

o "An Afternoon Nap," by the Singaporean poet Arthur Yap, illustrates how intense parental pressure
can alienate children. The poem describes a mother who berates her son for what she perceives as
his laziness and lack of ambition. The son, for his part, resents his mother's high expectations and
chafes at her harsh discipline. Yap published "An Afternoon Nap" in the 1970s, during an era of
heavy investment in Singapore's public education system, which ranks among the best in the world.
The poem suggests that, though often well-intentioned, parental ambition and punishment can
make children miserable rather than motivate them to succeed.

 Read the full text of “an afternoon nap”

 “an afternoon nap” Summary
 The determined, demanding mother who lives across the street once again gives her son a beating,
all the while declaring that doing so makes her a good mother. She yells at her son for his various
perceived inadequacies, starting with his subpar academic performance.

The mother pounds harsh chords during her son's piano lesson that afternoon. She shrilly mimics
his second language (in Singapore, students are required to study Chinese, Malay, or Tamil as a
second, "Mother Tongue" language) as she threateningly paces in circles around her recoiling
son. Her intimidating movements require a level of physical exertion comparable to exercise.

The mother's physical movements are fast and aggressive; she twists her body as she scolds her
son, mimicking him in a variety of ways for his shortcomings. There are no gentle expressions of
support or guidance. Instead, she trudges around him like a screaming monster, smacking him
for playing incorrect notes on the piano.

The son cries precious tears because, three days a week, his language and piano teachers come to
give him lessons, taking $90 from the piggy bank and leaving him with homework and less
spending money.

The resentful boy who lives across the street is once again declaring that he cannot understand
why his mother is so mad at him. He yells at her for all her faults, the foremost being her
willingness to pay a high price to provide him with an excellent education.
 “an afternoon nap” Themes
 The High Cost of Parental Pressure to Succeed

"An Afternoon Nap" illustrates what can happen when parents push their children too hard. The
poem describes an "ambitious" mother who viciously berates her son for his poor academic
performance, believing all the while that she's doing the right thing. Rather than motivating her
son, however, the mother's high expectations and harsh discipline just make her son bitter,
distant, and miserable. The mother's ambitions for her son may be well-intentioned (in her mind,
at least), but 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 punishment are not simply unhelpful but downright harmful. It further subtly
critiques the society that encourages the mother's narrow, competitive vision of success in the
first place.

The mother clearly wants her son to achieve a certain level, and type, of success—and he's
definitely not living up to her expectations. Her "expensive taste for education" includes frequent
piano lessons and second language tutoring, and she routinely scolds and "beats" her son for not
working as hard as she thinks he should.

The speaker describes the mother's physicality and rage in almost monstrous terms. She
aggressively "strikes" piano chords and her movements are "swift" and "contorted." She circles
her "cowering" son like an animal closing in on its prey, and she even mimics him in a variety of
ways—"an ape for every need"—adding humiliation to physical brutality. She expresses none of
the traditional qualities associated with motherhood and nurturing; she is not "soft," kind, or
gently encouraging but insulting and cruel.

Instead of motivating her son, the mother's beatings just leave him "embittered" and
"bewildered." He does not quietly accept his beating, but "shouts out her wrongs," beginning
with "her expensive taste for education." Her vision of what his life should look like has
disregarded his own desires; he laments, for example, that his lessons leave him "little / pocket-
money." He cries when she disciplines him, and the speaker states the son's "tears are dear." This
 suggests that his mother's "expensive taste for education" is not only materially costly but also
emotionally costly for her son.

Worth noting is that her expectations for good grades, a second language, and musical prowess
nod to the educational system of Yap's homeland of Singapore, known for being one of the 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 in the first
place.

Indeed, in this intergenerational conflict, the mother believes her ambitiousness and harsh
discipline to be evidence of her "goodness." She may even be offering opportunities to her son
that she herself did not have. Yet her efforts clearly backfire, as her son is resentful, confused,
and emotionally scarred by her behavior. What he needs, the poem suggests, is understanding
and gentleness, not endless scolding. Rather than help her child, the mother's discipline and
pressure to fit into a rigid model of success have pushed him away.

