Literature: William Shakespeare

"Shakespeare's reputation as dramatist and poet actor is unique and he is considered by many to be the greatest playwright of all time, although many of the facts of his life remain mysterious." Such was a comment about Shakespeare from BBC.

I feel that Shakespeare is a very sophisticated and complex person who thinks very deeply. Undeniably, he also has a great command in the English language, and is capable of weaving the language into beautiful poems. Shakespeare has a deep understanding of the human mind and behavior. This is evident in the first poem, King Lear. King Lear is a tragedy about the cruelty of human nature, which includes the treacherous, selfish and wicked behavior of Man, but focuses mainly on the ungratefulness of unfilial children. King Lear is probably one of the best plays Shakespeare ever wrote. It reveals every hidden aspect of the evil nature of Man and leaves the reader in deep thought with its tragic end. Shakespeare is also rather philosophical, and loves literature a lot. The very fact that he compared the seven stages of a man to different scenes of a play is already evidence enough to reveal his poetic self. Shakespeare being philosophical can be seen from his viewing of life as a play, and the world as a stage. Being purely based on a person's point of objective, philosophy can have several loopholes sometimes, and Shakespeare also generalized the life of a man, although we know that this is not entirely true, for not everyone leads the same life. Thus it is obvious that Shakespeare's comparing a man's life to a play is purely philosophical, evident of his deep thinking. From all the below poems, especially in the third poem, one can tell Shakespeare's complex nature. The third poem was probably written when Shakespeare was in love, but even then, it is not too easy to tell so. The third poem also reveals that he is poetic.

Three poems (from poets.org):

King Lear (Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks!)

Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow! 

You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout 

Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks! 

You sulphurous and thought-executing fires, 

Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts, 

Singe my white head! 

And thou, all-shaking thunder, 

Smite flat the thick rotundity o' the world! 

Crack nature's moulds, an germens spill at once, 

That make ingrateful man!

As You Like It

All the world's a stage, 

And all the men and women merely players; 

They have their exits and their entrances, 

And one man in his time plays many parts, 

His acts being seven ages. 

At first, the infant, 

Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms. 

Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel 

And shining morning face, creeping like snail 

Unwillingly to school. 

And then the lover, 

Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad 

Made to his mistress' eyebrow. 

Then a soldier, 

Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, 

Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel, 

Seeking the bubble reputation 

Even in the cannon's mouth. 

And then the justice, 

In fair round belly with good capon lined, 

With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, 

Full of wise saws and modern instances; 

And so he plays his part. 

The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon, 

With spectacles on nose and pouch on side; 

His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide 

For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice, 

Turning again toward childish treble, pipes 

And whistles in his sound. 

Last scene of all, 

That ends this strange eventful history, 

Is second childishness and mere oblivion, 

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? 

Thou art more lovely and more temperate. 

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, 

And summer's lease hath all too short a date. 

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, 

And often is his gold complexion dimmed; 

And every fair from fair sometime declines, 

By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed; 

But thy eternal summer shall not fade, 

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, 

Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, 

When in eternal lines to 

Time thou grow'st.      

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,      

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Literature: The Road Not Taken

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. A lot of figurative language is used in this poem, but almost all of them are symbolisms, which are used from the beginning of the poem until the end. "The two roads" probably symbolize the two careers which the author could take. "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;" symbolizes the author's longing to take both careers. One road being "Grassy and wanted wear" symbolizes the career being unique and special in the author's eyes, as nobody had done that job yet."Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same" symbolizes the author realizing that the career he chose was actually not unique because many other people had also done this job. The poet chose to use a lot of symbolisms as he wanted to refrain from directly telling the readers his follies. In other words, the author wanted to mask his blunders yet express his regret to the reader."Somewhere ages and ages hence:" is a hyperbole, on the other hand. The author used the word "ages" as he wanted to make those words seem like from a fairy tale and appear to be a very long time ago, although both of them are not true.

2. I think that this poem is good as it is not straightforward or direct but requires some thought to fully understand what it actually hints at. This is because it masks much of the true content with symbolisms. This poem even has a twist at the end, as the poet lies by saying that, "I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." However, it is already known that the author is lying as he stammered, hesitating before telling the lie as seen from "and I-I". It also can be deduced using logic that the poet is lying, as the front part of his poem betrays him, along with "I shall be telling this with a sigh", as if the author really thought that the career that he chose made a difference in his life for the better, then he would not be sighing.

Nature: A Photo Montage reminiscing Pulau Semakau

Hi all,

This is a continuation of the previous Pulau Semakau posts. It is a collection of photos taken there some time back. Beneath the dull and deceivingly lifeless facade, it is actually home to more than what the mind can picture. Enjoy!

