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"In School-days" by John Greenleaf Whittier

10/26/2015

7 Comments

 
< http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174755 >

In the poem "In School-days" by John Greenleaf Whittier, a man remembers his old school house and a certain memory that defined his idea of love. A few of the devices that Whittier uses in this poem are personification, imagery and metaphor. In the beginning of the poem in the line "And blackberry-vines are creeping," he uses both metaphor and personification. He uses personification in that the vines are "creeping" or crawling slowly, growing around the school house. This is also a metaphor because the vines could symbolize his memories of school that creep back into his mind and remind him of the days he spent in school, and in particular a girl that he knew. In the segment "Within, the master's desk is seen, deep scarred by raps official; The warping floor, the battered seats, the jack-knife's carved initial," Whittier uses imagery to express how worn down and old the school house is, as well as to show how it has been abused over the years since the narrator attended school there. Another area in which Whittier uses imagery is when he writes "The feet that, creeping slow to school, went storming out to playing!" Through using the word "creeping" again, Whittier reflects the movement of the blackberry-vines through the movement of the students on their way to school, the kids really don't want to go so they are walking almost as slowly as blackberry-vines grow. In contrast, when school is over, the kids go "storming out to play." In his use of words such as "creeping" and "storming" Whittier creates an image that is easy for the reader to picture and relate to.
Toward the end of the poem, the narrator introduces a little girl who unlike the rest of her classmates, isn' t running out of the school house and instead she is slowly leaving, with "eyes full of grieving." This imagery catches your attention, not only because it makes you wonder why a child is so sad, but also because of the distinction between how she left the school and how the rest of her classmates left the school. She seems to have a weight on her shoulders that she can't get off. The little girl is met by a little boy and the tension between them is obvious, neither one wants to say anything but they are both fidgeting and unsure of themselves. Then the little girl breaks the tension by "caressing" his face and "As if a fault confessing" tells him that she "hate[s] to go above [him]" and that she loves him. From this interaction, I thought that she is dying and that she is upset because she loves him and doesn't want to leave him.
The man recalling the memory, concludes that "he lives to learn, in life's hard school." By this Whittier is saying that life is a school in which everyone eventually graduates, or dies, but along the way we have to learn, or live. In this, Whittier uses a final metaphor, life is learning and going to heaven or dying is graduating.

This poem helped me further my research on my inquiry topic in that it showed a different kind of school experience. In this poem a little boy learns at a young age that life doesn't last forever. The memory of his friend telling him that she is going to die helped him remember his  old school house forever, but it also showed him that life is a school, and that living is learning and learning involves hardships such as losing someone close to you that you care about.

7 Comments
maryanne
11/2/2015 10:04:43 am

Beautiful analysis. Very focused. Strong specifics.

Reply
Doug Chase
5/14/2018 08:46:09 am

... misses the the heartbeat of this poem.

She has been dead for 40 years. People went above Him time after time since her death. They exalted themselves over him. They never felt like “confessing” a fault about
“going above him.”

His first love hated so much the feeling she had after spelling the word correctly, that if given a chance to do it again, would have remained in her seat rather than correct him publicly... embarrassing him. (Zperhaps at the blackboard) It hurt her heart for him, and she just had to tell him, as difficult as that may have been for a young girl. It was a confession of repentance and love.

She loved him, and that is why she hated what she did, why she looked at him the way she did, touched him.

The old man is remembering that no one ever loved him like her, but on the contrary, they had no problem putting him down so they could advance themselves. There were other blackboard type incidents, times when he misspelled words, so to speak during those 40 years. Others corrected him, but loved only themselves when spelling his word correctly.

They did not love him. There was no love lost whenever they “went above” him. They never lamented his loss in life’s issues, and they never lamented his 40 year loss of her, his first love. He missed her terribly... certainly every day for 40 long years. And it all started at that schoolhouse, where he has revisited to refresh the fondest memory of his childhood and perhaps his whole life. Tears...and no one laments his loss... except every lover of poetry who takes this masterpiece into their heart.

BRILLIANT !!!

Reply
Ismael Sanabria
12/21/2019 12:58:25 pm

Thank you so much for your analysis. You uncovered many layers as to why this poem is so beautiful.

Louise Lindinger
7/18/2020 09:23:05 pm

Yes. You "got" it, as they say.

Doug Chase
12/21/2019 03:32:59 pm

Ismael,

I’m very happy that you are edified by my comments. I am passionate about this poem for reasons I wish to share with you. My wife memorized this poem as a school girl and still quotes it perfectly at age 76, though she has dementia.

The school teacher who taught her the poem lost her young husband in WWII combat. She never remarried.
I think of that teacher missing her own husband for 40 years, and how the poem gave deep soul meaning to her own loss. Obviously that teacher gave my wife inspiration enough to last a lifetime, which she then passed on to me. This is the power of poetry.

Reply
Andrew Simmons
11/29/2020 05:36:59 pm

These are all wonderful comments. I’ve just discovered this poem and love it.

Reply
Doug Chase
11/29/2020 07:41:54 pm

Andrew Simmons,

Congratulations on finding this great poem. Happy for you.

Reply



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  • Home
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