The Planners Appreciation and Explanation 11th Class Maharashtra State Board
The poem, The Planners is written by a Singapore – born Australian poet Boey Kim Cheng. It is the last poem of class 11th Maharashtra State board. The poem will be asked to write an appreciation for 4 marks and to solve the activities on the stanzas of the poem for 10 marks.
Let’s learn about the poem The Planners.
Introduction: The Planners Appreciation and Explanation
- Boey Kim Cheng (born in 1965) is a Singapore – born Australian poet. He is of Chinese descent. He is widely regarded as one of the most promising Singapore poets to emerge in the 1990s. Boey has published four collections of poetry. For his artistic achievements, he received the ‘National Arts Council Young Artist Award’ in 1996.
- He taught for thirteen years at the University of Newcastle in Australia. In 2016, he joined Nanyeng Technological University as an Associate Professor at its School of Humanities and is currently head of English Department. He is the co – editor of the anthology ‘Contemporary Asian Australian Poets’ published in 2014.Boye’s works are highly regarded by both the academic and writing communities in Singapore.
- The poet begins the poem by stating what the planners do. As the poem proceeds we come to know how the planners achieve what they aim for. Towards the end of the poem the poet depicts how the planning has affected the poet. Boey Kim Cheng is talking about fast – developing modern Singapore. He laments on the disturbing and loss of humane element in his surrounding.
- He becomes nostalgic about his bonding with the old city. We all can hear the echoes of his words in our own hearts when we come across such modernization around us. We may sympathise with the poet when he declares at the end of the poem that the harsh realities of modernization have numbed his heart. The free verse form of the poem is suitable to the free expressions of the poet’s feelings.
Poem: The Planners
They plan. They build. All spaces are gridded
Filled with permutations of possibilities.
The buildings are in alignment with the roads
which meet at desired points
linked by bridges all hang
in the grace of mathematics.
They build and will not stop.
Even the sea draws back
and the skies surrender.
They erase the flaws,
the blemishes of the past, knock off
useless blocks with dental dexterity.
All gaps are plugged
with gleaming gold.
The country wears perfect rows
of shining teeth.
Anaesthesia, amnesia, hypnosis.
They have the means.
They have it all so it will not hurt.
so history is new again.
The piling will not stop.
The drilling goes right through
the fossils of last century.
But my heart would not bleed
poetry. Not a single drop
to stain the blueprint
of our past’s tomorrow.
Glossary:
permutation : a variation in the order of a set of things
blemishes : a mark of fault spoiling something that is otherwise beautiful or perfect.
dexterity : skill in using one’s hands
anaesthesia: a state of controlled, temporary loss at sensation or awareness.
amnesia : lnability to remember events for a period of time.
hypnosis: A trance like state with heightened focus and concentration
fossil : the remains of an animal or a plant which have hardened into rock
blueprint : a photographic print of building plans with white lines on a blue background a detailed plan or scheme
Explanation: The Planners Appreciation and Explanation
First Stanza
They plan. They build. All spaces are gridded
Filled with permutations of possibilities.
The buildings are in alignment with the roads
which meet at desired points
linked by bridges all hang
in the grace of mathematics.
They build and will not stop.
Even the sea draws back
and the skies surrender.
- In the first stanza, the poet says that the planners of the city do plan and build the construction in a city. They fill all the empty places with all the possible ways as they plan in different variations. They properly connect the buildings with the proper distance of the roads which meet as their desired points. They linked two sides by bridges all hang and they do such things only because of the grace of mathematics.
- But the poet says that they build whatever comes in their plan and do not stop the construction until they finish it and this is continuously going on. Because of this, even nature put the hand off in front of them. The planners started to build in the area of sea that’s why the poet tells that even the sea draws back because of their construction. They plan skyscrapers (heightened buildings) and due to that the skies surrender to their plan.
Second stanza:
They erase the flaws,
the blemishes of the past, knock off
useless blocks with dental dexterity.
All gaps are plugged
with gleaming gold.
The country wears perfect rows
of shining teeth.
Anaesthesia, amnesia, hypnosis.
They have the means.
They have it all so it will not hurt.
so history is new again.
The piling will not stop.
The drilling goes right through
the fossils of last century.
- In the second stanza, the poet talks about how the city planners remove the flaws the blemishes from the old construction. Here the poet compares city planners with a dentist. The planners remove the old buildings from the city area just like a dentist removes the useless blocks (teeth) with great skills (dexterity) and all the gaps are filled by them with shining new construction just like the dentist who removes the useless teeth from the mouth and fill the gap of teeth with gleaming gold teeth and after that, the rows of teeth looking attractive. The planners do the same as a dentist as they fill the gaps with new attractive construction of a building.
- The dentist gives anesthesia to remove the sensation to operate on the patient and to control the patient. By this the dentist hypnosis the patient for the perfect treatment in the same way the planners do for the citizen by their new and attractive construction the people forget whatever earlier is and by their plan they bring such a stage that they control the emotions of the people just like the hypnotize that is why the poet tells that the planners have such things just like the dentist who uses such things to operate the patient, in the same way, the planners have the means and they have it all so the people will not hurt because they see the new and shiny construction in the replace of old so the planners have such tact to control the emotions of the people.
- So the poet tells that by the new construction from the old, there becomes new history and this piling is going on and will not stop. This continuous process is going on through drilling and fossils of old things come and open up for new construction.
Third stanza:
But my heart would not bleed
poetry. Not a single drop
to stain the blueprint
of our past’s tomorrow.
- In the last stanza, the poet expresses his grief about the fast modernization and urbanization. The poet says that his heart became numb due to the fast modernization and urbanization. He says that his heart would not bleed the poetry means he will not get any inspiration to write the poetry because of the fast modernization and urbanization, the nature is destroyed by the action plan of the planners.
- But in the end, the poet says that not a single drop stains the blueprint of our past’s tomorrow. He wants to tell us that the effect of fast modernization and urbanization will not stain the blueprint of our history’s future.
Appreciation: The Planners Appreciation and Explanation
- About the poem/ poet/ title:
The poem is written by the great poet Boey Kim Cheng a Singapore – born Australian poet. The title of the poem is suitable for the theme of the poem which is the planners and the poet talks about the city planners, and how they plan and build according to their plan of action. The poem is about the city planners who plan and build as they desired without concern for nature. They destroy the natural heritage of the city area and build new construction.
- Theme:
The theme of the poem is about the planners, especially the city planners. The poet wants to tell how the planners achieve what they aim for. The planners plan and build everything and because of their actions how the place is losing its uniqueness and its historical Heritage finally, the poet depicts how this urbanization has affected him so that it has numbed him.
The poet compares the planners with a dentist as the dentist skillfully works to operate on the patient. In the same way, the planners without hurting the emotion of the city people remove the heritage of the old building and build new construction over it.
- Poetic devices:
The poem is written in a free verse form which is suitable for the free expression of the poet’s feelings. The poet used Alliteration, personification, Metaphor, Oxymoron, and Paradox to increase the beauty of the poem and to show his inner feelings about how city planners work for their intention.
- Value/ Message:
The value/ message of the poem is that we do not work only for our desire, see whether our plan will not hurt others. In the poem, the poet wants to tell us due to fast modernization and urbanization nature and our old heritage should not be destroyed.
- Your opinion about the poem:
I truly feel the pain of the poet’s inner grief due to the planner’s plan and their work in the city area. The poem is a true inspiration to me. We understand that the poet wants to suggest the powerful dominance of the planners who shape the town according to their selfish desires.
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