Among School Children by William Butler Yeats has once been prescribed as one of the poems in Literature in English Programme. Imagine, those 17 year old kids have to study this poem for their SPM examination. I'm sure as you are older and more experience than those kids, you would have better insights into this poem. Please write here in this space your thoughts on Among School Children.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI am J41751 Chooi Wing Lock, BPTESL Sem. 4.
ReplyDeleteThoughts:
The tone and mood of the poem take a sharp turn in the couplet ending the first stanza, however; the speaker
suddenly sees himself through the children’s eyes as they “In momentary wonder stare upon/ A
sixty-year-old smiling public man.”
I cannot imagine how the 17 years old teenagers study this poem. I have read this poem for a few times but I still do not have confidence saying that I really understand the poem.
ReplyDeleteAccording to my understanding, the poem is about the persona’s visit to a school when the persona is older and more mature in thinking. The poem is lyrical. It describes the persona’s personal feelings.
The persona is using visual as the imagery for the poem. The persona uses quite a number of symbols in the poem too. One of them is ‘Leda and the Swan’. The middle part of the poem is the most difficult to understand. It seems like the persona is having allusions. A lot of the things that mentions, I could not relate it until I do some reading about other people’s comments about it.
The persona is comparing what he had learnt as a child and the persona’s perspective as an adult. The persona is having his reflections on what he has learnt from Plato, Aristotle and Pythagoras. After checking up on the word ‘Ledaean’, I realize the persona is using his or her knowledge in the bible and the Greek Mythology to express his or her feeling in the poem to bring out the strong feelings.
The speaker is imagining things and thinking what might happen if the child is at her old age. The last stanza is about the speaker questioning himself or herself what is the essence of his or her life.
I think the persona is trying to reflect his or her life and what he or she has encountered throughout the years. I do not think he describes his past and present in a cheerful, rather is in a serious tone.
It is indeed a difficult poem to understand. I become clearer with the message of the poem when I know that the poem was written by William Butler Yeats when he was sixty years old that had already gained a lot of experience in life.
Huh Lai Yee
J41742
BPTesl Sem 4
I'm Tan Hui Chean J41758
ReplyDeleteHello Mdm Juridah!
As for me, in all those poems which Mdm Juridah had selected for us to study for our Mid Term, this poem- Among School Children is the most difficult for me to understand.
Haha... the poem and the analysis from this poem was my first poem to print out, to read, but the last to understand. I found out it also was the most longest poem compare to others poems which Mdm Juridah had selected. Maybe I had some prejudice on that poem, not because of the contents nor author, but because it's setting makes me really feel confused which is Now, Past, and Past. The contents of the poem also not interesting to read.
Actually, I really cannot understand why this poem was came out for the SPM students. It limits me to write anything on it. It is hard to understand. It is not interesting to read too. Compared to those others poems which Mdm Juridah had selected for us. There are so many interesting and easy to give opinions or comments' poems, but why they chose that poem?
J41755
ReplyDeleteMohd Rohaizad B Mohd Raduan
After reading this poem more then ten times and a few restful night of sleep I had come to conclusion that Yeats had come to realize that death is inevitable. Youthfulness will deteriorate by time. People nowadays have always wanted to look flawless regardless of age. Thus they turn to medical science to preserve their "youthfulness". However, age cannot be cheated although "botox" can help, but it will not last.. and it looked weird. At the end of the day, Yeats concluded that he has come to a point that he must accept the fact that every living things will die and no one able to cheat death.
Hi, Puan Juridah…….
ReplyDeleteI am Wan Azira Binti Abdul Jalil (J 41748)
When I saw that you’ve posted the poem “Among School Children” by William Butler Yeast in the blog, the first word that came out from my mouth is “Whoa…..”
I felt dizzy, breathless and I think I’m going to suffocate. Hehehe……….. You know why, Puan? This is because the poem is extremely difficult to understand. Actually, this is not my first time coming across with this poem. I’ve read this poem before when my brother was in the secondary school. During that time, they were assigned by the Education Ministry to study it in the literature component for their English SPM paper. I just totally don’t understand how this poem was being selected by the ministry. It is extremely difficult to understand. Just imagine, we are the ones who have been teachers ourselves can’t figure out what are the real meanings behind Yeast’s poem. I guess I’ve read it like a hundred of times but yet, I’m still blur and lost.
WAN AZIRA BINTI ABDUL JALIL (J 41748)
ReplyDeleteThe Poem “Among School Children” By William Butler Yeast
The Setting
Place: In a school
Time: The past and also the present. Could be any time within the poet’s lifetime.
The Persona
The poet himself is the persona or speaker of the poem.
The Language and Style
The poem consists of eight stanzas, each containing eight lines, each written in iambic pentameter and with an end-rhyme scheme (per stanza) of ABABABCC, which is known as ottava rima.
Tone and mood
Serious mood
WAN AZIRA BINTI ABDUL JALIL (J 41748)
ReplyDeleteThrough my own understanding of the poem, I think it is about the persona as an old man who is already sixty years old reminiscing his childhood life especially when he was in school. He is there at the school and he sees what the students are doing currently and in the same time; he is comparing his life that he went through those days with the recent days.
These are some questions that he ponders on:
- How are the education system now and how the system was back then?
- Are the teachers still the same?
- Do the teachers still have the credibility?
- How is the school administration?
As said, the speaker is a sixty year-old man walking through a school. He is there because it is said that he is a member of a committee addressing schools. He is standing there with various life experiences he had gone through together with education that he had gained in his entire life including all these philosophies and theories by famous and known people like Aristotle, Plato and Pythagoras. But, he indicates that even though these philosophers are claimed to be intelligent and their theories are still being applied but they are nothing and they also have their own weaknesses. He is recalling his school days when he comes across the school children there in the school and suddenly, he even wonders if any of the girls in class resemble the woman he considers his soul-mate. He compares his sixty year-old self to the young children there and think about how he was once a child. As he stands there at that age but with the energetic and enthusiasm of youth surrounding him, he feels the same as if he is still in his youth and young. He is amused with what he is seeing in the school. It was different with his school days. There are several similarities but everything is modernised according to the recent world.
ReplyDeletePuan Juridah,
ReplyDeleteJust to sum up, honestly, I still can't figure out what the poem "Among School Children" by William Butler Yeast all about. It is confusing and the message the poet trying to convey is not clear. The underlying meaning is jumbled up. He is talking about various elements which are not synchronized. Bits and pieces everywhere. It is not coherent. What I managed to grasp through the poem is only about the poet himself who is already 60 years old that time reminiscing his childhood life in his school days and during the recent time, he is already 'SOMEBODY' with a lot of life experiences and also education. He is a wise man now and looking at things in a older and wiser perspective.This is my opinion and I hope that it is acceptable and there is no wrong and right in poetry, right?
WAN AZIRA BINTI ABDUL JALIL (J 41748)