My badge has a Latin motto
Hope for the future
The future is hope
Or something

At times black crows try to interrupt
When we sing the National Anthem
It is difficult to maintain
The whiteness of my shoes

Especially on Wednesdays
I must admit there is something quite special
About the bare thighs of hardworking scouts

The Malay chauffeurs
Who wait for my schoolmates
Sit on the car park kerb
Telling jokes to one another

Seven to the power of five is unreasonable
On Chinese New Year
Mrs Lee dressed up In a sarong kebaya
And sang Bengawan Solo

The capital of Singapore is Singapore
My best friend did a heroic thing once
Shaded all A’s For his Chinese Language Multiple-choice paper

In our annual yearbook
There is a photograph of me
Pushing a wheelchair and smiling
They caught me
At the exact moment
When my eyes were actually closed



1) The poet has a feeling of nostalgia for the past , even though his badge supposedly seems to emphasize "Hope For The Future." The fact that the poet still remembers tiny little details of past proves that he misses those good times and would like to relive it once again.

2) OWN POEM:

I put on a mask of annoyance
Every morning
At the start of school

Teachers often chide me
I could not help but doze off
Although work was tough
I managed to scrape through everytime

Whenever I am emotional
My friends are there for me
I still remember
The good times we had joking around

Everything must come to an end someday
And that day finally arrived
Graduation Day

All of us put on a nonchalant face
Deep down inside
Emotions were churning
We would never see each other again

Suppressing these sorrows within me
I headed home

1A109 left the world of darkness on 5:13 PM

My favourite poet is Robert Frost. Did you know that he has avidly kept notebooks throughout his life? He is also the first to win four Pulitzer prizes. One of the various literary critics once said about his poems " His work is deceptively simple, but reveals its complexity upon close reading. " This proves that Frost has an excellent command of speech. Nevertheless, his realistic depictions in his poems adds to his fame.
One of the people interviewing Frost says that Frost does not have a proper writing desk, writing table or even a writing room. He was spotted wearing plaid slippers and seated in a blue overstuffed chair that had no arms. ( This proves that Frost was humble, preferring to live ordinarily even though he was very wealthy as a writer. )
It is also said that Frost stayed up all night to write a poem " New Hampshire " and had only finished when he realised that it was dawn. ( This proves that Frost was dedicated and commited to his poems. ) Shortly after, Frost got an inspiration when he went out to view the sunrise. The poem was later known as " Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening ".
Three of Frost's most well-liked poems are:
-Acquainted With The Night
-Fire and Ice
-The Road Not Taken
Frost's way of writing has a knack for penetrating the mind and leaving a mark there. All of his pieces of work has an enigmatic trait : complexity. He is best known for his metaphors, paradoxes and the occasional humor in his writing. However, he is also capable of giving warnings about large-scale worldly problems. An example is a poem that he has written, named " The Flood ". Upon reading the poem, one can detect Frost's pessimistic views on the inevitability of war; of war depicted as a monstrous creature that humans do not willingly release from its " barrier walls ".
Frost has a distinctive way of using setting in his writing, usually set in the rural NorthEast. A factor that makes his poems so intriguing and enjoyable to read is that modern technology and happenings do not slip into his writing.
It is also interesting to know that Frost considered himself an environmentalist. In his poem " The Pasture " ; a simple and short two-stanza piece, Frost somehow manages to compress so many of the flavours of nature in just eight lines.
All in all, Robert Frost deserves his title " Best Known Poet in the 20th Century. "

----400 Words

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Frost
http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521670067
http://redravine.wordpress.com/2008/02/21/robert-frost-miles-to-go/
http://quotations.about.com/cs/poemlyrics/a/Robert_Frost.htm
http://www.thesisabstracts.com/articles/publish/printer_178.shtml

1A109 left the world of darkness on 4:41 PM

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by
,And that has made all the difference.



1) The figurative language used in this poem is Metaphoric.
The fact that "the passing there had worn them really about the same" tells us that both roads were equally travelled.
The forked road in the poem usually represents crucial decisions, free will and/or fate.
The poet, Robert Frost, anticipates his future. This can be seen from "Somewhere ages and ages hence and/or I shall be telling this with a sigh.".
The "Sigh" as mentioned in the passage symbolizes feelings of remorse.
The poem tells the reader that there is NO main path for one to take, just the path that one has chosen and supposedly, the Other path.


2) Personally, I like this poem as it subconsciously gives everybody the ability to choose. However, the ability to choose comes with a responsibility. Choices are inevitable and once one have made that particular choice, there is no turning back, and one must live life to the fullest through that path. This poem captures the hardships and uncertainties faced in one's life.
-61 Words

1A109 left the world of darkness on 4:41 PM