Task 2: We slept with our Boots on

Hey all,

  Basically, as I have mentioned earlier, this poem shares about the poets' (most likely) first-hand experience of him fighting for his country. It is a indeed pretty accurate description of the scene during war, with gory scenes of death mixed with tough and testing times for the soldiers. More importantly, it emphasises the haplessness of these soldiers, with this particular quote, "you do what you have to do, with that I will say no more" hinting that these soldiers might be unwilling to do what they actually do, but they do it anyway for the "greater good", which in this case refers to their country.

  Firstly, the poet takes a first person POV, making everything that he describes seem much more realistic as we readers have the impression that the author, or to some extent even ourselves, is experiencing the things taking place. The setting of the poem is a battlefield, where the situation is like a typical war setting, where there are gory scenes such as death and blood and and a tense atmosphere, as seen from the fact that the soldiers "slept with our boots on" so they would be able to react in the fastest possible time should there be a need to. This emphasises the fact that one small mistake will lead to a disastrous outcome, and that every second counts. This, in turn, creates the tense atmosphere present.

   There are a few literary devices used in the poem by the poet. Firstly, alliteration. There is one significant usage of alliteration in the poem, and that is the phrase "from house to cave, to car to creek". the repeated usage of the "c" sound at the beginning of each of the three words (cave, car and creek) emphasises the fact that the poet's platoon fought war practically everywhere at many different places, making it seem that war is an unavoidable happening. Also, there is a repeated use of the word "and" in the phrase "I kept pulling the trigger and reloading and pulling some more" instead of divinding it into two respective phrases so as to emphasise the fact that the poet kept firing his gun, likely out of fear or desperation in my opinion. Thus, this brings out the scary side of war and instills in us a sense of fear towards war, something that will prevent us from seeking to start another war, which is exactly what the poet had in mind when he wrote this poem.

  There is also good usage of contrast in the poem demonstrated in lines 23 and 24, where the poet compares "hell and god" and "beauty and terror". He is probably linking beauty to god and hell to terror, and as he was climbing  up a "steep mountain" at that time, he was most likely describing the arduous journey as "hell" and as he was on a high mountain, he could be considered "close to god" too. He probably writes this to emphasise the fact that war is terrible and that soldiers suffer horribly during war, as we readers will be appalled by how such terrible things can be so near to heaven, a place where we normally assosciate with peacefulness. The word "drunkard" also emphasises how the author might actually detest war but had no choice but to fight in it,
so he "drinks" so as to be able to forget about his guilt when he kills others.

  Lastly, the poem is in the form of free verse, making it seem rather messy and untidy. This is very similar to war as battlefields are areas of mass confusion.
 

Task 1: We slept with our Boots on

Hey all,
  
Firstly, a brief introduction of the poet, Steve Carlsen. Surprisingly, he actually wrote his poems, including this poem, pretty recently, just a few years back to be exact. Apparently, from the sources on the web,apart from exeriencing the US army's tough training regime, he experienced combat operations first-hand when he was sent to Afghanistan to fight. He was encouraged by his then-professor (or he might still be, as this source was written quite a while ago and hence I am unable to determine whether he is still under the guidance of this professor) Dr Michael Collins to share his experiences by writing about them.

Basically, Steve Carlsen is writing about the struggles of hapless soldiers that are sent to fight by their respective countries. He expresses this through various means in the poem. He talks about the "hell" these soldiers have to go through when they are on duty for their country, sharing about what they were required to do when they were fighting such as the arduous journey they had to put up with, giving us a better understanding of how soldiers' lives are like during war. Also, like many other war poets, he also describes the devastation war causes, the first few sentences of his poem already depicting a scene full of gore and violence.

I will be sharing my view and analysis of the poem in the second part of this post later.Look out for the next post. Tata

ACSI and SA brawl: What we can take away

Hey all,
  Recently in the news, there has been a rather surprising amount of coverage on the match between ACSI and SA. Never have I seen such mass media coverage of that match. However, sadly, it is not because the players played a great match at a frantic pace etc, but rather it is due to one incident after the match that marred the whole match and possibly the whole tournament. Yes, indeed, I am talking about the mass brawl, where apparently not only students, but parents got involved too. And yes, should you be lost at this point, you must have been living under the Earth for the past month.

