The Planners

Question 1

Who is the author of The Planners?

AND Is there any background context attached to this poem?

Answer 1

• Boey Kim Cheng
• Born in Australia but brought up in Singapore, experienced urbanisation at an astonishing rate as he grew up. ‘Always felt displaced growing up in Singapore’

Question 2

What are the central themes of The Planners?

Answer 2

• Urbanisation
• Eroding Culture
• Corporations

Question 3

Suggest an introduction for The Planners.

Question 4

What is the rhyme scheme of The Planners?

Answer 4

• Free Verse = Perhaps alluding to his preference for freedom against urbanisation

Question 5

How does Cheng powerfully convey ideas about urbanisation in the poem The Planners?

Evidence # 1

4 pieces of evidence recommended

Answer 5

• ‘They plan. They build. All spaces are gridded’
• ‘They’ = Impersonal dehumanising pronoun sugesting anonymity – facelessness, that the planners are soulless coporate entities
• Caesura = Creates an abrupt tone, suggesting single-minded nature of planners
• ‘Gridded’ = Restrictions and limitations and juxtaposing freer image of ‘spaces’, perhaps this is the poet’s criticism of urbanisation

Question 6

How does Cheng powerfully convey ideas about urbanisation in the poem The Planners?

Evidence # 2

4 pieces of evidence recommended

Answer 6

• ‘filled with permutations of possibilities’
• ‘Possibilities’ = Hopefulness of urban spaces as they provide a plethora of opportunities for people
• Plosive = Frustrated tone, indicating speaker’s anger and resentment

Question 7

How does Cheng powerfully convey ideas about urbanisation in the poem The Planners?

Evidence # 3

4 pieces of evidence recommended

Answer 7

• ‘They build and will not stop. Even the sea draws back and the skies surrender.’
• ’.’ / End-stopped declarative = Sense of finality – there is no way that anyone can pressure developers to stop building
• ‘Surrender’ = Commentary on detrimetnal effect of man on nature, personifying sea as ‘surrendering’, suggesting that man is at war with nature, and is succeeding in controlling and destroying nature

Question 8

How does Cheng powerfully convey ideas about urbanisation in the poem The Planners?

Evidence # 4

4 pieces of evidence recommended

Answer 8

• ‘The country wears perfect rows of shining teeth, anaesthesia, amnesia, hypnosis’
• ‘Gleaming gold’ = Emphasises on semantic field of newness and value, showing now the country is prevailing over its past with new money
• ‘Teeth’ = Metaphor of dentists/ patients for the planners’ roles, suggesting clinical and impersonal buildings that swap character for perfection. Buildings just like ‘teeth’ are perfect but fake
• ‘Anaesthesia, amnesia, hypnosis’ = Asyndetic listing emphasising unstoppable nature of change that this new planning brings about, as commas create a feeling of an onslaught; Semantic choices of numbness, allowing others to control your thoughts and actions, also connoting blocking out pain for mental trauma

Question 9

What is your personal response for The Planners?

OR How can the ending of The Planners be interpreted?

Answer 9

Cheng not only criticises faceless modern bureaucracy by purposefully anonymising planners, to reflect the fact that ordinary people never get to see who these corporate entities actually are, but also by asking readers to consider effect of urbanisation on culture (‘Our past’s tomorrow’ / Paradoxical = Today? Does it imply that today belongs to the past and we can never truly escape it?)