Report to Wordsworth By Boey Kim Cheng

You should be here, Nature has need for you.

She has been laid waste, Smothered by the smog,

the flowers are mute, and the birds are few

in a sky slowing like a dying clock.

Al, hopes of Proteus rising from the sea

have sunk; he is entombed in the waste

we dump. Trition's notes struggle to be free,

his famous horns are chocked, his eyes are dazed,

and Neptune lies helpless as beached as a whale,

while insatiable man moves in for the kill.

Poetry and piety have begun to fail,

As Nature's mighty heart is lying still.

O see the wound widening in the sky,

God is labouring to utter his last cry.

1.
Based on your reading of the poem, identify the picture that is in contrast to what the poet expresses.
Why does the picture you chose stand in contrast to the others?
2.
You should be here, Nature has need of you.
She has been laid waste. Smothered by the smog,
the flowers are mute, and the birds are few
in a sky slowing like a dying clock.
1. What is the poet's plea and to whom?
2. How do we know that nature is dying?
3. What is the reason for nature's slow death?
3.
Poetry and piety have begun to fail,
As nature's mighty heart is lying still.
O see the wound widening in the sky,
God is labouring to utter his last cry.
1. Why has nature's heart been referred to as 'mighty'?
2. What does 'heart lying still' denote?
3. What could 'God's last cry' symbolise?
4.
The poem mentions some problems plaguing the earth today. Identify three such problems from the poem.
5.
How is man described in the poem? Do you agree with the poet's point of view? Why / Why not?
6.
Why are poetry and piety important to the poet? What role do they play in making the world a better place?

5 more answer(s) available.

Report to Wordsworth