Learning Experience (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Marge Piercy
- First Published: 1969
- Type of Work: Narrative
- Genres: Poetry, Narrative poetry
- Subjects: 1960’s, United States or Americans, Vietnam War, War, Military life or service, Soldiers, Armies, Students or student life, Draft, military, Examinations
The Poem
“Learning Experience” focuses on a boy who is about to take an examination to determine whether he will be subject to being drafted into the United States Army. The twenty-two-line poem is written in free verse that conforms to no predetermined rules and follows no particular meter. It is one long, unified stanza. The title of the poem is ironic. The boy, who is sitting in a classroom in Gary, Indiana, is supposed to be “learning” how “to think a little on demand,” but he is bored, and the teacher’s lessons on “dangling participles” are not going to...
[The entire page is 1167 words long]
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