Where this theme appears in the poem:

 Lines 1-21
 Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “an afternoon nap”
 Lines 1-4

the ambitious mother ...

... mediocre report-book grades.
The unnamed speaker of "An Afternoon Nap" begins the poem by describing a scene that they've
apparently witnessed before: a woman who lives across the street is beating her son and scolding
him for various wrongdoings, starting with his poor grades in school.

The speaker calls this mother "ambitious," a word that, in many contexts, has positive
connotations. Here, though, it suggests that the mother is living vicariously through her child—
that she wants him to succeed for her own gratification.
The enjambment of the poem's opening also creates anticipation: readers are propelled across
the first line as they wait to discover what, exactly, this "ambitious mother" is doing. The phrase
"at it again" conveys that whatever she's doing is a regular occurrence in this household. The
full-stop caesura in the middle of the line then creates a moment of suspense before the reveal
that she's beating her child:

is at it again. proclaiming her goodness

she beats the boy. [...]

Placing the phrase "proclaiming her goodness" front and center emphasizes the irony of the
situation: there's a clear disconnect between what the mother perceives herself to be doing, which
is demonstrating that she's a good mother, and what she's actually doing, which is beating her
child. (The irony here is also situational because, as readers learn later in the poem, the mother’s
punitive discipline does not, in fact, produce the effects she intends on her son's behavior.)

The mother loudly scolds her son, "shouting out his wrongs" while she "raps," or smacks, him.
She reproaches him by detailing a list of his perceived inadequacies, beginning with his
"mediocre report-book grades," or the average grades he's received on his school report card. His
academic performance, apparently, is below her expectations.

Alliteration brings the mother's anger to vivid life on the page. Listen to the booming /b/ sounds
of "beats the boy" and the growling /r/ sounds of "wrongs"/"raps," for
example. Consonance adds to the effect as well. In addition to those /b/ and /r/ sounds, listen to
the sharp /p/ and guttural /g/ sounds that fill this passage:

[...] proclaiming her goodness

she beats the boy. shouting out his wrongs, with raps
she begins with his mediocre report-book grades.

The assonance/consonance of "shouting out" turns up the volume on that phrase in particular,
calling readers' attention to the ferocity of the mother's scolding.
 Lines 5-8

she strikes chords ...

... strenuous p.e. ploy.

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 Lines 9-10

swift are all ...

... for every need;

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 Lines 10-12

no soft gradient ...

... 2 notes missed.
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 Lines 13-17

his tears are ...

... pocket-money
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 Lines 18-20

the embittered boy ...

... wrongs, with tears
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 Line 21

he begins with ... taste for education.

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 “an afternoon nap” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

 Consonance
 Unlock all 249 words of this analysis of Consonance in “an afternoon nap,” and get the poetic
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Where consonance appears in the poem:

 Line 1: “ambitious,” “across,” “road”

 Line 2: “again,” “proclaiming,” “goodness”
  Line 3: “beats,” “boy,” “wrongs,” “raps”
 Line 4: “begins,” “mediocre report-book grades”
 Line 5: “strikes chords,” “afternoon,” “lesson”
 Line 6: “voice stridently imitates,” “2nd,” “tuition”
 Line 7: “circling,” “cowering”
 Line 8: “manner apt,” “most strenuous p.e. ploy”
 Line 9: “swift,” “contorted movements”
 Line 11: “consonant”
 Line 12: “shrieks,” “2 notes missed”
 Line 13: “tears,” “dear”
 Line 14: “miss,” “madam lim”
 Line 15: “take away,” “kitty”
 Line 16: “clause analysis, little”
 Line 17: “pocket”
 Line 18: “embittered boy”
 Line 19: “bewilderment”
 Line 20: “shouting out,” “tears”
 Line 21: “begins,” “expensive taste”

 Metaphor
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Where metaphor appears in the poem:

