Blue umbrellas
D. J. Enright
'The thing that makes a blue umbrella with its tail -
how do you call it?' you ask. Poorly and pale
Comes my answer. For all I can call it is peacock.
Now that you go to school, you will learn how we call all sorts of things;
How we mar great works by our mean recital.
You will learn, for instance, that Head Monster is not the gentleman's accepted
title;
The blue-tailed eccentrics will be merely peacocks; the dead bird will no longer
doze
Off till tomorrow's lark, for the latter has killed him.
The dictionary is opening, the gay umbrellas close.
Oh our mistaken teachers! -
It was not a proper respect for words that we need,
But a decent regard for things, those older creatures and more real.
Later you may even resort to writing verse
To prove the dishonesty of names and their black greed -
To confess your ignorance, to expiate your crime,
seeking one spell to lift another curse.
Or you may, more commodiously, spy on your children, busy discoverers,
Without the dubious benefit of rhyme.
Answer the following questions:
a) This poem is linked to “Child in Poetry”. How can you tell it is a child’s
perspective that is used here? Provide textual evidence.
“'The thing that makes a blue umbrella with its tail -
how do you call it?'”, the child asks the man this question.
b) What is the tone of poem? Which words create this tone?
Sad, “ killed, dead bird, the gay umbrellas close “
c) What will you learn at school according to this poem?
You will learn to use your vocabulary to express yourself and you give
names to the things you see, schools teach you how to use words and
they kind of stop teaching you to be creative.
d) What is meant by “The dictionary is opening, the gay umbrellas close”?
The words you learn are becoming your way of saying things and your
imagination stops because you now have the words to ask something or
you already know the words for things.
e) Why are the teachers mistaken?
We don’t need a proper respect for words if it kills our imagination.
D. J. Enright
'The thing that makes a blue umbrella with its tail -
how do you call it?' you ask. Poorly and pale
Comes my answer. For all I can call it is peacock.
Now that you go to school, you will learn how we call all sorts of things;
How we mar great works by our mean recital.
You will learn, for instance, that Head Monster is not the gentleman's accepted
title;
The blue-tailed eccentrics will be merely peacocks; the dead bird will no longer
doze
Off till tomorrow's lark, for the latter has killed him.
The dictionary is opening, the gay umbrellas close.
Oh our mistaken teachers! -
It was not a proper respect for words that we need,
But a decent regard for things, those older creatures and more real.
Later you may even resort to writing verse
To prove the dishonesty of names and their black greed -
To confess your ignorance, to expiate your crime,
seeking one spell to lift another curse.
Or you may, more commodiously, spy on your children, busy discoverers,
Without the dubious benefit of rhyme.
Answer the following questions:
a) This poem is linked to “Child in Poetry”. How can you tell it is a child’s
perspective that is used here? Provide textual evidence.
“'The thing that makes a blue umbrella with its tail -
how do you call it?'”, the child asks the man this question.
b) What is the tone of poem? Which words create this tone?
Sad, “ killed, dead bird, the gay umbrellas close “
c) What will you learn at school according to this poem?
You will learn to use your vocabulary to express yourself and you give
names to the things you see, schools teach you how to use words and
they kind of stop teaching you to be creative.
d) What is meant by “The dictionary is opening, the gay umbrellas close”?
The words you learn are becoming your way of saying things and your
imagination stops because you now have the words to ask something or
you already know the words for things.
e) Why are the teachers mistaken?
We don’t need a proper respect for words if it kills our imagination.
