Amanda Chong is a Singaporean writer who published her first work at age 11 and won several poetry awards. Her poem "Lion Heart" uses the merlion as a symbol of Singapore's history and pride as a nation that has grown from humble origins. Written in 8 stanzas with vivid imagery, it describes the merlion's journey from ruling the shore to summoning the growth of Singapore from a small settlement to a modern city skyline, concluding with a message to remember the country's lion-like spirit and origins.

1. lion heart
Amanda Chong

2. • Singaporean
• Published writer at age 11
• Award-winning poet at age 16
• Her story, What The Modern Woman Wants,
bagged the top spot in the Commonwealth Essay
Competition in 2004.
• The following year, she took the Foyle Young
Poets of the Year Award, Britain's most
prestigious poetry prize for those aged 11 to 17.
• Top A-Level Literature student outside of Britain
• Now studying Law at Cambridge University

3. What’s the poem about?
• Patriotic poem about Singapore
• Uses the merlion to symbolize the majesty
and pride of Singapore as a nation
• Written to instill pride in its citizens and
remind them to appreciate how far Singapore
has come

4. lion heart
You came out of the sea,
skin dappled scales of sunlight;
Riding crests, waves of fish in your fists.
Washed up, your gills snapped shut.
Water whipped the first breath of your lungs,
Your lips’ bud teased by morning mists.

5. You conquered the shore, its ivory coast.
Your legs still rocked with the memory of waves.
Sinews of sand ran across your back-
Rising runes of your oceanic origins.
Your heart thumped- an animal skin drum
heralding the coming of a prince.

6. In the jungle, amid rasping branches,
trees loosened their shadows to shroud you.
The prince beheld you then, a golden sheen.
Your eyes, two flickers; emerald blaze
You settled back on fluent haunches;
The squall of a beast, your roar, your call.

7. In crackling boats, seeds arrived, wind-blown,
You summoned their colours to the palm
of your hand, folded them snugly into loam,
watched saplings swaddled in green,
as they sunk roots, spawned shade,
and embraced the land that embraced them.

8. Centuries, by the sea’s pulmonary,
a vein throbbing humming bumboats – your
trees rise as skyscrapers.
Their ankles lost in swilling water,
as they heave themselves higher
above the mirrored surface.

9. Remember your self: your raw lion heart,
Each beat a stony echo that washes
through ribbed vaults of buildings.

10. Remember your keris, iron lightning
ripping through tentacles of waves,
double-edged, curved to a point-
flung high and caught unsheathed, scattering
five stars in the red tapestry of your sky.

11. Form & Structure
• 8 stanzas (first five consist of 6 lines, then
stanza 6 and 7 consist of 3 lines each, with a
final concluding stanza of two lines)
• No specific rhyme scheme

12. Tone, Mood & Figurative Language
• Tone – awe, respect, admiration
• Mood – mysterious, almost mythical yet
inspiring awe?
• Alliteration & powerful imagery conjured up
by vivid descriptions
• Metaphors

13. Vocabulary
Keris -
Malay or Indonesian dagger having a
wavy double-edged blade.
Bumboat - a small vessel carrying
provisions for sale to moored or
anchored ships.

14. Check out more resources here….
• https://prezi.com/vey1utk1lmgy/lion-heart-
by-amanda-chong/
• http://news.asiaone.com/News/Education/St
ory/A1Story20080424-61555.html
• https://sites.google.com/site/positivethinking
club/thought-provoking-articles/what-the-
modern-woman-wants

15. Essay Questions
• How does the poetess convey the spirit of the country
in the form of the mythical beast, the Merlion in her
poem Lion Heart?
• How does the poetess elaborate on the symbolism in
her poem Lion Heart?