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an afternoon nap
further subtly critiques the society that encourages the
SUMMARY mother's narrow, competitive vision of success in the first
place.
The determined, demanding mother who lives across the street
once again gives her son a beating, all the while declaring that The mother clearly wants her son to achieve a certain level, and
doing so makes her a good mother. She yells at her son for his type, of success—and he's definitely not living up to her
various perceived inadequacies, starting with his subpar expectations. Her "expensive taste for education" includes
academic performance. frequent piano lessons and second language tutoring, and she
routinely scolds and "beats" her son for not working as hard as
The mother pounds harsh chords during her son's piano lesson
she thinks he should.
that afternoon. She shrilly mimics his second language (in
Singapore, students are required to study Chinese, Malay, or The speaker describes the mother's physicality and rage in
Tamil as a second, "Mother Tongue" language) as she almost monstrous terms. She aggressively "strikes" piano
threateningly paces in circles around her recoiling son. Her chords and her movements are "swift" and "contorted." She
intimidating movements require a level of physical exertion circles her "cowering" son like an animal closing in on its prey,
comparable to exercise. and she even mimics him in a variety of ways—"an ape for every
need"—adding humiliation to physical brutality. She expresses
The mother's physical movements are fast and aggressive; she
none of the traditional qualities associated with motherhood
twists her body as she scolds her son, mimicking him in a
and nurturing; she is not "soft," kind, or gently encouraging but
variety of ways for his shortcomings. There are no gentle
insulting and cruel.
expressions of support or guidance. Instead, she trudges
around him like a screaming monster, smacking him for playing Instead of motivating her son, the mother's beatings just leave
incorrect notes on the piano. him "embittered" and "bewildered." He does not quietly accept
his beating, but "shouts out her wrongs," beginning with "her
The son cries precious tears because, three days a week, his
expensive taste for education." Her vision of what his life should
language and piano teachers come to give him lessons, taking
look like has disregarded his own desires; he laments, for
$90 from the piggy bank and leaving him with homework and
example, that his lessons leave him "little / pocket-money." He
less spending money.
cries when she disciplines him, and the speaker states the son's
The resentful boy who lives across the street is once again "tears are dear." This suggests that his mother's "expensive
declaring that he cannot understand why his mother is so mad taste for education" is not only materially costly but also
at him. He yells at her for all her faults, the foremost being her emotionally costly for her son.
willingness to pay a high price to provide him with an excellent
Worth noting is that her expectations for good grades, a second
education.
language, and musical prowess nod to the educational system
of Yap's homeland of Singapore, known for being one of the
THEMES best, and most demanding, in the world. The poem is not just
critical of the tough love but also of a broader society that
pressures parents into placing these demands on their children
THE HIGH COST OF PARENTAL PRESSURE in the first place.
TO SUCCEED Indeed, in this intergenerational conflict, the mother believes
"An Afternoon Nap" illustrates what can happen her ambitiousness and harsh discipline to be evidence of her
when parents push their children too hard. The poem describes "goodness." She may even be offering opportunities to her son
an "ambitious" mother who viciously berates her son for his that she herself did not have. Yet her efforts clearly backfire, as
poor academic performance, believing all the while that she's her son is resentful, confused, and emotionally scarred by her
doing the right thing. Rather than motivating her son, however, behavior. What he needs, the poem suggests, is understanding
the mother's high expectations and harsh discipline just make and gentleness, not endless scolding. Rather than help her
her son bitter, distant, and miserable. The mother's ambitions child, the mother's discipline and pressure to fit into a rigid
for her son may be well-intentioned (in her mind, at least), but model of success have pushed him away.
the poem suggests that they've also prevented her from giving
him the kind of love and support he actually wants and needs.
Overall, the poem suggests that intense parental pressure and Where this theme appears in the poem:
punishment are not simply unhelpful but downright harmful. It • Lines 1-4

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[...] pr
proclaiming her goodness
• Lines 5-8 she beats the boy. shouting out his wrrongs, with rap
ps
• Lines 9-12 she beggins with his mediocrre rep
port-b
book gr
grades.
• Lines 13-21
The assonance
assonance/consonance of "shoutouting out
out" turns up the
volume on that phrase in particular, calling readers' attention to
LINE-BY
LINE-BY-LINE
-LINE ANAL
ANALYSIS
YSIS the ferocity of the mother's scolding.

LINES 5-8
LINES 1-4
she strikes chords ...
the ambitious mother ...
... strenuous p.e. ploy.
... mediocre report-book grades.
