It seems to me the irony in the last stanza of the poem stems from this line: "to look into your soul." The English teacher is finally allowing students the freedom to explore and examine and reflect (much to the nerdy student's dismay, as he's the one who only loves true and false, right and wrong). The second stanza sets the reader up for great things. It's a sunny day, students are gleefully cheering, they get to have class outside--and the studies will revolve around poetry. Everything sounds like it will be a glorious time of reading and writing poetry, of introspection and discovery. Only the nerdy student shudders at the thought, perhaps understanding that what he will soon discover is not going to be pleasant. That's why the last stanza is ironic--the much hoped for break from facts and data and the opportunity for introspection (self-examination) has led to self-discovery, and what...
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they find isn't pretty. In fact,
the cheers subside
quicker than you can say
please shoot me
just shoot me now and put me out of my misery.
The joy is gone in the face of discovering what lives inside our hearts and souls. This is, of course, a one-sided view of the power of poetry, for it also has the power to inspire and create passion where there was none. In this poem, though, poetry is used as a mirror into what we'd prefer not to see in our own souls.
What does the first stanza reveal about the poem's audience, and what does the third stanza reveal about the students?
What if
your english teacher
says its time to
cast away the rules
to follow your heart
to look into your soul?
does the nerdy kid ask if theres a test?
and what if
its a sunny day
does the class
gleefully cheer
we're going outside
and what if
its poetry
on the menu for the next few weeks
and the lucky students
get the opportunity to examine and write poems?
does the nerdy kids shudder uncontrollably?
and do the cheers subside
quicker than you can say
please shoot me
just shoot me now and put me out of my misery
The first stanza of the poem you quote seems to indicate that the audience is a student or students. The use of the second person "your" is unusual in imaginative literature, and indicates that the speaker is addressing a single student, or a group of students, since "your" can also be plural. The opening stanza also may indicate that the student or students have only a simplistic understanding of poetry, aware of the "rules" and such of poetry, but no more.
In the third stanza, the "gleefully cheer" suggests younger students. Even if, for instance, high school students like going outside for class, they wouldn't be expected to gleefully cheer. Of course, in addition to indicating the young age of the students, the stanza may indicate that the students are more interested in where the class takes place than in what the class is about. This may be a negative reflection on the students.