
• The MAIN theme:–The sufferance of old folk to face their
death• They had to face with pain during
sickness• They feel despair to survive• They are worried about their death
• Sub-theme:Caring on old folk–Manickam felt hopeless to survive–His people should give support to him
Treat the dead people in good manner– The medical personnel do not to be gentle
to Manickam’s body after he died– They should not have that attidude
Setting
• Place:–Ward in a hospital–Public morgue
• Time:–Before and after 6 p.m.
Point of view
• First Person of view
– “All day I dreamt fitfully, laid out in bed.”
(3rd stanza 1st line)– He express his feeling and thoughts when he was
admitted in the hospital.
Poetry Devices
• Pattern• Personification• Imagery• Symbols• Metaphor• Hyperbole
Pattern
• Has 8 stanzas• 4 lines in each stanza = Quantrain• Free style • Free rhythm• Tone = sorrow
Personification
• A process of assigning human characteristics to non-human objects
• Examples:– “All of his sixty-seven years were locked
inside his skull.” (2nd stanza, 3rd and 4th lines)– “The fluorescent lamps from their high ceiling
hurt our eyes.”(3rd stanza, 2nd and 3rd lines)
Imagery• Images, pictures or sensory content which find
in a poem• Examples:– “…useless match-sticks of his legs.”(1st stanza, 3rd and 4th lines) –Match-sticks of his legs = his legs are as thin
as match-sticks, give us visual of old Manickam’s legs
–“…We were clay-skinned…”(3rd stanza, 3rd line)
–Clay-skinned = our skin like the clay the skin is as rough as the
clay
Symbolism
• A thing that represents or stands for something else
• Examples:– “…We were clay-skinned, great deformed
caterpillars”(3rd stanza, 3rd line)– “…the splendour of the breaking light at a dawn,
of the spirit newly risen.”(7th stanza, 3rd and 4th lines)
• clay-skinned – the poet and Manickam were old
• great deformed caterpillars– The poet and Manickam were very weak
• the splendour of the breaking light at a dawn–hope
Metaphor
• Compares one thing to another directly• When the poet uses metaphor, he or she will
transfer the qualities and associations of one object to another so that it is more vivid.
• Examples:
– “Sunk among dry sheetsHe began to give up on the useless match-sticksof his legs.”
(1st stanza, 2nd until 4th lines)
~Manickam felt hopeless to continue his life.
– “We were clay-skinned, great deformed caterpillars”
(3rd stanza, 3rd line)
~Both the poet and Manickam were old and weak.
– “I dreamt I rose beating moth-like against the window panes.”(4th stanza, 3rd line)
~The poet did not want to be in the ward.
Hyperbole
• It is one of speech that are entirely exaggerated in order to make a point
• Examples:– “We were clay-skinned…”(3rd stanza, 3rd line)– “-how it stank to high heaven!”(8th stanza, 4th line)
Moral Values
• Caring– We should care about sick old folk and encourage
them to continue their life.• Respect– We should respect the dead people by to be
gentle on their body.• Take care on our health– We should always take good care on ourselves so
that we would not get sick easily, unlike the poet and Manickam