The mother "strikes chords" during her son's "afternoon piano
The unnamed speaker of "An Afternoon Nap" begins the poem
lesson." This might mean that she is literally pounding the keys,
by describing a scene that they've apparently witnessed
intruding on the lesson and trying to correct her son's shoddy
before: a woman who lives across the street is beating her son
playing. The speaker might also be metaphorically comparing
and scolding him for various wrongdoings, starting with his
the mother's voice to the harsh sound of piano keys being
poor grades in school.
slammed (as opposed to more melodiously "played"). Either
The speaker calls this mother "ambitious," a word that, in many way, the word "struck" is violent and harsh.
contexts, has positive connotations. Here, though, it suggests
Next, the speaker says that "her voice stridently imitates 2nd.
that the mother is living vicariously through her child—that she
lang. tuition." The mother is not literally speaking as if she were
wants him to succeed for her own gratification.
an inanimate object such as a currency note or check. But by
The enjambment of the poem's opening also creates saying that she "imitates [...] tuition," the speaker links the
anticipation: readers are propelled across the first line as they mother with the money she pays for her son's language
wait to discover what, exactly, this "ambitious mother" is doing. instruction, emphasizing the importance she places on this
The phrase "at it again" conveys that whatever she's doing is a subject.
regular occurrence in this household. The full-stop caesur
caesuraa in
The phrase "2nd. lang." is an abbreviation for "second language"
the middle of the line then creates a moment of suspense
and a reference to the fact that Singapore has a bilingual
before the reveal that she's beating her child:
education system:
is at it again. proclaiming her goodness
• In English-language schools, students are required
she beats the boy. [...]
to study one of three "mother tongues" as a second
language, based on their ethnic heritage: Mandarin,
Placing the phrase "proclaiming her goodness" front and center Malay, or Tamil. The son's implied lack of proficiency
emphasizes the iron
ironyy of the situation: there's a clear disconnect reflects the generational disconnect between the
between what the mother perceives herself to be doing, which is son and his elders.
demonstrating that she's a good mother, and what she's actually • Alternatively, Yap might mean that the son is getting
doing, which is beating her child. (The irony here is also extra lessons in "standard English" outside of school.
situational because, as readers learn later in the poem, the As the language of international commerce as well
mother’s punitive discipline does not, in fact, produce the as official functions, standard English is considered
effects she intends on her son's behavior.) more prestigious and elevated than the colloquial
The mother loudly scolds her son, "shouting out his wrongs" English ("Singlish") commonly spoken in Singapore.
while she "raps," or smacks, him. She reproaches him by
detailing a list of his perceived inadequacies, beginning with his In either case, the compressed, figurative language in the line
"mediocre report-book grades," or the average grades he's itself ("2nd. lang. tuition") is rich with meaning:
received on his school report card. His academic performance,
apparently, is below her expectations. • In one interpretation, the mother is attempting to
speak this second language to her son's tutor while
Alliter
Alliteration
ation brings the mother's anger to vivid life on the page. she pays the tuition. The word "imitates" suggests
Listen to the booming /b/ sounds of "b beats the boy" and the that she may not be adept at this language, however;
growling /r/ sounds of "wrrongs"/"rraps," for example. her imitation may sound affected or unnatural.
Consonance adds to the effect as well. In addition to those /b/ Perhaps her own parents could not afford "2nd.
and /r/ sounds, listen to the sharp /p/ and guttural /g/ sounds lang. tuition" when she was growing up. The mother
that fill this passage: may want her son to have a strong command of this

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language especially because she herself does not. negation. In the lines "no soft gradient / of a consonant-vowel
• Alternatively, the mother mimics her son's poor use figure," the speaker uses more figurative language to describe
of this second language to chastise him. In this the kind of mother “the ambitious mother across the road” is
reading, the mother "stridently," or unpleasantly, not: a sweet, nurturing, gentle one.
chastises her son for his poor study habits. She
"Figure" is a play on words. On one level, the word refers to a
views standard language lessons as important for
silhouette or the shape of something. A "consonant-vowel
her son's upward mobility.
figure" might refer to a word like "Ma," a word comprised of a
consonant and vowel and used as one term of endearment for a
The speaker then describes the mother's rageful physicality by
kind mother. This mother is decidedly not a "soft," gentle
evoking imagery that is almost monstrous. As the mother yells
presence in her son's life; she's no "Ma."
and hits her son, she stalks threateningly around him, "circling"
as a bully or predator might circle their target/prey. The son, A "figure" also refers to a number (like one calculates in math).
