Life Within the Classroom Presented by Three Poems
In these three poems about school, a lot of tension is created between
the staff and the students. Firstly in "Schoolroom on a wet Afternoon"
by Scannell, school is not presented as relevant to life when in the
first line it says that "the unrelated paragraphs on morning, are
forgotten now" suggesting that the teacher seems obsessed with school
and the student seems isolated. When all the students have "bowed
heads" it denotes that this ambiguous image shows that the students
are either working or disinterested showing tension. The poet says
that "each child is disciplined; absorbed and still at his small desk"
implying that they are either being forced or self-controlling and
they are engaged or part of the group. The excitement of the teacher
is undermined when "the complexities of simple interest lurk in
inkwells" hinting that as "lurk" is hidden and gloomy it hints to the
threat at the end of the poem. The way the lesson is expressed by the
teacher is implied when it mentions "the brittle sticks of chalk"
illuminating that as "chalk" is symbol of how ideas are shared but the
fact that the chalk is brittle, it is hard but fragile. In addition
"The Play Way" creates tension, particularly when the teacher
dehumanises a student, when it says "one said "can we jive""
encouraging the students rebellion because as "jive" represents
physical freedom which is not expressed when listening to classical
music. The staff isolates the student by saying, "one said" but the
student views themselves as a group by asking, "Can we jive."
Similarly there is a lot of tension created in "A snowy day in...
... middle of paper ...
...says that "its private
spell behind eyes that stare wide," indicating the importance to the
individual and that the experience is a personal one. In addition in
"Schoolroom on a wet Afternoon" the hidden life of the classroom is
presented as violent, especially when it mentions a "vicious rope,
glaring blade, the gun cocked to kill" suggesting that the violence
and threat of the child is expressed, also by using plosive sounds
makes it seem more violent. When it mentions "the severed heads of
kings rot by the misty Thames" it signifies that by using an opening
list of history it links to the public executions, civil war all
surrounding the young lives. Similarly in "A snowy day in school" it
creates a hidden life of the classroom, particularly when it mentions
the "irregular hum of the class" indicating an ideal image.
In her poem “The School Children”, Louise Gluck uses imagery by applying an extended metaphor to show how going to school is similar to going to battle and by describing the mothers’ actions through the use of vivid verbs to portray the disconnection between children and their guardians, despite the sacrifices that mothers make.
In the 4th, 5th, and 6th line of this poem the poet portrays a major simile stating “the truth’s superb surprise, as lightening to the children eased with explanation kind.” In the first part of the simile saying “the truths superb
Therefore, Oliver’s incorporation of imagery, setting, and mood to control the perspective of her own poem, as well as to further build the contrast she establishes through the speaker, serves a critical role in creating the lesson of the work. Oliver’s poem essentially gives the poet an ultimatum; either he can go to the “cave behind all that / jubilation” (10-11) produced by a waterfall to “drip with despair” (14) without disturbing the world with his misery, or, instead, he can mimic the thrush who sings its poetry from a “green branch” (15) on which the “passing foil of the water” (16) gently brushes its feathers. The contrast between these two images is quite pronounced, and the intention of such description is to persuade the audience by setting their mood towards the two poets to match that of the speaker. The most apparent difference between these two depictions is the gracelessness of the first versus the gracefulness of the second. Within the poem’s content, the setting has been skillfully intertwined with both imagery and mood to create an understanding of the two poets, whose surroundings characterize them. The poet stands alone in a cave “to cry aloud for [his] / mistakes” while the thrush shares its beautiful and lovely music with the world (1-2). As such, the overall function of these three elements within the poem is to portray the
The poem is written in the father’s point of view; this gives insight of the father’s character and
In the poem, the poet uses symbolism to show how teacher was not actually grading the paper, but she was trying to see her inside the student. First instance which shows this is when the teacher tells the student that she would have wrote the paper differently. The teacher said, “I’d have said it differently, / or rather, said something else” (17-18). This shows that the teacher was not grading the student on his writing, but she was comparing him to herself, and she was trying to tell him that he should have written the way she writes. Another instance which shows symbolism is when the teacher tells the student that she would have quoted the context. The teacher says,” I would have quoted in this context” (24). This shows that not only she did not grade the student on his writing, but she is showing the way she would have written the paper. Another symbol that the poet uses to show that the teacher was not grading the paper, but was trying to see herself in the story is when after finding the mistakes, the teacher says that after all the student is not her and it is natural to have fault in his paper. The teacher said, “You are not/ me, finally, / and though this is an awkward problem, involving/ and inescapable fast that you are so young, so young/ it is also a delightful provocation” (34-38). This shows that the teacher is telling the student that because he is not her and he is very young, there are
enable us to understand the moral of the poem. Which is work hard and you will receive you goals and never give up.
