Literature Assignment

Last Lesson Of The Afternoon by D.H.Lawrence

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Question :
1A) What are the persona's feelings described in the first three stanzas of this poem? Explain how the poet described these feelingd through the use if alliteration, metaphors and pun.
1B) How is the tone of anger in the poem illustrated?

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1A)
The persona feels irritated and impatient as described in the first three stanzas if the poem.He uses literary devices such as alliteration, metaphors and pun to illustrate so.
The poet’s use of alliteration illustrates that the persona is feeling impatient as well as irritated. He uses phrases like “When Will the bell ring and end this Weariness” and “Their dross of indifference; and Take The Toll”. The former suggests that the persona is feeling impatient and wants to end the lessons. The use of “when” and “will” shows alliteration that the persona wants something to happen and is longing for that moment. As for the latter, it shows that the persona is frustrated that the students are not paying attention in class and thus made him irritated.
The poet also uses metaphors to enhance his feelings. He uses metaphors like “Unruly hounds” and “insults of blotted pages, and scrawl”. The former suggests that the persona described his students as very rowdy and disobedient. “Unruly” means that the students are very rowdy while “hounds” may mean that the students are like a pack of wolves, noisy and not well behaved. As for the latter, it could possibly mean that the students’ works are illegible or substandard. “Insults” could mean that the persona is feeling insulted that the students cannot produce the work that he requires, and thus meaning that they have insulted his teaching methods. As for “scrawl”, it could say that that the students do not concentrate on handing up work with tidy and neat handwriting, instead they hand it up with many illegible and bad handwriting. This thus makes the persona feel angry.
The poet also uses pun to describe the persona’s feelings. Examples of pun are “quarry of knowledge” and “take the toll”. For the former, it could mean the students are on a chase of knowledge or having filled with knowledge. It makes us think that the students need more knowledge to meet the expectations of the persona. This thus made the persona feel impatient for them to hit the target. As for “take the toll”, it could mean the persona having to pay a fine for teaching the students or the persona being injured. This shows that the persona is feeling frustrated. He not only has to pay the price for teaching the students, yet he has to suffer for their sake, furthermore, the students do not meet his requirements, thus this shows that the persona is feeling frustrated.

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1B)
The poet illustrates the persona’s anger through the use of literary devices like metaphors, personification and choice of words.
The persona expresses his anger by using metaphors like “My pack of unruly hounds!” and “insults of blotted pages”. The first metaphor could suggest that the persona is feeling angry at his students, and thus he described his students as a pack of unruly hounds which could mean that the students are very naughty, disgraceful and impolite. As for the second, it could mean that the persona is angry that he is being insulted by the students through their sloppy work and he has to read through all of their substandard work. The use of metaphor thus describes the persona as feeling angry.
The poet also uses personification to describe his feelings. Examples are “goes down the same abyss” and “insults of blotted pages”. For the first, the poet could have written “to no avail”. Instead, he gives qualities to the books that they are falling down the abyss. As for the second, instead of writing “students”, the poet puts the words “blotted pages” in its place, thus giving qualities to a book. Thus the literary device personification enhances the mood of the poetry piece.
Lastly, the poet’s choice of words affects the persona’s feelings. Words like “why do I care”, “what is the point” and “yet I’m supposed to” make the persona sound sarcastic and mad at the students. The first two examples both mean that the persona does not care for his students, mostly because they had made him angry with their sloppy attitude and work. This thus shows that the persona is feeling angry. The last example states that the persona is not willing to teach, and the word “yet” suggests that the persona is feeling angry. The poet could have used words like “however”. Thus, I think that the persona is feeling angry.