The poetry of personal revelation: Reviewing Cyril Wong's unmarked treasure

Jeyam, Leonard , (2006) The poetry of personal revelation: Reviewing Cyril Wong's unmarked treasure. SARE (Southeast Asian Review of English) (47). pp. 96-99.

Affiliations

University of Malaya, Dept. of English

Abstract

If both Koh Beng Liang's and Alvin Pang's last volumes of verse point outwards to a civilised, urbane Singapore, most of Cyril Wong's poetry prefers to dwell inwards, seeking inner truths about external realities. His is rarely a public poetry that yearns to be consumed by wit, artifice, and social integrity; instead the perceptions of his inner self often take centre stage.

Instead of arriving at the artifice of social, universal truths, Wong prefers to concentrate on self-extenuation and, not unlike his earlier verse, probe the fissurings of the self few are brave enough to speak about. In "Flight Dreams", for example, the persona of the poem realises that the dreams of his future cannot be realised anymore as a result of his mind's young mind discovering the undercurrents of sensuality, sexual desire, which actually help him find release from the dreams of "entrapment" his parents had for him when he was younger.

Item Type:

Journal

Keywords:

Cyril Wong's poetry, Urbane Singapore,Unmarked Treasure, English poetry, Singaporean authors

Subjects:

P Language and Literature

ID Code:

10025