for his part, "cowers" like a cornered or overpowered animal, The word thus reminds readers that the other is disappointed
recoiling from her. And as she punishes him, the mother's with her son's academic performance. The same is true of the
movements require a level of physical exertion comparable to phrase "consonant-vowel," which invokes the son's language
"the most strenuous p.e. ploy," or the vigorous exercise one studies mentioned earlier in the poem.
does in a physical education class. The phrase "soft gradient" also brings to mind academia:
The sounds of these lines bring the mother's anger to life on "gradient" is another term used in math and refers to the
the page. Listen, for example, to the sharp consonance in words calculation of a line's incline. A "soft gradient" describes a
like "strikkes," "ch
chords," "circcling," and "ccowering." Combined with gentle slope. In describing the furious mother as a figure who
the stanza's sinister sibilance ("sstrikess," "less
sson," "ccircling," lacks a "soft gradient," then, the speaker uses a metaphor to
"mosst strenuouss"), the lines feel distinctly harsh and describe the mother's severity. If her emotional response to her
threatening. These sounds evoke the mother's spitting, hissing son resembled a "soft gradient," or gentle incline, she might be
rage. slower to anger and more understanding. Instead, the
ambitious mother's punitive behavior resembles the severity of
LINES 9-10 a sharp incline. Her emotions escalate quickly to rage.
swift are all ... The speaker is critical of the intense physicality and
... for every need; vocalization of the mother's rage. She "lumbers and shrieks,"
The mother's "swift" and "contorted" movements suggest the trudging around her son like a screaming monster and
fast, aggressive way she grimaces and twists her body as she smacking him for playing incorrect notes on the piano, "a hit for
berates her son. This description of the mother's physicality every two notes missed."
highlights how profoundly gripped she is by emotion. She is
unable to contain or control her anger, which contorts her LINES 13-17
facial features. The speaker may also be implying that such rage his tears are ...
distorts her character as a mother, since people typically ... pocket-money
associate mothers with care and tenderness. In the fourth quatr
quatrain
ain, the poem starts to focus on the son's
The phrase "an ape for every need" implies that she meets reaction to his mother's criticism. Clearly, he doesn't take it
"every need" with cruel mimicry. (As a verb, to "ape" means to well: the boy cries, and "his tears are dear." The internal rh
rhyme
yme
imitate or copy.) The speaker thus suggests the mother is not between "tears"/"dear" calls readers' attention to the son's
just beating her son but taunting him as well, adding humiliation misery, as well as to the fact that those tears are costly: the
to physical brutality. word "dear" can mean beloved, precious, or cherished, but it
Notably, the speaker once again describes the mother's can also mean expensive.
behavior as animalistic. In the previous stanza, she was He weeps these "dear" tears on "mondays, wednesdays, and
"circling" her child like a bird of prey. Now, she has an "ape for fridays" because those are the days his language tutor and
every need." The word "ape" means to imitate or mimic, but it piano teacher visit for extracurricular lessons. These are also
also, of course, can refer to an animal. Again, the mother seems the days, readers can guess, that his mother berates him for his
more like a predator than a nurturing presence. disappointing performance during those lessons, which cost
$90 a week.
LINES 10-12
The speaker notes that the family saves this money in a "kitty,"
no soft gradient ... perhaps an object akin to a piggy bank. The poem doesn't
... 2 notes missed. specify who, exactly, is regularly contributing to the "kitty," but
Note how the speaker's description here begins with a the fact that money for the son's extracurricular lessons is

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saved in such a spot suggests that this family is not wealthy; a but in the last stanza, the poem gives the son a voice. He yells
wealthy family probably wouldn't need to scrimp and save bills back at his mother. Just as the mother has enumerated his
or change in order to pay for the son's lessons. Note, too, that perceived faults, the son tearfully points out what he perceives
this is the second mention of money in the poem, the first being to be her deficiencies, or "wrongs," as a mother. He conveys,
the word "tuition" in stanza 2. Again, this repeated focus on through his "bewilderment," how her harsh treatment has
finances suggests that this family isn't rich. produced resentment and pain.
It's also clear that the son does not value his educational But just as there was iron
ironyy in the mother's proclamations of
opportunities as highly as his mother does. Each week "miss goodness as she beat her son, there is irony in the son's
low & madam lim," the son's teachers, "appear & take away $90 confusion. The son may claim not to understand why his mother
from the kitty / leaving him an adagio, clause analysis, little / is so angry with him, but the speaker suggests this claim is false.
pocket-money." In other words, Miss Low and Madam Lim come The son may feel undeserving of her wrath, but he cannot
to the house for lessons, take payment for their services, and reasonably doubt why his mother is so angry with him. The title
then leave the son with music and language homework of the poem is "an afternoon nap, the implication being that the
("adagio" is a musical tempo marking while "clause analysis" son chose—or attempted to choose—to take a nap rather than
refers here to grammar exercises). study or practice piano.
