The Lesson Poem by Roger McGough
The Lesson
Chaos ruled OK in the classroom
as bravely the teacher walked in
the nooligans ignored him
his voice was lost in the din
'The theme for today is violence
and homework will be set
I'm going to teach you a lesson
one that you'll never forget'
He picked on a boy who was shouting
and throttled him then and there
then garrotted the girl behind him
(the one with grotty hair)
Then sword in hand he hacked his way
between the chattering rows
'First come, first severed' he declared
'fingers, feet or toes'
He threw the sword at a latecomer
it struck with deadly aim
then pulling out a shotgun
he continued with his game
The first blast cleared the backrow
(where those who skive hang out)
they collapsed like rubber dinghies
when the plug's pulled out
'Please may I leave the room sir? '
a trembling vandal enquired
'Of course you may' said teacher
put the gun to his temple and fired
The Head popped a head round the doorway
to see why a din was being made
nodded understandingly
then tossed in a grenade
And when the ammo was well spent
with blood on every chair
Silence shuffled forward
with its hands up in the air
The teacher surveyed the carnage
the dying and the dead
He waggled a finger severely
'Now let that be a lesson' he said
hi mr.mcgough, i've read your poem 'the lesson' and chose it to present to our class on saturday. however, i have some questions for you. why did you wrote this poem? who are you addressing here? and what grade level would it be read? hope you will answer these sir. thank you respectfully yours, pam
It brought a big smile and I enjoyed it. Extraordinary thought. Your take makes the phrase ' If looks could kill ' graduate with grace to the highest level. May your tribe grow.-Baru Gobira
What does the poet want to drive home through this poem'Lesson'.Perhaps he says a teacher is after all a human being with all the traits of a common man.Sometimes he may go beyond his limits of tolerance.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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9/14/2024 4:57:16 AM # 1.0.0.1119
In ‘The Lesson’, Mcgough attempts to contrast a teacher’s professional ethics with their actual human feelings, a surprising expose of a teachers most inner thoughts, when having to teach a rather unpleasant group of hormonally driven/influenced adolescents. He allows his inner feeling to manifest to a fantasy of revenge on academic vagrants. This is shown with the teacher taking authority without rules in the way he would like to use it, and a reversal of roles taking an unexpected and incongruent result. Overall, I think everyone is looking into the violence rather than the reason behind you. Genius poem really.