Friday, September 4, 2009 ;
4:27 PM
Q1. The writer feels a lot of emotions in the first three stanzas. For example, the writer feels tired, frustrated and determined. The writer has made use of metaphors to describe the difficulty of teaching these students. Words such as “tugged the leash”, leashes were used on animals. So the writer is describing his students as animals meaning that they might have been hard to control, like stray animals. The writer also used the pun quarry of knowledge. Quarry means that there is a abundant supply of this material and in this case the material is knowledge. The ‘hunters’ are the students. The students already have a large amount of knowledge which they can gain yet they are unwilling to go a take themselves. Therefore the teacher is extremely frustrated that even though that he has presented his students with a large amount of knowledge they refuse to even take this knowledge themselves. What makes the writer even more frustrated is that when the writer wants to push them towards their knowledge. When their teachers try to push them toward this quarry they refuse. The students themselves are unwilling to go and learn themselves and even if they did not have to put in much effort to learn. The writer is also very tired because there he will have to work very hard to push the students along the road of knowledge. Although this is a very difficult task, the writer still perseveres and helps them with their learning; however this is a exhausting and time-consuming process. Therefore the writer is very tired. He is also very angry. The writer is so angry that he gives much exaggerated of how much energy he has left. He describes it as the last fuel of life. This literally means that he was dying but what it actually means is just that he did not want to teach them anymore. Therefore the poem is although very exaggerated it brings across how the writer feels.
Q2. The writer has used literary devices such as choice of words, alliteration, pun and metaphor. The writer has carefully chosen his choice of words. He has used words that were exaggerated to show how he really felt and to bring the writer’s emotions to a higher level. The writer uses metaphors and puns of much bigger meaning than the real word. This is because the writer wants to show how difficult it is to be a school teacher teaching students who do not want to learn. He has used metaphors like tugged and strain. The important point in this poem is that the writer has chosen to use the correct words to appropriately display his emotions even though most of his emotions are exaggerated he successfully tell the reader how he feels efficiently. He use words such as abyss. This shows that he is very sure that once this object is lost t can never be retrieved. The definition of an abyss is a very deep valley. And the object here refers to the knowledge which the teacher passes on to his students and this is a very important part as if whatever the teacher teaches it is bound to go down the drain. It is wasting both the students’ time and the teacher’s effort. The writer has carefully used words such as ‘abyss’ to show how he really feels without very obviously displaying it literally. The writer also used alliteration in certain places to emphasize on the next point so that it would make an impression to readers as they read through. Puns are also used to somewhat look down on these students.
Mission Acomplished
