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Analysis Of Boey Kim Cheng's 'Ahead My Father Moves'

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Literature has always been more than an academic pursuit to me; it fuels my yearning to further understand the human condition. I cannot separate my understanding of myself from my fervour for literature, and I similarly believe that the beauty of literature is that writers inevitably includes a part of themselves in their writing. This is the beauty of literature, which allows me to achieve a deeper connection with the characters that they have crafted with their life experiences. I have had the privilege of viewing the world in the differing yet meaningful perspectives of each author, and this is the power that literature grants the reader.

I am especially fond of poetry because its diversity of forms and styles allow for distinctive expressions of emotion. My study of literature as O-Level and A-Level subjects have equipped me with the necessary technical skills to critically appreciate poetry. One of my favourite poets is Boey Kim Cheng, who is able to evoke empathy from the reader for his emotional struggles in memorialising his family and searching for his identity. His choice of language and setting is astounding; his poignant depiction of a past life with his father in olden Singapore in ‘Ahead My Father Moves’ vividly reflects his desperation to regain his father’s presence as well as his longing for a country untouched by modernisation. This poem is especially meaningful to me as it evokes both the beauty and agony of a parent’s mortality, which is made more
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