Alfian Sa'at's "The Merlion"

[daryl]

yes it is. and to answer the "good/bad/true", the best poets are usually the true ones, because the most powerful poems reveal truth.

do not agree. the most powerful poems reveal what we want to be taken as truth.

 

[eieio]

interesting, i be back & read more later..

 

[visa]

do not agree. the most powerful poems reveal what we want to be taken as truth.

both our statements are very open to interpretation, depending on what you define as truth.

EDIT: On retrospect, I have to agree with you.

that said, could you give me an example of a good poet who writes about something he doesn't know about?

 

[daryl]

i do not want to delve into epistemology hahaha. then again, i think it's safe if i say most poets do not need to have knowledge about something to write about it. ask plato.

 

[dir]

If you're talking about Singaporean culture.
It's funny, because then what you're speaking of IS our culture.
Our culture is a base of caucasian with a sprinkle of various asian races, put in an oven and left to burn.
Whatever the white man does is great! All hail the white man.

yes, Singapore is a melting pot. All major cities usually are. Western culture may have very well penetrated (hehe) every aspect of our daily lives but not everyone suscribes readily to it. I guess we have to collectively look past that and try to be proud of what makes us unique, because if we can't glorify our own heritage then who will? Of course this brings us to the question of.. why?

 

[meekahsoh]

Irony? The Merlion was invented by a white man.

Perhaps it is the internet age, but the lack of something could be taken as a feature in itself.

 

[visa]

i do not want to delve into epistemology hahaha. then again, i think it's safe if i say most poets do not need to have knowledge about something to write about it. ask plato.

not knowledge, exactly. would it be perspective?

 

[dir]

The original emblem may have been designed by a white man, but the statue itself was locally conceptualised and crafted, if you care to read the article posted.

 

[visa]

Of course this brings us to the question of.. why?

why live at all, then?

 

[dir]

why, indeed. Mankind's own existence is the continual quest for that answer.

 

[visa]

i doubt there is one

 

[daryl]

i have no idea why i'm living except to gain satisfaction from my human desires while i can

 

[growlingsoulpup]

i have no idea why i'm living except to gain satisfaction from my human desires while i can

I don't know, mate. Seems like all my attempts at hedonism and fulfilment of every desire only leaves me feeling even more empty and hollow than before.

In the immortal words of Mick, "I can't get no, satisfaction."

 

[daryl]

ha ha. i get what you mean. it comes as an afterthought, though, for me

 

[visa]

The fact is that there doesn't have to be a purpose. We're so self-important and think so highly of ourselves! In the grand scheme of things, we're just a random blip in history- 100,000 years out of over 14,000,000,000 years or more.

Doesn't mean that life has to be meaningless though. It's rare, precious, and we ought to make the most of it while we still have it. And part of that is to make a difference to other people- which is what music, poetry and art are for.

 

[dir]

Though our own existence is probably meaningless, to understand more of our own world and how things come to be in itself is justified, since it's only natural as intellectual beings to try and find out more about ourself and the universe. Just because we can't comprehend the 'meaning of life' doesn't mean we can't question it objectively. To know the mind of god - that's what science has been trying to accomplish from as long ago as Socrates and Aristotle.

 

[visa]

are you suggesting that science and philosophy are one and the same?

 

[dir]

They are, or at least used to be, at least in Aristotle's time. Philosophers then used to concern themselves with all matters regarding the what's and why's of the world and the universe. Since then, science has got more technical of course, and philosophers has largely been confined to the study of mere faculties of the mind.

At any rate, they are both linked. Science may answer the question of what, and with that knowledge, philosophy in turn may be applied to answer the question of why.

 

[eieio]

all reply like poets.. :mrgreen: