Ee tiang hong biography of michael

MALAYSIAN POETRY IN ENGLISH:  
INFLUENCE AND INDEPENDENCE

Ee Tiang Hong

Paper presented at Writers' Week, Adelaide Festival of Arts, 25.2.78 to 4.3.78. 

First published in “Singapore and Malaysian Writing” [Special Issue] Pacific Quarterly (Moana), vol.

1, Jan. 1979. Guest edited by Kirpal Singh. This essay was originally published alongside poems from Arthur Yap, Cecil Rajendra, Edwin Thumboo, Ee Tiang Hong, Kee Thuan Chye, Latif Kamaluddin,  Muhammad Haji Salleh, Robert Yeo, Rosaly Puthucheary and others. 

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I would have liked to have been able to say something in tune with the pulse of this charming city on this festive occasion, to dwell on the joy of poetry, its make-up and its inner life.

Two considerations, however, prompt me to do otherwise. First, there are many others who can do this better than I can; second, my own concern about the conditions under which poetry is, or is not possible, may or may not be written.

I refer to the su