  So, what apparently happened? well, an SA player was alleged to have punched a ACSI player, an incident that sparked the mass brawl. Of course, that is only one side of the story. The SA player claims that the ACSI player insulted him badly, and might have even been the one who showed the first signs of aggresion. Furthermore, as though the on-pitch fighting was not enough to settle their urge to throw punches and hurl insults, two ACSI boys were assaulted at the busstop nearby, this time by a group of SA boys. Sad to say, this unimaginable incident did happen, and now we are left to reflect on what has become of sport.

  In this current world, surely sport has become too competitive? Since when has one taken part in sport "only to win, and to win at all cost"? However, looking at it, that is the case currently. As though attempts to cheat in sports are not enough, unsportsman-like behaviour occurs when players lose. Fighting, hurling insults, ranting at umpires, just to name a few. Have we forgotten what the true meaning of sport is? This incident surely raises a few questions about whether the true meaning of sport is instilled in us sportmen.

  Sport is merely an enjoyment, a pastime that many enjoy. Competition breeds progress, and these so-called friendly competitions between schools are suppose to inspire and motivate each and every sportsman to improve one's own abilities. However, students are also hard-pressed to do well in these competitions, by parents, coaches and teachers. This might be the root of the problem. This determination to win has gone a step too far due to the pressure to produce results, and hence all this unsportsmen-like behaviour starts surfacing. So, what can be done to counter this alarming growing trend?

  Firstly, coaches should make it a point to educate students on not only the importance of striving for victory, but being gracious in accepting defeat. Also, coaches and schools should recognise those that have really gave it their all in both practices and matches, instead of rewarding only those who perform exceptionally well as "trying your best at all times" is a great value.  By doing so, I think such apalling acts that disgrace sport will no longer be witnessed.

  We must act before it is too late, and sport begins it rapid descent from a pastime that improves ones moral values to a pastime that only trains ones fitness, and nothing else.

World Cup Deal: The underlying issue

Hey all,
  So finally, after months of negotiating, Singapore has secured the rights to broadcast the FIFA World Cup, after the stubborn FIFA had finally decreased their asking price. The thought of Singapore being World-Cup free was simply unbelievable, but in truth it was a very possible situation. Now, Singaporeans are celebrating that we are going to have the World Cup being broadcast in Singapore. Question is, why are we celebrating such a seemingly trivial thing, as each edition of the World Cup has been broadcasted in Singapore?

  Look no further than FIFA. Basically, they have simply lost their way. As though refusing to implement video replays was not enough, they tried to charge us, a country of a population of four million, the same amount as comparatively much bigger countries like our neighbours, Malaysia. The fact that despite Singtel and Starhub attempted to explain to them the issue that the World Cup deal, in this case, would either generate a huge loss for them or a huge hole in viewer's pocket, FIFA still remained firm on their stance that we should pay that fixed amount really emphasises how they have lost their way. FIFA is supposed to be in charge of promoting football, the beautiful game. By pricing us Singaporeans out of watching the FIFA World Cup, how can that be considered promoting football? Their greediness has simply gotten the better of them. In this world where people pay huge sums of money to broadcast football competition like the EPL, FIFA wants to follow suit and gain as much as possible from the most popular sporting event globally. Another example how money has overwhelmed some? Certainly.

  So, had FIFA not finally decreased their asking price, should we Singaporeans have accepted their stance and simply paid up? Certainly not. By doing so, we have released a statement that FIFA have won, and we have all but surrendered to their might. FIFA will no doubt be encouraged to continue their money-minded actions, thinking that they will always be the victors. Certainly, we, and other countries, should not be held ransom by FIFA.

  So now, what is the result of this delay in obtaining the rights to broadcast the FIFA World Cup? Well, firstly, there is less time to find sponsors. Some sponsors have reportedly been put off by the fact that Singtel and Starhub have been unable to confirm whether they would be broadcasting the FIFA World Cup, and they have decided to make do with the loss of this advertisement opportunity by pulling out. And what does this result in? Once again, it either results in Singtel and Starhub losing money, or we having to fork out more money to enjoy the World Cup from the comforts of our home.

   Looking forward now, it is hard to imagine what will be the situation at the next World Cup in 2014. FIFA increasing the price for broadcasting rights? Almost a certainty. We missing the 2014 FIFA World Cup? A distinct possibility. FIFA being at fault? A forgone conclusion. There is no doubt where the finger-pointing for this mess should be directed to: None other than FIFA, the footballing body.