This little critter here is a fiddler crab, and is a male, no prizes for guessing correctly. Its right claw is rather large and brightly coloured, but not quite as beautiful as that of some other fiddler crabs which I had seen before. Some of such crabs are home at the beaches of Pasir Ris park. This crustacean here was scurrying along on the mud near some mangrove trees. Fiddler crabs are more terrestrial than aquatic when fully grown but cannot climb well, unlike their mangrove companions, the vinegar crabs.

First picture from the top : A fiddler crab, barely outside its burrow, prepares to scuttle back to safety should there be any imminent danger.

Second picture from the top: A close-up picture of a fiddler crab, showing the stalked eyes and the predominantly larger right claw.

Here is an upside-down jellyfish, which the guide scooped up from the water into a plastic container and released back into the mudflats later. It is quite cute, appears soft, is a not-very-vibrant brown and white, has a very mild sting and sucked and pushed water in and out of its bell furiously (in a rather fruitless attempt to move) when confined in the container. It camouflages quite well in its natural environment, as seen in the above picture.

Do you think that the mudflats are home to only shells and crabs? In reality, the answer is no, of course not! The biodiversity in mudflats is quite rich, and the people who are in charge of catching or pointing out interesting animals (which they caught or found) to the visitors managed to capture this snapping shrimp. Is it not obvious why the snapping shrimp obtained its name? It is just called so because it makes snapping noises! These noises the snapping shrimp makes using its enlarged claw which is specially meant for that purpose. A snap from that claw creates enough pressure to kill small fish and can create a loud clicking noise. I heard much of those clicking later on in the walk, but I could not find any shrimp. Those invertebrates were probably snapping away in the luxury of their burrows, which were difficult to find in the muddy waters. Immediately after this shrimp slightly longer than my middle finger was released, it disappeared into the seagrass and muddy water in less than two seconds.

First picture from the top: A species of snapping shrimp that resides in the mudflats. Note the noticeably larger snapping claw.

Second picture from the top: Some seagrass and a little snail atop it. This particular species of snapping shrimp hides amidst the seagrass.

I am sure that all of you know this organism. To the Chinese, it is a delicacy, one of the "山珍海 味" that is eaten during the Chinese New Year. This is one of the several species of sea cucumber, known as the ocellated sea cucumber or the eye-spotted sea cucumber. (Yes, it is harvested for food.) Compared with the other fauna I mentioned earlier, this one is a "colossus", being slightly shorter than the length of my entire forearm and hand. Obviously, this lazy creature did not need to be caught, for it was too large and too slow, rendering the small plastic container obsolete. This sea cucumber, like many others of its species, is somewhat soft, but has a bumpy texture. It squirmed (though very slowly) a little at the foreign stroking of its skin by many fascinated visitors and made no move to defend itself.

I suppose all of you recognize this animal. It falls under the class of brainless echinoderms (literally!) and it is none other than the common starfish, more accurately called the common sea star. Not all starfishes are vibrant and colourful, and this starfish that is a resident of mudflats is such an example. On noticing a starfish atop the mud, I was very excited-that is, until I discovered that there were tonnes (metaphorically) more of them lying hidden beneath or half-buried in the mud. Many of them were seemingly mating, and there were numerous pairs of sea stars, with one above the other. As sea stars undergo external fertilization, they do not actually mate but just release their eggs and sperm into the water. Starfish use sea water to substitute their blood, and thus I learnt that it was very stressful when they are taken out of the water, for they would not be able to move if so. Unfortunately I learnt that only after the trip. Luckily I placed the starfish back to their original position after touching them.

Second picture from the top: A starfish turned upside down. Note the small tube feet sticking out of the grooves in the middle of the arms.

First and second picture from the bottom: Two sea stars "mating".

The above pictures show a type of gastropod, which is a family that includes slugs and snails. It falls under the class of molluscs. This organism is either a marine flatworm, a nudibranch or a sea hare, all of which are less commonly known invertebrates. I do not think that it is a flatworm, for I feel that flatworms should be flatter than this and be more oval in shape. This gastropod could possibly be a sea hare, but sea hares appear to be of a different colour and much "hairier". There is also a possibility that it might be a nudibranch. Being unfamiliar with these types of molluscs, I am not too sure of this creature's identity. However, I can remember that it was placed into a plastic container for our convenience in observation and photo taking.