The son is not keen on this transaction, because the money his The poem's use of parallelism highlights what's at stake in the
teachers take for his lessons leaves him with less money for fun. intergenerational conflict. Through this parallelism, the poem
That the entire last line of the stanza is comprised of the word expresses competing views of filial duty, or what it means to be
"pocket-money" highlights the importance of this word to the a good parent and a good child. The mother believes a good son
son. is ambitious, hard-working, and high achieving. She believes a
This stanza, like the previous stanzas, is filled with asyndeton
asyndeton, good mother is someone who provides the educational
as in "each monday, / wednesday, friday," and "leaving him an opportunities necessary for her child's success in life, and
adagio, clause analysis, little / pocket-money." The speaker disciplines them—harshly, if necessary—when they squander
omits coordinating conjunctions, and as a result, the poem the opportunities they have been given. The son, the poem
barrel swiftly forward, subtly conveying just how relentless the suggests, believes a good mother is someone with more
son's lessons feel. Asyndeton also heightens the juxtaposition reasonable expectations and a willingness to let him rest and
between what the teachers take and what they leave behind; play.
the son's homework butts right up against his lack of "pocket-
LINE 21
money," reflecting the tension he feels between his studies and
his ability to enjoy his life. he begins with ... taste for education.
The poem concludes with the "bewildered" son enumerating
LINES 18-20 the faults of his overbearing mother, the foremost being her
the embittered boy ... willingness to pay a high price to provide him with (in her mind)
... wrongs, with tears an excellent education. The price the mother pays is not simply
The final stanza par
parallels
allels the first: the opening stanza describes material, but also refers to the emotional cost of the conflict
the angry mother, while the last describes the angry son. Note between these generations.
how similar the language is in these stanzas: The son describes the mother's emotional and material
investment in his education metaphorically, as a matter of
• In the first, the "ambitious mother" is "proclaiming "expensive taste." This phrase is typically used to describe
her goodness" while she "beats" her son. In the last, preferences in a person's consumption choices that are more
the "embittered son" is "proclaiming his material, perhaps even frivolous, and less abstract than
bewilderment" while he "yells" at his mother. something like education. For instance, one might have an
• In the first stanza, the speaker describes the mother "expensive taste" for gourmet food, or designer shoes, or luxury
as "shouting out [the son’s] wrongs, with raps." In the cars.
last stanza, the speaker describes the son as
"shouting out [the mother's] wrongs, with tears." In describing his mother's desire for him to be well educated as
• The son, like the mother, is "at it again," conveying an "expensive taste for education," then, the son is trivializing
that the tension in this household is nothing new. the mother's desire or even rendering this desire suspect. The
son may view the mother's "expensive taste for education" as
The parallelism of these stanzas calls readers' attention to the superficial, a form of status-mongering comparable to those
juxtaposition between these characters. Throughout the poem, who buy flashy cars and expensive clothes to signal how
the son has endured his mother's punitive discipline and rage, wealthy, successful, and important they are. The son may view
his mother's "expensive taste for education" as motivated not

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by the best intentions for his future success and fulfillment, but
by a crasser desire for higher social status and its material • Line 2: “again,” “proclaiming,” “goodness”
trappings. • Line 3: “beats,” “boy,” “wrongs,” “raps”
The poem also leaves open the possibility that the son does not • Line 4: “begins,” “mediocre report-book grades”
value his mother's "expensive taste for education" because his • Line 5: “strikes chords,” “afternoon,” “lesson”
skills are incompatible with the educational pursuits his mother • Line 6: “voice stridently imitates,” “2nd,” “tuition”
• Line 7: “circling,” “cowering”
values, and/or because he simply does not want to put in the
• Line 8: “manner apt,” “most strenuous p.e. ploy”
effort required to excel academically, play piano well, or learn
• Line 9: “swift,” “contorted movements”
new language skills. He may not fully appreciate how the
• Line 11: “consonant”
"expensive education" imposed upon him is meant to improve
• Line 12: “shrieks,” “2 notes missed”
his life or future opportunities. Perhaps he simply would prefer
• Line 13: “tears,” “dear”
to nap in the afternoon.
