Poetry in Motion

to show something is to be indirect. for instance, if you write a narrative story and u have a bad-tempered character, you do not necessarily need to SAY it explicitly, like "Mr. Tan is a bad-tempered person". to show is to give information to the reader indirectly by showing HOW this character is bad-tempered.

to tell is to be direct, concise, clear-cut. do this for your compre.

ok i dunno if this helps, let me know if it doesn't. im rushing cos im gng out! see u guys soon

show = "He walked with heavy steps ignoring whatever noises that was around him. The atmosphere was eerie and all that could be heard was a feint cry..."

tell = "Goodness, John was sad."

show = "The cloth was neatly folded, floor, untouched. Books were nicely stacked up, piled to little hills at the corner."

tell = "To heck, the room was tidy."

i get what mr tan is trying to say, but wilfred is giving me a headache O_O

okay, i'm back.

hi mr tan. i still dont really get the diff btween subject matter and theme. i know the theme is smth like a phrase/sentence. does this mean that subject matter is a word to describe the poem? i'm highly confused :/

subject matter can be a word or idea. for example, love is an idea or concept. but what can we say about love? two people may have contradictory opinions. for instance, person A may believe that love is selfish, while person b may believe that love is generous. with two separate, conflicting themes, they go about writing two separate poems. both poems have similar subject matter, but different themes.

hope this is helpful.

Mr Tan, you mean:
the subject matter of both poems can be "merlion(or maybe national symbol?)",

However, the theme of "Ulysses" can be "Merlion is an impt symbol of national identity." <positive
Whereas the theme of "The Merlion" can be "The Merlion is a bad symbol of national identity." <negative
Thus, both poems got same subject matter, but the themes state different points of views towards the merlion as a symbol of national identity.
(?)

But is there any restriction to subject matter? Like a subject matter must be a general term like "national symbol", but not something specific like "Merlion", so in this case for both poems, can "Merlion" be the subj matter?

yes! finally got it. but "Merlion" isn't a very useful subject matter to talk about. you could just say its a symbol. subject matter is something like Singaporeans?

The merlion is a bad symbol of national identity - make sure u clarify what 'bad' is. Also, from whose perspective?

THANKS MR TAN AND JINGYING!!! I TOTALLY GET IT yipee ;3

thanks!

I still dont get th showing and telling thing. :X

I think wilfred did a pretty good job with the showing and telling thing. anyone want to try their hand at explaaining this to Nut?

Show : OMG look at that my room is t3h l33t shizz it has the latest comp and beats everything you have =D

Tell : My room owns u.

show: 'Karoshi has such nice black, matt hair. His round face portrays his character excellently. Oh, his sharp nose is what defines his cute face!'

tell: Karoshi is handsome.

so, it basically means that "Show" is to describe and "Tell" is to give a vague sentence or phrase?

zhongwei wrote:so, it basically means that "Show" is to describe and "Tell" is to give a vague sentence or phrase?

and show is more of a "drama mama" type of thing?

okay, i realise mr tan isnt replying to anything. describe as in like, 外貌描寫? Sry mr tan ;x

u guys are thinking too much. go back to wilfred's attempt to explain. its pretty good. im quite busy nowadays la. ill try to come to this forum as much as i can. u guys take care!

hello teacher of 204 09. i sure u don know who am i.

ur name is in ur nick .___.

whoever u are, u sure have bad grammar.

LOL OWNED.

N1 Mr. Tan.

LOL!!!

arg mr tan so long nvr see u ler
anyways dont forget our BUBBLE TEA TRIP!!!
XDXDXDXDXD
dont think u away from school then we can forget it XDXDXDXDXD
so when u all wana go for the "trip"?

LOL, jerron, mr tan's VERY particular about grammar. long time no see, btw

Lol. So Jerron knows our forum too.
And he speaks like an alien descending on earth:
"hello humans I'm sure you don't know who I am."