This organism, as all of you can tell too easily, is a shell. But what type of shell exactly is it? This shell, according to the Pulau Semakau brochure, is a noble volute. A noble volute is no small shell that you can easily pick up and bring home without arousing suspicion from anyone, but is a fairly large mollusc that is several centimeters longer than my entire hand. Usually, noble volutes do not appear especially beautiful or attractive as they are covered in mud, algae, etc., or rather basically anything which can help to camouflage them from us horrible humans (no offense to any homo sapien who is reading this, ha ha!). Scrape away the grime and dirt on the outside, and there lies the true appearance of the noble volute: a beautiful marbled pattern that makes you feel like smuggling it home. And what may be the identity of the peculiar clump of translucent whitish objects beside the shell? Well, those are eggs of the parent noble volute! Surprised? I never thought that such large and weird looking eggs could belong to this shell too. I actually thought that they were some type of odd plant at the first glance...

First, third and fourth picture from the top: A parent noble volute lies with its eggs. Note how large the eggs are in comparison to its parents.

Second and third picture from the top: The noble volute actually has beautiful brown markings on its green shell that greatly resemble marble.

In a plastic container, our group finds a scallop. Scallops are bivalves and can be much more beautiful than this. They can be a bright orange in colour, as proven from the specimens which my brother and I collected a long time back. This scallop was stubbornly immobile, like many other types of shells, although it can move quite quickly, relatively speaking.

We also found this heart cockle in the waters. Not taking its size into consideration, it is quite noticeable, judging by its unique shape and colouration. It really resembles a heart very well, and is a rather delightful shell. It can easily fit into my palm. I never knew about this species of mollusc before I went for the intertidal walk.

This small gastropod, probably a marine flatworm for it has no external gills, was found crawling along on the mud underwater. Marine flatworms are generally faster than nudibranchs and have no external gills. Only a handful of flatworms are not parasites and are free-living. What a pity, for marine flatworms are quite colourful and interesting molluscs.

I think that you should know what this organism is, but unfortunately the photographs aren't exactly of the best quality, so, my apologies. You might raise your eyebrows in disbelief, but this really is a cuttlefish. It was a small juvenile around the length of my middle finger, and was placed in a pail. Cuttlefish really are great colour-changers, and this one displayed its skill right before my eyes by turning into a much darker hue in less than three seconds when I put my hand inside the water. The cuttlefish, petrified at this "mysterious-alien-which-appeared-from-the-sky", let out several small jets of ink, which slightly darkened the water.

Good-quality pictures at last! The first picture depicts some soft corals. Soft corals grow much faster than hard corals as they lack an exoskeleton. Most of the corals you see in aquariums or brochure pictures about the Great Barrier Reef are hard corals. The hard coral in the second picture is a brain coral.

And walking on, our group discovered several knobbly starfish, large reddish-pinkish sea stars that are the mascots of Chek Jawa. They were rather heavy, being several kilograms in weight and from arm tip to arm tip measured over 30cm.

And so I shall end this photo montage with the icon of the mudflats. See you until my next post!

Issues: The Integrated Resort's Whale Shark

Hello everybody,

It's been a long time since I last made a blog posting, as I was and am still rather busy. The school holidays are not much of a respite from the hectic school term, and I have yet to complete my holiday homework.

Straying away from that "unpleasant topic", did you know that the Integrated Resort in Sentosa is not having the whale shark anymore? I know this piece of news was made known to the public some time ago, but I want to express my views about this incident. As many of you know, whale sharks are gigantic creature, being the largest living fish today. They can grow up to about twelve meters in length and weigh up to approximately thirteen tonnes. Fortunately, whale sharks are filter feeders, and feed on microscopic plankton in the water around them with their large mouth. Being gentle giants, they will not harm humans at all, and will allow divers to swim beside them. Despite the relatively slow speed of whale sharks (whale sharks move at 5 km/h whereas blue whales can reach up to over 40km/h), they still require a lot of space.

Due to space constraints and maintenance, it is very difficult for aquariums to house whale sharks. However, several aquariums are keeping whale Sharks in captivity, such as the Georgia Aquarium. Personally, I would be thrilled to see a live whale shark, but if it is kept in a cramped tank and is not given sufficient food, then I would rather it be released into its natural environment. Note that the actual and proper purpose of zoos should not be just to earn money, but to conserve rare animals that face the threat of extinction, as by Gerald Durrell in his policies for zoos. Regarding enclosures, he wanted them to be built keeping the animal's comfort in mind first of all.

Zoos, as I think, should not be only for profitable purposes, but should be even more about educating the public about conservation and helping endangered animals to escape their imminent extinction. If the IR in Sentosa does not fulfill that, then the Whale Shark has every right to be released back into the pelagic zone.