• Line 14: “miss,” “madam lim”
• Line 15: “take away,” “kitty”
• Line 16: “clause analysis, little”
POETIC DEVICES • Line 17: “pocket”
• Line 18: “embittered boy”
CONSONANCE
• Line 19: “bewilderment”
One of the most striking features of the poem is its rich and • Line 20: “shouting out,” “tears”
varied use of consonance
consonance. Much of this consonance evokes the • Line 21: “begins,” “expensive taste”
ferocity of the mother's anger. For example, the first stanza is
filled with a mixture of sharp /k/ and /g/ sounds, plosive /b/ METAPHOR
sounds, and growling /r/ sounds:
The poem's figurative language is often unusual or unexpected,
the amb bitious mother acr cross the road and it's not always clear whether the speaker is being
is at it aggain. procclaiming her goodness metaphorical or not. For example, in line 5, the speaker says
she beats the boy. shouting out his wrrongs, with raps that the mother "strikes chords for the afternoon piano lesson."
she beggins with his medioccre report-b bookk grades. This might mean that the mother literally interrupts the lesson,
crudely pounding out chords on the instrument to correct her
Thanks to all this consonance, the poem simply sounds forceful, son's imperfect playing. However, this might also be a
energetic, and angry. There's nothing "soft" about these lines, metaphorical description of the way the mother is "shouting
just as there's nothing soft about this mother. Note that some out" her son's "wrongs," her voice ringing out like harsh
of this consonance is also alliter
alliterativ
ativee: "b
beats the boy," "wrrongs "chords." The ambiguity links the mother with the lesson and
with raps." Alliteration overlaps with and works just like emphasizes the painful, grating nature of her discipline.
consonance in the poem, making certain images stand out more In the next line, the speaker conflates the mother's voice with
strongly to the reader's ear. "2nd. lang. tuition." The mother cannot literally imitate "tuition,"
The next stanza features yet more harsh /k/ consonance along of course; she can't literally sound like money. But this
with biting /t/ and /p/ sounds. These lines are also filled with a compressed language allows the speaker to convey lots of
specific kind of consonance known as sibilance (in the form of information at once:
/s/, /z/, and /sh/ sounds), which fills the lines with a slightly
sinister, spitting hiss: • The son is getting extracurricular lessons in a
second language (Singapore has a bilingual
education system), for which payment is required.
sh
she st
strikkess chordss for the aftternoon piano lesssson,
The mother has a financial stake in her child's
her voicce st
stridently imittattess 2nd. lang. tuition,
success.
all the while circcling the cowering boy
• The metaphor might liken the raging mother's
in a manner apt pt for the mostst st
strenuouss p.e. ploy.
"strident" voice as she punishes her son to a
distorted version of the voice she uses when paying
The sounds of the poem make the mother come across almost her son's tutor. The mother's attempts to speak
like a predator cruelly stalking her prey. "2nd. lang." with the tutor may sound unnatural or
affected.
Where Consonance appears in the poem: • Alternatively, the mother might be cruelly mimicking
her son's poor use of his second language to
• Line 1: “ambitious,” “across,” “road”
chastise and humiliate him for not studying hard

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enough. goodness" as "she beats the boy." There is nothing in the poem
to suggest that the mother believes she is anything but a good
There's another metaphor in lines 10-11, when the speaker mother; she "proclaims her goodness" because she believes
says that the mother is "no soft gradient / of a consonant-vowel that by punishing her son, she will encourage him to work
figure." There's nothing gentle, smooth, or soft about the harder and make the most of the educational opportunities
mother; her criticism and punishments are "swift" and sharp. "A she's given him. There's thus a sharp, ironic disconnect
consonant-vowel figure" might refer to a term of affection like between what she thinks she's doing (being a good mother) and
"Ma." The point is that this mother is not a particularly what she's actually doing (making her son miserable).
nurturing, kindly figure. This metaphor also again links the Ironically, despite her intentions, the mother has alienated
mother's discipline directly with the son's lessons; his whole rather than motivated her son. After describing how the
life, it seems, is filtered through a lens of academic study. mother harshly disciplines the son, the speaker observes the
consequences of the mother’s behavior: the son is resentful,
Where Metaphor appears in the poem: confused, and frightened. His son's "tears are dear," implying
• Line 5: “she strikes chords for the afternoon piano that the mother's "expensive taste for education" is not only
lesson” materially costly but also emotionally costly for her child. The
• Lines 5-6: “, / her voice stridently imitates 2nd. lang. mother is unmoved by her son's pained response to her
tuition” criticism, however; his tears only result in the continuation of
• Lines 10-11: “no soft gradient / of a consonant-vowel his expensive music and language lessons, and the son becomes
figure” "embittered" and "bewildered." Instead of quietly accepting his
beating, he "yells" at his mother. Again, her punishment,
IMAGERY ironically, produces the opposite of the desired effect: the son
grows resentful rather than obedient. Instead of working
Using spare but vivid language, the poem conjures powerful harder, he becomes angry, hurt, and confused.
