Poems about School - 'Welltread,' 'Leaving school' and 'Dear Mr Lee'

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Amy Helm 10R                01/05/07

Poems about School

In the poems ‘Welltread,’ ‘Leaving school’ and ‘Dear Mr Lee’ we are taken into the world of a child, seeing and hearing what he or she sees and hears, viewing from their point of view. They are described in infinite detail what the child is feeling during his/her unsatisfactory school education.

        ‘Welltread’ is a headmaster who is seen as harsh, cold and unforgiving ‘gangster.’ He demands respect and forces from everyone, students, teachers and parents alike. One can date this poem by the reference to Aberfan.

On the 21 October 1966, 144 people, 116 of them children, were killed when a tip of coal waste slid onto the village of Aberfan in South Wales.

‘Welltread’ is a poem of reflection on the author’s life, so much that it shows in her poetry. These school experiences have mentally scarred her and she remembers them vividly to this day.

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‘There was the burn of the cane in my palm, still smouldering.’

        Another inadequate school experience is told through Hugo Williams, poem named ‘Leaving school.’

        I think this poem is autobiographical because he refers to himself in the first half term,

‘I was eight when I set out into then world…I thought it would be fun.’ This suggests that he was not happy at school.

The speaker also makes a point of including ‘Billy Goat Gruff’ books and the ‘Beacon’ series from which I can almost immediately consider an age the speaker must be writing about.

        Hence, what I have understood ...

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