Sunday, June 28, 2009

The Lesson by Roger McGough

Chaos ruled OK in the classroomas

bravely the teacher walked in

the nooligans ignored him

hid voice was lost in the din"

The theme for today is violence

and homework will be set

I'm going to teach you a lesson

one that you'll never forget

He picked on a boy who was shouting

and throttled him then and there

then garrotted the girl behind him

(the one with grotty hair)

Then sword in hand he hacked his way

between the chattering rows

"First come, first severed" he declared

"fingers, feet or toes"

He threw the sword at a latecomer

it struck with deadly aim

then pulling out a shotgun

he continued with his game

The first blast cleared the backrow

(where those who skive hang out)

they collapsed like rubber dinghies

when the plug's pulled out

"Please may I leave the room sir?"

a trembling vandal enquired

"Of course you may" said teacher

put the gun to his temple and fired

The Head popped a head round the doorway

to see why a din was being made

nodded understandingly

then tossed in a grenade

And when the ammo was well spent

with blood on every chair

Silence shuffled forward

with its hands up in the air

The teacher surveyed the carnage

the dying and the dead

He waggled a finger severely

"Now let that be a lesson" he said

1. How are the figurative language used in the poem? Give the specific word(s), explain what type of figurative language it is and why the poet chose to use this figurative language?

Figurative language in this poem is mainly used to emphasise the situation the teacher is in and the plight of the students.

The immediate use of personification in the first veerse is the portion where states that 'Chaos ruled OK'. This assumes that chaos is the head of the class and has the ability to obtain human abilties. The reason for the personification is an emphasis to the havoc caused by the students.

'Nooligans', in the first para, is a hyperbole which exaggerates the students chaos. This shows the extent of the noise in the class and the reason the teacher resorts to the punishment.

The word 'lesson' in the 2nd verse, is used as a substitution for punishment. Lesson is used to place emphasis that it is more of a punishment that causes the students to learn from their errors, whereas punishment is a lighter act.

2.Tell us why you like this poem in no less than 100 words.

I enjoy this poem as I felt it was a poem that is able to pique the readers interest. Upon reading the poem, it will intrigue the reader and allows the reader to ponder about the next portion of the poem. This attention-grabbing poems is my favourite type of literature and is largely similar to 'The Lottery'. It is a poem that has an irony hidden whithin and allows the reader to think deeply.

Yee Hark

5:20 PM
Blogged

0 Comments:

Post a Comment