The poem also focuses on what life was like in the sixties. It tells of black freedom marches in the South how they effected one family. It told of how our peace officers reacted to marches with clubs, hoses, guns, and jail. They were fierce and wild and a black child would be no match for them. The mother refused to let her child march in the wild streets of Birmingham and sent her to the safest place that no harm would become of her daughter.
In a typical family, there are parents that expected to hear things when their teenager is rebelling against them: slamming the door, shouting at each other, and protests on what they could do or what they should not do. Their little baby is growing up, testing their wings of adulthood; they are not the small child that wanted their mommy to read a book to them or to kiss their hurts away and most probably, they are thinking that anything that their parents told them are certainly could not be right. The poem talks about a conflict between the author and her son when he was in his adolescence. In the first stanza, a misunderstanding about a math problem turns into a family argument that shows the classic rift between the generation of the parent and the teenager. Despite the misunderstandings between the parent and child, there is a loving bond between them. The imagery, contrasting tones, connotative diction, and symbolism in the poem reflect these two sides of the relationship.
result it has on people. In all three poems the last line of the poems
In the end, the journey the speaker embarked on throughout the poem was one of learning, especially as the reader was taken through the evolution of the speakers thoughts, demonstrated by the tone, and experienced the images that were seen in the speaker’s nightmare of the personified fear. As the journey commenced, the reader learned how the speaker dealt with the terrors and fears that were accompanied by some experience in the speaker’s life, and optimistically the reader learned just how they themselves deal with the consequences and troubles that are a result of the various situations they face in their
On the surface the poem seems to be a meditation on past events and actions, a contemplative reflection about what has gone on before. Research into the poem informs us that the poem is written with a sense of irony
...e and identity insulted is a horrible thing, but to be able to stand strong inside yourself and know who you are is true strength and displays a sense of true wisdom. Though the young boy in "Incident" couldn't realize this at his young age, it can be assumed that he eventually did and became confident enough to write about it. These two poems show a chronology of strength and wisdom gained from the black child through the black man, and also a chronology of ignorance and racism gained from the white child through the white woman. These poems fit together greatly and each intends to send the same message, only from different perspectives. A great message about strength in one's own identity can be gained from reading each individually, but if you read them together you can really see the importance of the message intended.
There are two major conflicts in this story. The Major and the most specific is an internal conflict. the conflict is Geraldine versus herself. More often times than not, Geraldine is always holding her tongue in situations where it applies to her real life. This is a conflict because she is constantly restraining herself from saying something that will “get her in trouble”. The second conflict is Geraldine versus life in general. Geraldine has a conflict that could be considered both external and internal. the conflict is external because she faces poverty in her neighborhood and eviction from her house. This conflict is internal because of Geraldine’s mental reaction to her situation and how she needs to fight the fact to not tell anyone. The climax to this story is where Geraldine write the poem from her mind set. this section has the most emotion and sparks the most interest. Geraldine bluntly tells her teacher her emotions and how she feels towards the way she lives. this climax slowly unwinds into the resolution. the resolution of this story is when the teacher faces the board until the class leave and starts to cry. Theme was not mentioned before but plays an important role in short
looks at the time and how the poet's father has lack of control of the
this is a very powerful part of the poem as he is sort of saying that