Poem Question 4/9/09

1a. What are the persona's feelings described in the first three stanzas of this poem?
Explain how the poet described these feelings through the use of alliteration, metaphors and pun.

The feelings displayed by the poet in the first 3 stanzas are that he was feeling frustrated, restless and impatient for the lesson to end. In the first stanza, the poet uses metaphors like quarry of knowledge to describe how wide knowledge can be, and thus, how tiring it can be when you try to hunt for it. The metaphor unruly hounds tells us that the students were very restless as unruly hounds describes the students actions were very disordered.
In the second stanza, lines 2-4 are alliterations as the all start with 'o'. This tells us how much the poet has to go through and endure (i.e. books and work). The word 'sick' is a pun, as it can mean that the poet is suffering from an illness and therefore, is ill (sick). The meaning displayed in this stanza is that he is feeling very tired and bored (sick).
In the third stanza, the word kindle is a pun, as kindle means to light up, literally. However, in this stanza, it's meaning refers to the fact that his last fuel of life would motivate and push him towards the end of the lesson. 'Fuel of life' refers to his willpower and strength to live on.

1b. How is the tone of anger in this poem illustrated?

Anger in this poem is illustrated through the poet's choice of words, the metaphors he uses and alliterations that is applied.
For example, in the last stanza, the poet repeats words like 'not', 'won't' and 'don't' to express the negative feelings that he is going through.
In stanza 4, the poet uses words like he would not waste his 'soul' and 'strength'. This expresses how much he detests his student's attitude of learning towards his teaching. This sentence ,'What do I care for all that they do amiss' he uses, the word 'care' in it refers to the poet being very angry, because of the fact that he doesn't care and show concern for the student's mistakes. In stanza 5, in sentences 2-3, his choice of words like 'dog' and 'aunt' describes the author as furious as he expresses his anger through masking a word with a person.
And lastly, the metaphor 'unruly hounds' that is used in stanza 1, expresses how angry the poet is, describing his students as hounds that are unruly.