Today there are many global issues that have resulted from human activity. One of these problematic issues is pollution and human’s lack of appreciation for nature. Boey Kim Cheng crafts the poem, Report to Wordsworth, to address this issue, which he blames largely on humans and their loss of traditional values. He writes to English poet William Wordsworth, known for writing poems about the beauty of nature, regarding the state of the world. His desperation for change is imminent as he expresses his anger at humans because we have destroyed nature and the wildlife with it. Cheng describes this idea of environmental degradation caused by humans and our selfishness, with the use of many different language techniques such as metaphors, similes and allusions.
In the first few lines, Cheng pleads “You should be here Nature has need of you. She has been laid waste.” This apostrophe calls onto Wordsworth, the famous English poet, long dead. This shows us Cheng’s desperation to stop humans from destroying nature as he pleads help from someone who is incapable of doing anything. He clearly places the blame on humans through the word ‘waste,’ and this call for a dead poet, suggests to readers that he believes humans of the present are unable to do the right thing. Furthermore, Cheng personifies Nature. He refers to her as “she”, as a human. This personification exposes Cheng’s anger on human behaviour, as he believes that Nature, like all humans, should be cared for and cherished. Instead of receiving the respect she deserves, Cheng callously describes her by being “laid waste.” Waste that is pollution by humans. Waste that is the hazardous, unrecyclable junk created by the technology that drives the human nature of greed for a materialistic future - a future devoid of traditional values such as environmental appreciation.
Cheng writes “the flowers are mute and the birds are few in a sky slowing like a dying clock” to further explain humans effect on nature. Cheng...