Friday, September 4, 2009
Questions:-1a) What are the persona's feelings described in the first threee stanzas of this poem? Explain how the poet described these feelings through the use of alliteration, metaphors and pun.
1b) How is the tone of anger in this poem illustrated?
Answers:-
a)I feel that the persona feels angry and disappointed. In the poem, the persona used alliteration, metaphors and puns to further show his anger and frustration. An example of alliteration used in the first stanza would be "When will the bell ring, and end this weariness". This shows his anger and eagerness to leave the classroom and depicted his anticipation for the ringing bell. Metaphors were also used to further enhance the emotions, examples would be "my pack of unruly hounds" and "tugged the leash,and strained apart". The phrase "my pack of unruly hounds" showed his thoughts and impression of the students. He thinks of them as untamed animals which "tugged the leash,and strained apart". The second phrase depicts the students trying to escape from studying,so in the eyes of the teacher,they were naughty and did not listen to him or his lessons. He also used puns such as "quarry of knowledge", and quarry had two meanings, one is prey while the other is wide.So he meant hunting for knowledge as when the knowledge was very wide and large. In the second stanza,he used the word "sick" which is a pun in this case and sick meant ill and tired. So I infer that he was probably feeling tired of the naughty students and wanted everything to end as quickly as possible.In the third stanza,he used an alliteration which was "take the toll". This alliteration meant paying tax and in the poem, he probably meant that he was not appreciated for his efforts on taking time to plan on the schedule and teach.
b)The persona's tone of anger is expressed through choice of words, metaphors and personification.He used phrases like "tugged the leash" to show his anger and he being unsatisfied with their performance.Thus he used such phrases or words to illustrate his anger.
