The Planners
Short Questions
1. Who is the poet of “The Planners”?
Answer: Boey Kim Cheng.
2. What is the main theme of the poem?
Answer: Modernization and its impact on nature and history.
3. What does the word “they” refer to in the poem?
Answer: The planners or developers.
4. What award did Boey Kim Cheng receive in 1996?
Answer: National Arts Council Young Artist Award.
5. Where was Boey Kim Cheng born?
Answer: Singapore.
6. What does “gridded” mean in the poem?
Answer: Arranged in a grid or organized pattern.
7. What is the “blueprint” mentioned in the poem?
Answer: A plan for the future city.
8. What does the poet compare the city to in the poem?
Answer: A set of perfect teeth.
9. What is “anaesthesia” in the context of the poem?
Answer: Numbing the pain of change.
10. What is “amnesia” in the poem?
Answer: Forgetting the past.
11. What does “hypnosis” symbolize in the poem?
Answer: Being controlled or influenced by planners.
12. What does the poet lament in the poem?
Answer: Loss of history and human connection.
13. What form does the poem follow?
Answer: Free verse.
14. What do the planners erase in the poem?
Answer: Flaws and blemishes of the past.
15. What is the poet’s tone in the poem?
Answer: Sarcastic and nostalgic.
Long Questions
1. Why does the poet feel nostalgic in “The Planners”?
Answer: The poet misses the old city and its human connections. Modernization has erased familiar landmarks and history.
2. How do the planners change the city in the poem?
Answer: They build perfect, mathematical structures and remove old flaws. They replace natural and historical elements with modern designs.
3. What is the significance of the dentistry metaphor in the poem?
Answer: The planners fix the city like dentists fix teeth, making it perfect but artificial. This shows their control and loss of authenticity.
4. Why does the poet mention “anaesthesia, amnesia, hypnosis”?
Answer: These terms show how planners numb, erase, and control people’s memories. They make modernization painless but disconnect people from the past.
5. How does the poet describe the planners’ attitude toward nature?
Answer: The planners dominate nature, making the sea retreat and skies surrender. They prioritize development over the natural environment.
6. What does the poet mean by “my heart would not bleed poetry”?
Answer: The poet feels emotionally numb due to modernization. He cannot express his grief through poetry anymore.
7. How does the poem reflect the conflict between progress and tradition?
Answer: The planners’ modern designs erase history for progress. This destroys the poet’s connection to the past and tradition.
8. Why is the poem written in free verse form?
Answer: Free verse allows the poet to express his emotions freely. It mirrors the unstructured grief over the loss of the old city.
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