 Line 5: “she strikes chords for the afternoon piano lesson”

 Lines 5-6: “, / her voice stridently imitates 2nd. lang. tuition”
 Lines 10-11: “no soft gradient / of a consonant-vowel figure”

 Imagery
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Where imagery appears in the poem:

 Lines 5-12: “she strikes chords for the afternoon piano lesson, / her voice stridently imitates
2nd. lang. tuition, / all the while circling the cowering boy / in a manner apt for the most
strenuous p.e. ploy. / swift are all her contorted movements, / ape for every need; no soft
gradient / of a consonant-vowel figure, she lumbers / & shrieks, a hit for every 2 notes
missed.”

 Irony
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Where irony appears in the poem:

 Lines 1-3: “the ambitious mother across the road / is at it again. proclaiming her goodness /
she beats the boy.”
 Lines 18-21: “the embittered boy across the road / is at it again. proclaiming his
bewilderment / he yells at her. shouting out her wrongs, with tears / he begins with her
expensive taste for education.”

 Parallelism
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Where parallelism appears in the poem:

 Lines 1-4: “the ambitious mother across the road / is at it again. proclaiming her goodness /
she beats the boy. shouting out his wrongs, with raps / she begins with his mediocre report-
book grades.”
 Lines 18-21: “the embittered boy across the road / is at it again. proclaiming his
bewilderment / he yells at her. shouting out her wrongs, with tears / he begins with her
expensive taste for education.”
 “an afternoon nap” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the
order in which they appear in the poem.
 Raps

 Mediocre report-book grades

 2nd. lang.

 Cowering

 Strenuous p.e. ploy

 Contorted movements

 Lumbers & shrieks

 Kitty

 Adagio

 Clause analysis

 Embittered
 Bewildered

 (Location in poem: Line 3: “shouting out his wrongs, with raps”)

Blows or strikes issued in rebuke or reprimand. Within the poem, the speaker uses "raps" to
describe how the mother hits her son to punish him.

 Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “an afternoon nap”

 Form

"an afternoon nap" is a free verse poem. There's no regular pattern of meter or rhyme here, and
the speaker uses casual abbreviations and numerals throughout (such as "2nd. lang.," "2 notes,"
and "$90"). As a result, the poem sounds and looks conversational and modern.

The poem doesn't lack organization, however. Its 21 lines are broken into five stanzas. Most of
these are more specifically quatrains, meaning they contain four lines. Stanza 4, however, is a
quintain, meaning it has five lines:

his tears are dear. each monday,

wednesday, friday, miss low & madam lim
appear & take away $90 from the kitty
leaving him an adagio, clause analysis, little
pocket-money

Placing "pocket-money" alone on its own line emphasizes a major part of what's driving a wedge
between this mother and son: money. The mother is angry about paying a lot for lessons that the
son, in her estimation, is not taking seriously enough. The son, meanwhile, resents the fact that
these lessons eat into his spending money.

 Meter

"an afternoon nap" is a free verse poem, meaning it doesn't contain a regular meter. Instead, the
poem's language sounds conversational. Harsh consonance and frequent asyndeton also lend the
 poem a choppy rhythm that helps to convey the sharpness of the mother's anger and the
disconnect between her and her son.

Although the poem has no metrical consistency from line to line or stanza to stanza, the strategic
use of meter at certain moments enhances the poem's thematic ideas. For instance, line 3 contains
the phrase "she beats the boy." This phrase consists of two metrical feet known as iambs, in
which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable:

she beats the boy [...]

This use of meter highlights the alliterative /b/ sounds in "beats" and "boy," and it also
emphasizes the mother's action (giving a beating) and its object (her son). The phrase
"his tears are dear" at the start of line 13 uses the same pattern, making this internal
rhyme stand out all the more clearly to the reader's ear.

The poem plays with stressed beats elsewhere as well. Take the double phrase "strikes chords"
in line 5, where having two stressed beats in a row evokes the sound of the mother pounding on
the piano keys.

