Special Surprise!!!111oneoneone

Greetings earthlings, I'm back again with another poem, not a sonnet this time! But there's something special about this particular sonnet. First let me give you a brief explanation of the Singapore Education System.

Alright, so every student has to go through 6 compulsory years of Primary School. After that, they go through the Primary School Leaving Examination, or PSLE for short. Now students who wish to further their education select which Secondary School to go to, there are 4 different types of Secondary School Education but for the sake of summary, I'll only talk about 2 of them. First, there is the Express stream, which caters to the majority of students. These students go through 4 years of Secondary School education and then, after taking their 'O' Levels, can choose to either go to the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), Polytechnic, Junior College, or Millenia Institute, which is basically JC except it covers the course material in 3 years instead of the usual 2 years. Secondly, there is the Integrated Programme, which is a 6 year course, which skips the 'O' Levels.

Now let's talk about me; I took the PSLE and managed to clinch a space in Victoria School. I applied to go for the Integrated Programme, through a back door, in year 2. Call it sheer luck, intelligence, or a combination of the 2, but I managed to get through into Temasek Academy, which is one of the schools which offers the Integrated Programme. Those who applied were filtered by means of tests and interviews until only the ones who were to be admitted were left. Of those tests, there was a Mathematics Aptitude Test and an English Test. For the English Test, we were asked to write either a short story or a poem which included the words 'It was only then that I realised that I was colour-blind'. That was one of the first times I wrote poetry, and I can honestly say that if not for that test, I would probably never have got into it in the first place. Without further ado, the poem, which I wrote for my English Test:

There once was a girl

By Oliver Nolastname


There once was a girl,
A very pretty girl.
She made me want to skip and dance and twirl,
Yes, indeed, she rocked my world.

I sat behind in English Class,
And thrice a day, I would ask:
Would you like help with your books?
She was smart, kind and had good looks.

She always said no,
And told me to go.
It broke my heart,
That hers was so hard.

I hatched up a plan,
To make me her man.
She would not say no,
Because I would make it so.

So I wrote a song,
For her heart I did long.
The feeling I had,
It could not be wrong

Violets are red,
And roses are blue.
I just want to say
That I love you.

I sang through the first line,
Then the second and third.
Thinking of the prospect,
Of making her mine.

She always said no,
And told me to go.
She would not this time;
For it was a song that did rhyme.

When I got to the fourth line,
I realized that my poem,
Did not make sense.
It was only then I realized that I was colour-blind.


Usually this would be the part where I write the post-mortem for my poem but in this particular case, I think that it would hardly be necessary, as this poem contributed to my getting into Temasek Academy. I might like to add however, this poem might seem a bit rough around the edges because I didn't have enough time to file it down and finish editing. After all, they gave us half an hour.

Now, for my signing off. I'd like to wish everyone out there a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Here's to a good year ahead!

Oliver Nolastname



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My first ever sonnet!

Hey guys, this post is a first for me. You see, I'm secretly a poet. That's why, as an outlet to my excessive creativity, I've decided to make a blog to exhibit my poems! Also, I've decided to remain anonymous. Although I will reveal that my first name is Oliver.

Alright, enough with all the talk; since most, if there are any of you out there, of the people who clicked on the blog post just wanted to read a sonnet for whatever reason... perhaps since you need one for school? Or maybe you want to give it to a special someone, I dunno.
Okay now I'm going to briefly preface my sonnet with a short explanation of what a Shakespearean sonnet is, although I think the majority of you probably already do. Okay, first of all you need to understand what an iamb is. An iamb is essentially metric foot of poetry, it's distinguished by the fact that it follows the rhythm of an unstressed syllable and then a stressed one, for example, the word 'about'. The 'a' in 'about' is unstressed and the 'bout' in about is stressed, therefore, it is an iambic word. Also, the word pentameter refers to five metric feet. Therefore, an iambic pentameter, is essentially just 5 counts of 'da-DUM'. Also, what defines a Shakespearian sonnet is that it consists of 14 iambic pentameters, rhymed in the 'a,b,a,b,c,d,c,d,e,f,e,f,g,g' format, essentially just three quatrains (4-lined stanzas) with a friendly couplet added in at the end.

Alright, now for the moment you've all been waiting for (Or just skipped everything and scrolled down to see), my poem.

Alright, since this is the first time I'm showing anyone, apart from a Literature teacher, a poem that I made, I'd like to ask any readers to not be too critical, after all, this is my first sonnet. Also, don't expect too much of me; again, this is my first poem and I'm still quite reluctant to release it to the world, even the virtual world. Plus, I am just a teenager so don't expect any Shakespeare-worthy poetry.

Okay here goes (For real this time):

Costly Gems
By Oliver Nolastname

Her eyes have the opalescence of jewels,
Glimm'ring in the soft pale light of the Sun.
We are here together, two love drunk fools,
Alone in the pasture where two b'come one.
I have seen rubies, beautiful though flawed,
But no flaws can I see in those brown eyes.
So do I pray to the kind and loving God;
For giving unto me the ultimate prize.
But how could I hope to keep her happy,
Without the s'pposed boon of loose pursestrings?
For what could this angel see in me,
Apart from being able to buy her things?
O' sweet Darling, would you please stay with me,
If I promise to do my best to keep you happy?



Now for the post-mortem, after my delivery. I might be biased, but I am quite proud of this sonnet, which just happens to the 10th draft I was working on, I guess 10th time's the charm. Although I do know that not all the lines are in perfect iambic pentameter, with some irregular rhythms in certain lines and thirteen syllables in the last line. All in all though, I'm very happy I decided to post it and I'm very keen to see what all of you think of it.

To help me improve my poetry-writing skills, please comment (Or send a PM, your choice) and spread this blog around!

Now time to sign off... For lack of a better idea,

Oliver Nolastname