visual and sonic imagery while describing the mother's
behavior. For example, lines 11-12—"she lumbers / & shrieks, a
Where Iron
Ironyy appears in the poem:
hit for every 2 notes missed"—evoke an image of the mother
trudging heavily as she screams and smacks the son. The • Lines 1-3: “the ambitious mother across the road / is at it
imagery in stanza 2 similarly engages readers' senses of sight, again. proclaiming her goodness / she beats the boy.”
sound, and touch. Readers can hear the mother's strident, or • Lines 18-21: “the embittered boy across the road / is at
harsh/grating, voice and picture her aggressive, "contorted" it again. proclaiming his bewilderment / he yells at her.
movements as she menacingly "circles" her "cowering" son. This shouting out her wrongs, with tears / he begins with her
imagery makes the mother seem monstrous rather than tender expensive taste for education.”
or nurturing.
Devices like consonance and alliter
alliteration
ation enhance this imagery PARALLELISM
as well. Listen to all the spiky, plosive, and hissing sounds in The poem features clear par
parallelism
allelism between the first and final
stanzas 2 and 3, for example: "st strikkess cchordss," "st
stridenttly," stanzas, which highlights the juxtaposition between the mother
"ccirccling the cowering boy," "mostst st
strenuouss p. p.e. ploy," "sswiftt [...] and son. Both are angry, but for very different reasons:
conttortted," "shrieks
ks," and so on. The poem sounds harsh,
jarring, and even threatening, further conveying the extent of • In the first stanza, the "ambitious mother" is
the mother's frightening rage. "proclaiming her goodness" while she "beats" her
son. In the last stanza, the "embittered son" is
Where Imagery appears in the poem: "proclaiming his bewilderment" while he "yells" at
his mother.
• Lines 5-12: “she strikes chords for the afternoon piano • In the first stanza, the speaker describes the mother
lesson, / her voice stridently imitates 2nd. lang. tuition, / as "shouting out [the son's] wrongs, with raps." In
all the while circling the cowering boy / in a manner apt the last stanza, the speaker describes the son as
for the most strenuous p.e. ploy. / swift are all her "shouting out [the mother’s] wrongs, with tears."
contorted movements, / ape for every need; no soft Just as the mother has listed his perceived faults as
gradient / of a consonant-vowel figure, she lumbers / & a child, the son tearfully enumerates his mother's
shrieks, a hit for every 2 notes missed.” deficiencies as a parent.

IRONY This repetitive language reveals that, in a way, the mother and
In lines 2-3, the speaker observes the mother "proclaiming her son are very similar; they are related, after all! And yet, they

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clearly don't see eye to eye. The parallel language highlights the aggressive way she moves her body as she berates her son.
intergenerational conflict between the mother and son, who Lumbers & shrieks (Lines 11-12) - To lumber is to move in a
clearly have very different takes on education. clumsy or blundering manner. To shriek is to utter a loud, sharp,
Parallelism further hammers home that the mother's behavior shrill cry, often in response to pain. The speaker describes the
is what causes the son's response. Her harsh criticisms and mother as "lumbering" and "shrieking" to highlight her inability
punishments are what make the son angry and confused; her to move with grace, or to quiet her voice, when she is gripped
ambition, the parallelism implies, is precisely what fuels his by rage and disappointment with her son.
resentment. Kitty (Line 15) - In the poem, the family saves tuition money for
the son's lessons in a "kitty," or a special stash of saved funds,
Where P
Par
arallelism
allelism appears in the poem: perhaps placed inside an object akin to a piggy bank.
• Lines 1-4: “the ambitious mother across the road / is at it Adagio (Line 16) - From the Italian for slowly, adagio refers to
again. proclaiming her goodness / she beats the boy. the tempo in which a musical piece is to be sung or played. In
shouting out his wrongs, with raps / she begins with his the poem, the word indicates that the son's music teacher has
mediocre report-book grades.” assigned him piano music that is meant to be played adagio.
