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READ THIS
The poet is at the end of his tether. He is a teacher who has lost his zest for teaching.
Indeed, he can no longer see the point of attempting to drag his pack of unruly children into an
appreciation of anything.
He makes the decision to give up and save his strength for himself. He will simply pass the time waiting
for the bell to ring.
ABOUT THE POET
David Herbert Lawrence was born in Nottinghamshire in September 1885, the fourth child of an
uneducated coal miner.
This working class background, together with constant friction with his illiterate and drunken father,
provided him much material for his later poetry, novels and short stories.
He initially went to Beauvale Board School but then won a scholarship to attend Nottingham High School.
His first employment was as a junior clerk at a surgical appliances factory until forced to resign because
of T.B. It was during his period of convalescence that he gained his extreme love for reading, writing and
poetry.
From 1902 to 1906, he served as a student teacher in his hometown of Eastwood, whereupon he studied
and acquired a teaching certificate from University College, Nottingham.
It was during those years that he wrote his first poems, some short stories, and a novel which was
published as The White Peacock.
The young Lawrence hated teaching -- a theme made clear in his poem "Last Lesson of the
Afternoon" -- but luckily his writing ability caught the eye of major publishers and enabled him to
follow a professional career as a writer and an artist.
He achieved a massive reputation as a novelist and a poet. His most famous books were Sons and
Lovers and Lady Chatterly's Lover.
During the 1st World War, Lawrence was accused of spying for the Germans and was constantly
harassed by the British authorities. As soon as the war ended, therefore, he left England to live in Italy
-- where he wrote his now famous poem "Snake".
He died of T.B. in March 1930 while at a sanatorium in France. He was just 45 years of age.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
When will the bell ring, and end this weariness?
How long have they tugged the leash, and strained apart,
My pack of unruly hounds! I cannot start
Them again on a quarry of knowledge they hate to hunt,
I can haul them and urge them no more.
- What is a sustained metaphor? (2)
[Need help?]
A metaphor is a direct comparison between two things, in this case comparing the learners to hunting
hounds.
But the metaphor does not stop at this one comparison but continues throughout the verse. It is therefore
a sustained metaphor or an extended metaphor.
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- Why does Lawrence describe his learners as a "pack of unruly hounds"? (4)
[Need help?]
Consider the metaphor of the hounds.
A hound is a hunting dog which searches for its prey with great excitement. The learners should be like
hunting dogs, except that they are hunting knowledge.
Hunting dogs need no goading. They are excited by the hunt. But, Lawrence says, his learners are unruly
hounds, tugging in different directions, and mostly needing to be pulled.
In reality, one would shoot hunting dogs which were so unruly. Would Lawrence -- or teachers generally
-- be willing to shoot unruly learners?
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- Which of the following words BEST describes "quarry" in the context of this stanza:
victim;
target;
objective;
excavation?
Don't forget to explain your reasons. (4)
[Need help?]
A quarry is certainly not a victim.
It could be a target but is this the best word in the context of the poem?
On the other hand, although a quarry does mean an excavation, this is not the meaning here.
A quarry is therefore probably an objective. The objective of the hounds is capture the prey. The
objective of the learners is to capture knowledge.
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No longer now can I endure the brunt
Of the books that lie out on the desks; a full threescore
Of several insults of blotted pages, and scrawl
Of slovenly work they have offered me.
- How much is "threescore"? (1)
[Need help?]
A "score" is twenty, which means that "threescore" is 60.
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- What then is "a full threescore of several insults"? (4)
[Need help?]
Three score of blotches on a sheet of paper would be lot.
A full threescore of several insults means it is becoming almost uncountable. The learners work is totally
insulting.
Note the dramatic use of sarcasm in these lines.
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- What do you think the poet means when he speaks of having to "endure the brunt of the books that
lie out on the desks"? (4)
[Need help?]
Note the use of alliteration here -- the repeated use of the consonant "b".
The dictionary defines "brunt" as the initial impact of an attack -- as in "to bear the brunt of the
attack".
It's as if the poet feels that the learners' books are so insulting that the insults are attacking him.
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- In this stanza, the poet appears to be angry. Why is this so? (4)
[Need help?]
The teacher has dedicated his life to enabling his learners to learn. The fact that they not only fail to utilize
this opportunity but, on the contrary, reject the teacher's efforts is insulting, and it makes the poet very
angry indeed.
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What is the point of this teaching of mine, and of this
Learning of theirs? It all goes down the same abyss.
[Need help?]
The dictionary defines "abyss" as "a deep or seemingly bottomless chasm of an immeasurable
depth".
It is a vast pit into which the teacher's knowledge is cast. In fact, the pit is so vast and so empty that it
cannot be filled.
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- What does the poet mean when he says that "it all goes down the same
abyss"? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet claims that the "abyss" for all the learners is the same: vast and unfillable -- like some
immense sewer into which his knowledge is cast, only to be flushed away.
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