18-09-2013
Using the tools "Fiction: How to read a poem", from my english book "Contexts"
1) The speaker in the story is not described or told
about in any way and it is therefore very difficult to attach a name or
character to him. However we can exclude some instances. It is not the teacher
himself neither one of the children in the class due to him telling about them
in third person. The speaker also knows what the teacher is thinking: (wondering if they would believe that soldiers in the Boer War told long,
rambling stories, designed to make
the enemy nod off).
2) We don’t
hear about the speaker’s background.
3) The
speaker is describing the history teacher’s method of teaching as
misinformative. The speaker thinks that the children should of course be spared
for horrible details but that they should learn the real stories over fake ones
that make the world seem like a bed of flowers. Because that is a part of
growing up. Learning that the world also has problems to deal with. While the
teacher is only acting in good will, the speaker thinks that he is a
little delusional.
4) The
speaker is speaking in a bit of an accusing tone.
5) The poem
is about a history teacher that teaches the children mild versions of horrible historical events.
6) He
doesn’t think, as I mentioned before, that the teacher’s way of introducing the
children to these historical events is as precise, good or informative as they
should be.
7) As of
having mentioned a lot about the situation and tone previously I will talk a bit about the
subject matter in my theory of the poem’s negative way of describing the
history teacher. There is one bit from the poem that I think is good to have
included as subject matter: (The children would leave
his classroom for the
playground to torment the weak and the
smart, mussing up their hair and breaking
their glasses). This suggest that the children aren’t learning enough about reality, and
instead of learning how to act and work together in the modern day society,
they just leave his class not knowing about consequences in life and how to
deal with them.
8) The
language in the poem is pretty simple. It’s the kind of language you use on a
daily basis. There are no complex words and it’s all in all just a laid-back
writing style.
9) The
stanzas in the poem are built up in a pretty simple pattern that consists of
stanzas with two, four and six lines. The pattern is like this:
4-2-4-2-4-6
Other than that there is no particular shape.
4-2-4-2-4-6
Other than that there is no particular shape.
10) There are six
stanzas in this poem.
11) This poem
doesn’t really rhyme.
12) As said before
there isn’t a particular rhythm in this poem
13) The poem tells
the story of a teacher who want to protect his students’ innocence from some of
the horrible events in history. So he tells less intimidating versions of the
stories and thereby he accidentally damages them by not teaching them about
consequences and punishment for actions.
14) The theme in
the poem is growing up. The teacher wants to protect the children innocence by leaving the horrible stories out of their reach, and the speaker indirectly
thinks that they should learn more about the horrors in the world to help them
mature.
15) The theme in
the poem is developed in three steps.
1. We are presented to the way the teacher tells the stories and that he is doing it to protect the children’s innocence.
2. We find out that after the teacher's class the children go out and pick on the other kids, and there we find out that by protecting their innocence he failed to teach them that consequences follows action and that you cant just do whatever you would like to.
3. Lastly, we learn that the teacher is blind to the fact that he isn’t helping the children more than he is damaging them, when he walks casually home thinking of new things to tell them.
1. We are presented to the way the teacher tells the stories and that he is doing it to protect the children’s innocence.
2. We find out that after the teacher's class the children go out and pick on the other kids, and there we find out that by protecting their innocence he failed to teach them that consequences follows action and that you cant just do whatever you would like to.
3. Lastly, we learn that the teacher is blind to the fact that he isn’t helping the children more than he is damaging them, when he walks casually home thinking of new things to tell them.
16) The only poem I
have read that is a bit similar to “The History Teacher” is a poem called “If
freckles were lovely”, by E.E. Cummings.
If freckles were lovely
The poem is about how the whole world could be better if everything was good, but then again it wouldn’t be right because we wouldn’t be we. The picture that E.E. Cummings builds up and then tears down is the same picture the history teacher builds up for the children. The speaker in the story means that if the children grow up with this imaginary picture in their head, some day it will all come raining down on them and that it wont be beneficial for them.
/Oliver
If freckles were lovely
The poem is about how the whole world could be better if everything was good, but then again it wouldn’t be right because we wouldn’t be we. The picture that E.E. Cummings builds up and then tears down is the same picture the history teacher builds up for the children. The speaker in the story means that if the children grow up with this imaginary picture in their head, some day it will all come raining down on them and that it wont be beneficial for them.
/Oliver
