"Garden City" by Gilbert Koh

What did the man aim to bring to the city?

• Tall buildings made of steel and concrete

• Animals like birds and squirrels

• Trees and other greenery

• A contrast between the urban and the natural

How did the trees in the city grow?

• They grew wild and untamed, reflecting the "chaos of jungle"

• They followed the plans of the city builder and grew in an orderly manner

• They grew higher and higher, reaching for the heavens

• They were planted randomly without any plan

What did the presence of the trees do to the landscape of the city?

• They made the landscape softer and less harsh

• They made the landscape harsher and more concrete-like

• They made the landscape taller and more crowded

• They made the landscape more wild

Why did the man feel a deep sense of satisfaction when he reached the age of seventy?

• He had achieved his ambition of bringing greenery to the city

• He had built tall buildings made of steel and concrete

• He had achieved complete control over the the nation

• He had completed his life's purpose

Which lines from the poem best suggest that the man is ambitious?

• Let there be trees, the man said, and lo and behold,/there were trees

• Even as the true towers of the city climbed higher/and higher for the heavens,

• They appeared overnight, abandoned the/chaos of jungle, bent to the will of man,

• and in his seventieth year, the man was pleased,/as he rested, as he viewed his work,

Which lines best suggest that the garden city is arranged in an artificial manner?

• rain trees, angsanas, flames of the forest,/causarinas, traveller’s palms and more

• The hard lines of architecture were softened,/the rain did fall,

• grew in straight lines,/in squares and rectangles, in allocated corners,

• springing up against/the steel and concrete of the expanding city

What does "bent to the will of man" suggest about the relationship between man and the trees?

• The tree species were carefully chosen by man

• The trees willingly obeyed the desires of man

• The trees had a symbiotic relationship with man

• The trees had no choice but to obey the desires of man

How does the poet create contrast in the poem?

• He uses metaphors to represent the garden city

• He uses repetition to emphasise trees being replanted

• He emphasises the beauty of nature through imagery

• He compares urban imagery with natural imagery

Which of the following themes best reflect the poem?

• Urbanisation and nature

• The price of one's ambition

• Nature

• The unpredictability of nature

How might the poem be different if it were written from the perspective of one of the trees?

• The poem might emphasise how the trees are feeling grateful towards man for not cutting them down

• The poem might emphasise the pain that the trees are feeling while being repeatedly replanted

• The poem might emphasise how the trees are feeling indifferent towards their treatment

• The poem will emphasise a sense of loss as there are no animals to accompany the trees