• Lines 18-21: “the embittered boy across the road / is at Clause analysis (Line 16) - Examination of a short sentence or
it again. proclaiming his bewilderment / he yells at her. passage of writing, or a part of a sentence, for its grammatical
shouting out her wrongs, with tears / he begins with her
structure. In the poem, this refers to work assigned by the son's
expensive taste for education.”
language tutor.
Embittered (Line 18) - Rendered hostile or discontented. The
speaker describes the son as "embittered" by his mother’s
VOCABULARY constant criticism and severe discipline.
Raps (Line 3) - Blows or strikes issued in rebuke or reprimand. Bewildered (Line 19) - Confusion.
Within the poem, the speaker uses "raps" to describe how the
mother hits her son to punish him.
Mediocre report-book grades (Line 4) - Akin to a report card
FORM, METER, & RHYME
in the U.S., a "report-book" in Singapore is a document that
FORM
communicates a student's academic performance. "Mediocre,"
meanwhile, means neither bad nor good, but of average quality. "an afternoon nap" is a free vverse
erse poem. There's no regular
In the context of the poem, the mother considers the son's pattern of meter or rh
rhyme
yme here, and the speaker uses casual
"mediocre" academic performance to be inadequate; she abbreviations and numerals throughout (such as "2nd. lang.," "2
expects him to excel. notes," and "$90"). As a result, the poem sounds and looks
conversational and modern.
2nd. lang. (Line 6) - Singapore has a bilingual education system.
Students in English-language schools are required to study The poem doesn't lack organization, however. Its 21 lines are
their "mother tongue" as a second language (either Mandarin, broken into five stanzas. Most of these are more specifically
Tamil, or Malay, depending on a student's ethnic background). quatr
quatrains
ains, meaning they contain four lines. Stanza 4, however, is
The speaker might also be referring to "standard English," a quintain, meaning it has five lines:
which is more formal than the colloquial "Singapore English" or
"Singlish" spoken in everyday contexts. Standard English is his tears are dear. each monday,
derived from British and American English and is the language wednesday, friday, miss low & madam lim
used in Singapore for official government business. appear & take away $90 from the kitty
leaving him an adagio, clause analysis, little
Cowering (Line 7) - Crouching or retreating to seek protection
pocket-money
from danger or out of timidity. The son is "cowering" in the
poem to avoid being hit by his raging mother.
Placing "pocket-money" alone on its own line emphasizes a
Strenuous p.e. ploy (Line 8) - The speaker compares how the major part of what's driving a wedge between this mother and
mother "circles" her fearful son to the kind of physically son: money. The mother is angry about paying a lot for lessons
aggressive maneuver one might use in a physical education (i.e., that the son, in her estimation, is not taking seriously enough.
gym) class. The son, meanwhile, resents the fact that these lessons eat into
Contorted movements (Line 9) - Twisted or drawn out of his spending money.
shape by a twisting action. The speaker describes the mother's
movements as swift and "contorted" to suggest the fast,

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METER
SETTING
"an afternoon nap" is a free vverse
erse poem, meaning it doesn't
contain a regular meter
meter. Instead, the poem's language sounds The poem takes place in contemporary Singapore, presumably
conversational. Harsh consonance and frequent asyndeton also in the "afternoon." Because Singapore is an urbanized island
lend the poem a choppy rhythm that helps to convey the city-state with limited land for housing, an overwhelming
sharpness of the mother's anger and the disconnect between majority of Singaporean citizens, of all class backgrounds, live in
her and her son. flats, or apartments. These flats are typically in high-rise
Although the poem has no metrical consistency from line to line buildings clustered in close proximity. As such, an observant
or stanza to stanza, the strategic use of meter at certain neighbor could easily develop the kind of familiarity the
moments enhances the poem's thematic ideas. For instance, speaker has with this mother and son.
line 3 contains the phrase "she beats the boy." This phrase The Singaporean setting illuminates some of the poem's details.
consists of two metrical feet known as iambs
iambs, in which an For example, Singapore has a bilingual education
unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable: system—hence the reference to "2nd. lang. tuition" in the
second stanza. The fact that the mother and son's home
she beats the bo
boyy [...] contains a piano suggests that this family is middle class.
Keeping money in a "kitty," meanwhile, implies they're not
This use of meter highlights the alliter
alliterativ
ativee /b/ sounds in particularly wealthy; they must set aside specific funds for the
"b
beats" and "bboy," and it also emphasizes the mother's action son's lessons.
(giving a beating) and its object (her son). The phrase "his tears Note, too, that the speaker says that both the mother and son
are dear
dear" at the start of line 13 uses the same pattern, making are "at it again." The scene the poem describes is not unique;
this internal rh
rhyme
yme stand out all the more clearly to the the speaker has overheard these two fighting many times,
reader's ear. revealing that this is a home marked by frequent conflict.
