Report to Wordsworth by Boey Kim Cheng
How is his anxiousness for the environment shown?
In Report to Wordsworth, by Boey Kim Cheng, the writer is evidently anxious about the state of the environment and the lack of care and effort put in by humans to change it. He clearly feels that this in an important issue and more has to be done.
To start the Sonnet, Cheng says, ‘you should be here.’ This could be interpreted in two different ways, both of which have significance to the environment. It is possible that he is saying that he wants Wordsworth there with him, probably to help attempt to save the environment, or he is saying that us humans need to be with him, to enable us to understand further the effects of our actions and how we need to change. Either way, he is implying that there is a need for change. Cheng then uses literary devices, such as personification like, ‘she has been laid waste,’ in reference to nature, which is used early in the poem, increases the reader’s sympathy for nature. The early use of this means that we have this feeling for the majority of the poem. He also uses similes, such as the, ‘sky slowing like a dying clock,’ which emphasises the destruction of nature caused by man. From this as well, we can imagine a dark skyline, which has been caused by pollution.
