VIKRAM’S ENGLISH ACADEMY (ICSE)

NOTES: LAST LESSON OF THE AFTERNOON.

Paraphrase:

D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930) was an author, poet and painter. He is better known for his
novels than his poetry. However, his poetry is of very high quality too.

‘Last Lesson of the Afternoon’ (1912) was written by Lawrence at the time he was teaching
in Croydon, near London. Later, Lawerence became disappointed with this poem as it was
not as good as he thought. In England at this time, the government had made education
compulsory. Many pupils had no desire to learn, but were still forced to attend school. He
felt their time at school was futile; and his time, too, trying to teach them was a waste. So,
he abandoned teaching and became a full-time author. This poem talks about the sufferings
of a teacher and how purposeless his job and his students seem to be, especially while
teaching the ones who are not interested in learning. This is, thus, a poem where a teacher
laments over his job.

The poem begins with the narrator waiting eagerly for the class bell to ring. The poet is tired
of teaching the uninterested students. He compares his students with a pack of
undisciplined hounds. He says that he can pull the leash no more and urge them on the path
of learning when they keep tugging at the leash and straining apart.

In the next stanza, the poet complains about the assessment work that comes after
teaching. He says that he can no longer endure the pressure of assessing papers and thinks
of it as an insult as the students have offered him scrawls of untidy work. The poet is sick of
it and complains that it is pointless as it benefits neither him nor the students.

The poet further complains about the indifference that the students offer. He rhetorically
asks if he should be taking these insults in the form of a punishment. Thus, he comes to a
conclusion that he would not waste his soul and energy for something that is futile. The
poet doesn’t see any point in his teaching and their learning. The poet muses out loud how
he doesn’t care if they can describe a dog or not, revealing his disinterest in the welfare of
his students, students who do not make any effort to learn. He says that it’s all a waste and
yet, he is supposed to care for it with all his might.

In the last stanza, the poet talks about the unwillingness of his as well as the students, his
unwillingness of teaching and students’ unwillingness of learning. He says that it’s better to
give up than beat their heads against the wall of each other. The poet ends the poem by
saying that he shall sit and wait for the bell. The entire poem takes place, as his thought
process about the mandatory education system in England, while he was waiting for the
class bell to ring.
This is a poem where a teacher, who is usually over glorified, is portrayed in a rather
negative light. Although seemingly justified, he is displayed as a teacher who shows not an
ounce of delight in doing his job. He neither cares for his students nor his job, solely
concerned with the misery he finds himself to be in.

Textbook Questions:

1. Which idea does the poem begin and end with?

Ans: The poem begins and ends with the idea of the narrator waiting for the class
bell to ring.

2. What metaphor does the poet use in the first stanza of the poem? With which words
is this metaphor sustained?
Ans: The poet uses the metaphor by calling the students as unruly hounds. The
metaphor is sustained with the word ‘pack’.

3. Why does the poet think of his pupils as a pack of unruly hounds?
Ans: The poet is tired of teaching the uninterested students. He compares his
students with a pack of unruly hounds as he can pull the leash no more and urge
them on the path of learning when they keep tugging at the leash and straining
apart.

4. What is the ‘insult’ that the poet refers to in stanza 3?

Ans: In stanza 2, the poet says that he can no longer endure the pressure of
assessing papers and thinks of it as an insult as the students have offered him
scrawls of untidy work. The poet further complains about the indifference that the
students offer. He rhetorically asks if he should be taking these insults in the form of
a punishment in stanza 3.

5. In stanza 3, the poet seems angry. Why?

Ans: The poet further complains about the indifference that the students offer. He
rhetorically asks if he should be taking these insults in the form of a punishment.
Thus, he comes to a conclusion that he would not waste his soul and energy for
something that is futile. The poet doesn’t see any point in his teaching and their
learning.

6. In stanza 4, the poet (remember he is a teacher) uses the word ‘abyss’.

What does he want to show about his own situation by the use of this word?
Ans: Abyss is a bottomless pit. Here, in the poem, the poet refers to it as something
that is wasted. He decides not to waste his soul or strength in teaching the students
because his teaching and the students’ learning both will be pointless. The poet
 knows that the students are not interested and hence he says all the knowledge will
go down the abyss.

7. In stanza 5, Lawrence says, ‘And yet I’m supposed to care, with all my might.’ With
reference to the notes for the poem, what does this mean?
Ans: Despite the students’ unwillingness of learning and the poet’s unwillingness of
teaching the uninterested students, he is supposed to care because after all he is a
teacher.