 Rhyme Scheme

As a free verse poem, "an afternoon nap” contains no formal rhyme scheme. The lack of a
regular pattern of rhyme keeps things sounding conversational and contemporary. Instead of
rhyme, the poem relies on sharp consonance, alliteration, and assonance to create its striking
music.

 “an afternoon nap” Speaker

 The speaker of "an afternoon nap" is someone who lives "across the road" from the mother and son
that the poem describes. This speaker regularly overhears (and, perhaps, can even see) the mother
and son fighting, implying that their homes are quite close together.

As an onlooker, the speaker is a stand-in for the reader (and perhaps represents the poet himself).
The poem focuses on what the speaker observes rather than the speaker themselves, but those
 observations nevertheless suggest where the speaker's loyalties lie. The poem's first three stanzas
are devoted to the speaker's extremely critical assessment of the mother's severe discipline. The
speaker's unflattering description of the mother's rage implies the speaker is sympathetic to the
"cowering" son (and might even feel protective of him).

 “an afternoon nap” Setting

 The poem takes place in contemporary Singapore, presumably in the "afternoon." Because
Singapore is an urbanized island city-state with limited land for housing, an overwhelming majority
of Singaporean citizens, of all class backgrounds, live in flats, or apartments. These flats are
typically in high-rise buildings clustered in close proximity. As such, an observant neighbor could
easily develop the kind of familiarity the speaker has with this mother and son.

The Singaporean setting illuminates some of the poem's details. For example, Singapore has a
bilingual education system—hence the reference to "2nd. lang. tuition" in the second stanza. The
fact that the mother and son's home contains a piano suggests that this family is middle class.
Keeping money in a "kitty," meanwhile, implies they're not particularly wealthy; they must set
aside specific funds for the son's lessons.

Note, too, that the speaker says that both the mother and son are "at it again." The scene the
poem describes is not unique; the speaker has overheard these two fighting many times,
revealing that this is a home marked by frequent conflict.

 Literary and Historical Context of “an afternoon nap”

Literary Context

Singaporean poet Arthur Yap published "an afternoon nap" in his 1977 collection Commonplace.
Scholars of Yap's work note his tendency to write about ordinary, everyday experiences, and "an
afternoon nap" exemplifies this by focusing on the significance of a squabble between a mother
and her son. Yap's poetry also often moves between colloquial Singapore English, or "Singlish,"
and more formal "standard English," a legacy of the British colonial era.
 Before his death in 2006, Yap published four major collections: Only
Lines (1971), Commonplace (1977), down the line (1980), and man snake apple & other
poems (1986). His work has been translated widely in Asia and anthologized in England, the
U.S., Canada, and Australia. He was also a painter and fiction writer.

Historical Context

Singapore is an island city-state with a multiethnic population comprised of people primarily of

Chinese, Malay, and Indian descent. Singapore's diverse population is a result of its centuries-
long history as a port for regional and international trade, as well as colonial-era labor policies. A
former British and Japanese colony, Singapore's formal decolonization occurred when Singapore
became an independent republic on August 9, 1965.

Singapore's population typically speaks at least two languages: a "mother tongue" language that
is ethnically specific (Mandarin, Tamil, or Malay) and English. Colloquial Singapore English, or
"Singlish," is the island's lingua franca and is spoken in everyday, rather than formal, contexts.
"Standard English" is more formal than Singlish and is used on official occasions and for
commerce.

The nation's government has long promoted bilingual education policies: English is the medium
of instruction in 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 studies or extracurricular lessons to help him with his "Standard English."

 More “an afternoon nap” Resources

 External Resources

 Singapore and Bilingual Education — Read about the history of Singapore's bilingual
education policy, alluded to in Yap's poem.
 An Introduction to Arthur Yap — Read a biography of Yap, selected works, and
scholarly analysis of Yap's writing on a popular website for Singaporean poets and poetry.
  A Brief History of Singapore — Learn more about the poet's home.
 The Poet's Voice — Listen to Yap read three poems, with artsy video footage of
Singapore.
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