Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The poem is narrated in first-person perspective by an unnamed speaker.
Form and Meter
It is written in free verse and comprises of three stanzas.
Metaphors and Similes
The speaker uses cosmetic terms and dentistry as a metaphor for urban planning and construction. The architecture is compared to shining teeth, cleaned and polished with mathematical accuracy. Moreover, the narration uses the extended metaphor to refer to the mindset adopted by the masses in the modern city.
Alliteration and Assonance
An example of alliteration in the line:
“All gaps are plugged with gleaming gold.”
Irony
The speaker pinpoints the irony in modernization where planners deliberate that perfection will attain the desired utopia. However, quite the contrary, it fosters a sense of alienation and disconnection.
Genre
Satire
Setting
The poem is set in a fast developing country/city, perhaps Singapore.
Tone
Critical and Firm
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is the speaker, while the antagonists are the planners.
Major Conflict
The speaker is disapproving of the changes made by planners in a city that was once defined by nature and rich culture. He yearns for a world that maintains its imperfection rather than seeking to degrade the natural world.
Climax
The climax occurs when the narrator acknowledges that the planners have the capability of erasing the past and rewriting history.
Foreshadowing
The imagery of the detailed and gridded cityscape foreshadows the sense of alienation that the narrator harbors.
Understatement
In the last stanza, the speaker understates his sentiments regarding the changes that clearly frustrates him throughout.
Allusions
The poem alludes to the degradation of nature and the climate crisis that ravages modern society due to urbanization.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The term “blueprint” is a synecdoche for a grand plan.
Personification
“Even the sea draws back and the skies surrender.”
Hyperbole
“But my heart would not bleed poetry”
The statement is hyperbolic as the narrator emphasizes his lack of optimism for the future.
Onomatopoeia
N/A
