How do these 3 poets present life within the classroom?
In these three poems about school, a lot of tension is created between the staff and the students. Firstly in “Schoolroom on a wet Afternoon” by Scannell, school is not presented as relevant to life when in the first line it says that “the unrelated paragraphs on morning, are forgotten now” suggesting that the teacher seems obsessed with school and the student seems isolated. When all the students have “bowed heads” it denotes that this ambiguous image shows that the students are either working or disinterested showing tension. The poet says that “each child is disciplined; absorbed and still at his small desk” implying that they are either being forced or self-controlling and they are engaged or part of the group. The excitement of the teacher is undermined when “the complexities of simple interest lurk in inkwells” hinting that as “lurk” is hidden and gloomy it hints to the threat at the end of the poem. The way the lesson is expressed by the teacher is implied when it mentions “the brittle sticks of chalk” illuminating that as “chalk” is symbol of how ideas are shared but the fact that the chalk is brittle, it is hard but fragile. In addition “The Play Way” creates tension, particularly when the teacher dehumanises a student, when it says “one said “can we jive”” encouraging the students rebellion because as “jive” represents physical freedom which is not expressed when listening to classical music. The staff isolates the student by saying, “one said” but the student views themselves as a group by asking, “Can we jive.” Similarly there is a lot of tension created in “A snowy day in school” especially when it says that the students “have pattered the lessons ceaselessly” portraying the restriction and boredom of the lesson by using this elongated alliterative phrase.
