The poem ‘The Planners’ by Boey Kim Cheng mentions the city structure and shows that perfection, uniformity and control over nature are the main concepts in this city plan. The wish for perfection and uniformity of the planners in the poem highlights another theme which is the control over nature. The aim of the powerful planners is to change the country they live in the way they want. Therfore, they want to have the power and potential to control the thoughts of people. The planners referred in the poem can be analyzed in a broader sense as government because government is the effective power which changes the whole structure of the country. The first stanza of the poem describes what the ‘Planners’ do physically; “They plan. They build…” There appear to be an obsession with perfection and uniformity, for “The buildings are in alignment with the roads which meet at desired points.” The word 'aligment' here shows the exactness and flawlessness of the construction. The buildings are physically excellent however they are lack of real passion and emotion because they are not connected with the feelings of people. The reason for disconnection can be due to the extreme use of mathemathical calculations. Also, the lack of emotion is linked with mathematic due to the conception that numbers are cold and indifferent, in contrast with words. Moreover the words ‘gridded’, ‘permutations’, ‘points’ are used with mathemathical and scientific meaning. There is even praise and approval for mathematics mentioned here ‘the grace of mathematics’, in line six. The last two lines of the stanza remark on the effect the working of the Planners have on the environment; that the Planners are even trying to eliminate the flaws created by nature. Again the wish for perfection is seen among planners. The use of personification for the sea and skies emphasizes the sense of defeat. The 'draw back of sea' shows that even the nature is not able to compete agains the planners. They are so…