The poem plays with stressed beats elsewhere as well. Take the
double phrase "strik
strikes
es chords
chords" in line 5, where having two
stressed beats in a row evokes the sound of the mother CONTEXT
pounding on the piano keys.
LITERARY CONTEXT
RHYME SCHEME Singaporean poet Arthur Yap published "an afternoon nap" in
As a free vverse
erse poem, "an afternoon nap” contains no formal his 1977 collection Commonplace. Scholars of Yap's work note
rh
rhyme
yme scheme
scheme. The lack of a regular pattern of rhyme keeps his tendency to write about ordinary, everyday experiences,
things sounding conversational and contemporary. Instead of and "an afternoon nap" exemplifies this by focusing on the
rhyme, the poem relies on sharp consonance
consonance, alliter
alliteration
ation, and significance of a squabble between a mother and her son. Yap's
assonance to create its striking music. poetry also often moves between colloquial Singapore English,
or "Singlish," and more formal "standard English," a legacy of the
British colonial era.
SPEAKER Before his death in 2006, Yap published four major collections:
The speaker of "an afternoon nap" is someone who lives "across Only Lines (1971), Commonplace (1977), down the line (1980),
the road" from the mother and son that the poem describes. and man snake apple & other poems (1986). His work has been
This speaker regularly overhears (and, perhaps, can even see) translated widely in Asia and anthologized in England, the U.S.,
the mother and son fighting, implying that their homes are Canada, and Australia. He was also a painter and fiction writer.
quite close together.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
As an onlooker, the speaker is a stand-in for the reader (and
Singapore is an island city-state with a multiethnic population
perhaps represents the poet himself). The poem focuses on
comprised of people primarily of Chinese, Malay, and Indian
what the speaker observes rather than the speaker themselves,
descent. Singapore's diverse population is a result of its
but those observations nevertheless suggest where the
centuries-long history as a port for regional and international
speaker's loyalties lie. The poem's first three stanzas are
trade, as well as colonial-era labor policies. A former British and
devoted to the speaker's extremely critical assessment of the
Japanese colony, Singapore's formal decolonization occurred
mother's severe discipline. The speaker's unflattering
when Singapore became an independent republic on August 9,
description of the mother's rage implies the speaker is
1965.
sympathetic to the "cowering" son (and might even feel
protective of him). Singapore's population typically speaks at least two languages:

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a "mother tongue" language that is ethnically specific popular website for Singaporean poets and poetry.
(Mandarin, Tamil, or Malay) and English. Colloquial Singapore (http:/
(http://www
/www.poetry
.poetry.sg/arthur-yap-bio
.sg/arthur-yap-bio))
English, or "Singlish," is the island's lingua franca and is spoken in
• A Brief History of Singapore — Learn more about the
everyday, rather than formal, contexts. "Standard English" is
poet's home. (https:/
(https://www
/www.telegr
.telegraph.co.uk/tr
aph.co.uk/traavel/
more formal than Singlish and is used on official occasions and disco
discovver-singapore/history-timeline/)
for commerce.
The nation's government has long promoted bilingual • The P
Poet's
oet's V
Voice
oice — Listen to Yap read three poems, with
artsy video footage of Singapore. (http:/
(http://www
/www.poetry
.poetry.sg/
.sg/
education policies: English is the medium of instruction in
arthur-yap-videos )
public schools, and students are required to study one of the
"mother tongues" as a second language. In Yap's poem, the
"2nd. lang." might refer to the son's "mother tongue" language HOW T
TO
O CITE
studies or extracurricular lessons to help him with his
"Standard English."
MLA
Casumbal-Salazar, Melisa. "an afternoon nap." LitCharts. LitCharts
MORE RESOUR
RESOURCES
CES LLC, 27 May 2022. Web. 5 Dec 2022.

EXTERNAL RESOURCES CHICAGO MANUAL

• Singapore and Bilingual Education — Read about the Casumbal-Salazar, Melisa. "an afternoon nap." LitCharts LLC, May
history of Singapore's bilingual education policy, alluded to 27, 2022. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
in Yap's poem. (https:/
(https:///eresources.nlb.go
eresources.nlb.govv.sg/infopedia/ https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/arthur-yap/an-afternoon-nap.
articles/SIP_2016-09-01_093402.html)
• An Introduction to Arthur Y
Yap
ap — Read a biography of Yap,
selected works, and scholarly analysis of Yap's writing on a

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