You are all fish following the school!

On Reading Poems to a Senior Class at South High
by D. C. Berry

This poem rings incredibly true. As a senior in high school, I can identify with it. I can sympathize with the speaker because there have been times when I have had to face a group of uninterested students. I can imagine how an outsider to the school system must view students who go from class to class, like fish.

The speaker is visiting a school to speak to them about poems and share poems. The fact that the subject was not mentioned makes the reader focus more on the actions and behavior of the room. It is seen that the speaker became a part of the school, of the fish, when he/she entered the class. This can be read as the teacher being affected by the class and also as the teacher conforming to the schedules, bells, and order. Once the speaker is at home, a familiar place, the cat "licked" his/her "fins" "till they were hands again". This expresses that pieces of his/her day at the school remained with him/her. Eventually the speaker returns to it's normal life and environment when the hands return.

I enjoy how water is used symbolically to represent the chatter of students. This is understood when the speaker says "I did not notice it/ till it reached/ my ears". The metaphor of the fish in the aquarium is creative and implemented effectively. It presents clear images in one's mind of the speaker interacting with the students. He/she says that the students "opened up like gills" which expresses a comfortable environment. It is very powerful that the language throughout the poem relates to fish, water, an aquarium. Words such as "leaked" "fins" "water" "tails" and
"swam" make the poem more powerful.

There is no obvious rhyme scheme, but the poem does have fluidity. The 4th stanza speaks of the unity of the classroom and the feast over poetry. "Thirty tails whacking words" creates an excellent image that evokes an intense dissection of poetry. This stanza is only three lines, smaller than the others, which points out it's importance.