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Synopsis :

This recording features the following:

1. A look at the work of poet Dr Goh Poh Seng who was born in Kajang in 1936 and left Malaya as a schoolboy in 1953. He studied medicine in Ireland and worked in London hospitals before settling in Singapore.

Dr Goh began writing seriously while studying at the university and had his poems published in various magazines. There is no local imagery in his poems which are very personal in nature. His subject matter remains free of life in the country. This could be due to the fact that in his formative years, he did not have a sense of belonging with any people or place.

Dr Goh, who writes in free verse is one of Singapore's top poets who is likely to make himself heard in time to come. His language is clinical and his lines are precise and economical. In some of his poems he appears somewhat melancholic and writes about unrequited love. The programme features readings of some of his poems.

2. An interview with poet T Viknesan who was born in Kelantan in 1933 of immigrant Tamil parents. He pursued various courses in England and Germany and worked as a teacher, newspaper reporter, car salesman, university lecturer and translator. He has compiled and edited an anthology of English works of Malayan writers and published a collection of poems.

His early contact with poetry was with nursery rhymes which had simple rhythms that appealed to the emotions of a child. His penchant for alliteration probably has its roots in his Tamil heritage as Tamil poetry has a lot of alliteration. In his work, he probes and searches into the nature of things and the purpose of life. We hear some of his poems in the programme.