On Reading Poems to a Senior Class at South high

The speaker of this poem is a teacher that is going to read poetry to a class of seniors. There is no rhyme of rhythm to this poem. What this poem uses to get across the message is syntax. The paragraphs are specifically broken up into sections that the authors wants analyzed. He did not use any punctuation, just simply paragraph spacing to make his point. The best example of this is line 22 “Where we all leaked out”. I believe this line is isolated to show emphasis on the fact that all it takes is a bell for everything that they had accomplished in the period to leak out. The line has more meaning by itself, which is why it is like that.
The first literary device i want to point out about this poem is the first simile in the poem. It is what opens up the poem, and takes them into the “fish world” “I noticed them sitting there as orderly as frozen fish in a package.” (lines 3-5) This is an interesting way to describe students in a classroom. This simile is important to the poem in making the transition from classroom to underwater world.
I believe the rest of the poem is just one long extended metaphor. Berry is relating the students he is reading his poetry to to fish. He says “I tried to drown them with my words that they had only opened up like gills for them and let me in” I believe this is a teacher that expected this period to be like any other period of his day. He was going to read the same poems to a new group of seniors and he expected that they were going to not be very interested in what he was going to read. However, as the poem takes off I believe he relates these children to fish because they seem to take some interest in what he is reading and telling them. “Together we swam around the room like thirty tails whacking words”. The ideas were going everywhere, the class is participating, and the teachers excitement level is at its peak at this point in the poem. This metaphor adds meaning to this poem because without it it would be hard to paint a picture of the teachers excitement as well as the students enthusiasm in only two 2 stanzas.
I liked this poem because it reminded me of a few classes that I have had this year. Those classes that are usually boring and we have to go through the same old criteria until the teacher hits something that a few students are interested in. All it takes in one opinion and the classroom takes off. I believe the poem is so fast moving and ends so quickly because that about how long those moments last. Sitting through a class period that everyone is interested in what is going on goes by so quickly. I especially liked the ending of the poem when he says “my cat licked my fins tell they were hands again”. It took him till he was home for his excitement level to go back down.