8. What is the poet’s final decision to resolve?

Ans: The poet’s final resolve is to sit it out, wait for the bell, and not drain his
strength but keep it to live his own life. He has given up trying.

9. The poet shows his feelings in the poem. Which of the following words best
describes them: sadness, anger, despair, joy, frustration? (More than one of the
above may be correct! Give evidence for your choice.)
Ans: Refer “7” from the “Question Bank” that is given below.

10. Give two examples of the use of Metaphor in the poem.

Ans: The examples of Metaphor are as followed:
i. My pack of unruly hounds!
ii. My last dear fuel of life to heap on my soul

11. I am sick, and what on earth is the good of it all?

a. What is the speaker sick about?
Ans: The speaker is sick of the books that lie out on the desks, a full
threescore of several insults of blotted pages, and scrawl of slovenly work
that the students have offered him.

b. What is ‘it’ referred to?

Ans: ‘It’ is referred to all the essays that students write and their assessment.

c. What question does the speaker subsequently ask?

Ans: The poet subsequently asks whether if anything is good about it as it is
pointless.

d. What action does the speaker decide on?

Ans: The speaker decides that he can no longer endure.

12. Their dross of indifference; and take the toll

Of their insults in punishment?
 a. What does the word ‘toll’ imply?
Ans: Toll means a tax and it also implies to the sound of a bell being sounded.

b. In what senses is it applicable to the speaker’s situation?

Ans: The tax would refer to the way in which he has to pay for or suffer the
indifference of his pupils, and also perhaps to when a church bell tolls at the
time of a funeral, in this case his own.

c. What does the speaker decide to do?

Ans: The speaker decides to not waste his time or energy anymore.

13. What is the point? To us both, it is all my aunt!

a. What is the ‘point’ that that speaker is referring to?
Ans: The ‘point’ is whether they can write a description of a dog, or if they
can’t.

b. What does the expression ‘it is all my aunt’ mean?

Ans: It refers to an expression of indifference and disbelief (or meaning ‘It’s
all the same to me!’).

c. What does this show about the speaker’s feelings about his profession?
Ans: In this poem, where a teacher who is usually over glorified, is portrayed
in a rather negative light. Although seemingly justified, he is displayed as a
teacher who shows not an ounce of delight in doing his job. He neither cares
for his students nor his job, solely concerned with the misery he finds himself
to be in.

Question Bank:

1. Explain: ‘My pack of unruly hounds’. To whom does he call so? Why?
Ans: Hounds are wild dogs who are untrained and are very indiscipline. He calls his
group of students as a pack. He says so because his students are uninspired to learn
and he cannot haul and urge them. He further says that the students are forced to
stay inside the class till the bell rings and they wish to ‘unleash’ themselves like the
pack.

2. What is the ‘brunt’ which the poet is talking about?

Ans: The poet is talking about the books that the students are going to offer to him
and which are lying on the desks of the students. According to him, the books have
several insults of blotted pages and scrawl of slovenly work.

3. What is contemplating about, in the third stanza?

 Ans: In the third stanza, he is contemplating if he should use the last fuel of his life,
i.e., his utmost energy of his soul to kindle the flame of knowledge that will consume
(extinguish) the students’ dross of indifference.

4. Why does the poet refer to the ‘abyss’ in the fourth stanza?
Ans: Abyss is a bottomless pit. Here, in the poem, the poet refers to it as something
that is wasted. He decides not to waste his soul or strength in teaching the students
because his teaching and the students’ learning both will be pointless. The poet
knows that the students are not interested and hence he says all the knowledge will
go down the abyss.

5. Explain: ‘To us both, it is all my aunt!’. Why does the poet say so?
Ans: It refers to an expression of indifference and disbelief (or meaning ‘It’s all the
same to me!’). He says so as it is not going to matter to him if his students can or
cannot write a description of a dog. He also questions if there is any point of it all to
them both.

6. What does the poet say at the end of the poem?

Ans: The poet says that he does not and will not care just like the students. He also
says that they both can keep their strengths for themselves and not waste energy in
trying to achieve anything. Finally, he decides to sit and wait for the bell.

7. Which of the following best describes the feeling of the poem: anger, sorrow,
jubilation, frustration, despair? Give reasons and justify.
Ans: There is no sorrow here and the poet has nothing to be jubilant about. The poet
is surely angry at the several insults of blotted pages, and scrawls. He is despaired as
he has so much to give the learners but they want none of it. The poet also seems to
be frustrated because of the students’ mockery and indifference towards knowledge
and will to develop and grow.