RESERVIST BY BOEY KIM CHENG

The Poem Time again for the annual joust, the regular fanfare,
a call to arms, the imperative letters stern
as clarion notes, the king’s command, upon
the pain of court-martial, to tilt
at the old windmills. With creaking bones
and suppressed grunts, we battle-weary knights
creep to attention, ransack the wardrobes
for our rusty armour, tuck the pot bellies
with great finesse into the shrinking gear
and with helmets shutting off half our world,
report for service. We are again united
with sleek weapons we were betrothed to
in our active cavalier days.
Period 6 Free verse poem
Theme of this poem: war.
Purpose: show monotony and repetitiveness of war.
Speaker: part-time soldier Stanza One Stanza One: Analysis rdgrehgtrh
Stanza One: Analysis Martial language and war-like imagery evident
“Fanfare” and “call to arms”
introduces war to both soldiers and reader.
Ironic: declaration not 'grand'; speaker mocking war
“Creaking bones” and “suppressed grunts”
soldiers out of shape and worn out
Condition of soldiers shows monotony; battle-weary Stanza One: Analysis
(cont'd) Stanza Two: Analysis “same hills”, “same forests”, and “same
trails”
repetition; recognized routes = never-ending war
“like children placed/ on carousels they cannot get off from”
simile; soldiers have no control/ helpless child
“expensive fantasyland" = military exercises
"masked threats and monsters"
alliteration; involuntary assassin Stanza Two We will keep charging up the
same hills, plodthrough the same forests, till we are too old,too ill-fitted for
life’s other territories.The same trails will find us time and again, and we
quick to obey, like children placed on carousels they cannot get off from,
bornealong through somebody’s expensive fantasyland,with an oncoming
rush of tedious rituals, masked threatsand monsters armed with the same
roar. “battle-weary knights”,“sleek weapons” and “rusty armour”
comic approach
irony; opposite to ‘knight in shining armor’ Stanza Three Stanza Three:
Analysis turning point; a shift of tone
"unlikely heroes"
optimistic tone; speaker believes possible achievement
Greek myth= Sisyphus; boulder up a hill
"send his lordship to sleep"
broken myth; victory achieved in ceaseless war
"open sea" and "daybreak"; renewal In the end we will perhaps surprise
ourselves
and emerge unlikely heroes with long years
of braving the same horrors
pinned on our tunic fronts.
We will have proven that Sisyphus is not a myth.
We will play the game till the monotony
sends his lordship to sleep.
We will march the same paths till they break
onto new trails, our lives stumbling
onto the open sea, into the daybreak. Kim Boey Cheng born 1965;
Singapore-born Australian poet.
ANALYSIS
The Reservist by Boey Kim Cheng, who is a Singaporean poet who migrated to Australia, is a
ballad that has the characteristics of a free verse in terms of its form, structure, rhyme
scheme, and rhythm.

The Reservist by Boey Kim Cheng, who is a Singaporean poet who migrated to Australia
(Poon, 2009), is a ballad that has the characteristics of a free verse in terms of its form,
structure, rhyme scheme, and rhythm. War is the theme of the poem as indicated by certain
war-related phrases, such as “report for service”; “We will keep charging”; “long years of
braving the same horrors”, especially “As clarion notes” which directly connotes is a war
trumpet. Other war-themed words used in the poem are “battle-weary”, “command” “joust”,
and “weapons”.

From the opening stanza, a mix of martial language and physical reality of the irregular
soldiers is exhibited. The martial language includes “court-martial fanfare”, “call to arms”,
while physical reality of the irregular soldiers includes “grunts”, “pot bellies”, and “creaking
bones”, indicate age of the soldiers. Aside from the soldiers who are not sound fit to fight,
“rusty armour” implies that they have been doing this for some time, which also refers to the
repetitiveness and monotony of war. Along with the comic contrast given by the “sleek
weapons” are the ironies from “battle-weary knights”, “the annual joust”, and “the tilting ‘at
the old windmills”.

In the second stanza, a figure of speech used connects closely to the poem’s intention and
feeling. Through the alliteration of “m” and repetition of “same” in lines 14, 15 and 30 and
“again” in lines 11 and 17, monotony is shown. The alliteration of the letter “m” is contained
in the quote “masked threats and monsters armed with the same roar” of lines 21 to 22. The
monotony of war is shown by lines that feel monotonous, such as “We will keep charging up
the same hills, plod through the same forests”. This reference to the situation’s monotony
strengthens the intention of the poet to portray war.

More serious in mood, the second stanza suggests that the reservists have no control and are
‘like children placed/ on carousels’, the fairground simile expanded with military exercises
described as an “expensive fantasyland”. The reference to “tedious rituals” and those in
command as “monsters” clearly shows the impatience of the narrator.
It is up to the reader to decide whether the narrator’s appearance in the final stanza as one of
the medaled “unlikely heroes” and discovering “daybreak” and “open sea”. There is also a
good effect of the connection of the poem with ancient Greek myth. In lines 30 and 31 which
say “We will march the same paths until they break onto new trails, our lives stumbling”, the
feeling of fear is evident along with the monotonous and tiresome lives of soldiers.

Assuming the voice and persona of a part-time soldier, the poet has the objective of showing
the repetitive nature of war. In the entire poem, there is a self-deprecating and amused tone of
the narrator, the army, and the routines. However, the poem ended with a tinge of optimistic
tone, indicating that something worthwhile will be achieved ultimately, although it could also
be interpreted as a final joke. Generally, the poem successfully created a feeling of fear,
monotony, and age that prevailed in the tone.

In Reservist, Boey Kim Cheng regards the military service as laughable. He mocks it as
being delusional (This is most evident in his reference to Don Quixote – “…tilt at
windmills”). These are old men he says (“With creaking bones…grunts”) play-acting at
being “knights” in some medieval farce – but the most that they can muster these days
is being “battle-weary” ones before they even begin. They all look ridiculous (“…rusty
armour…pot bellies”). Their “cavalier days” (when they looked dashing and vital in
uniform) are long gone. Now they are a parody of a fighting force. It is pure “fantasy
land” to expect these old and out of condition men to prepare for war. Moreover, Cheng
appears to say that it is all for the vanity of those in power (“…kings’ command”) that
they enact this pointless ritual (“We…Sisyphus”).