Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Naomi Shihab Nye’s “Morning Glory”is a reflection on the often unseen dedication of teachers and the slow process of learning, understanding, and growth. The poem juxtaposes the perspectives of students, distracted and burdened by their own preoccupations, with that of their teachers, who continue to guide them with unwavering patience. Through rich imagery and a contemplative tone, the poem explores the complexity of education—not as a mere transfer of knowledge, but as a process of opening, of recognizing meaning that may only become clear with time.

The poem begins with an acknowledgment of failure: "The faces of the teachers / know we have failed and failed / yet they focus beyond, on the windowsill / the names of distant galaxies and trees." The teachers, rather than dwelling on the students' shortcomings, look past them toward something greater. Their vision is broad, encompassing the natural world and the vastness of the universe, suggesting that true education is not about immediate success but about perspective and possibility. This contrast between the students’ failure and the teachers’ focus on something beyond suggests an understanding that learning is a process—mistakes do not define the students, and the teachers know this.

The students, by contrast, feel weighed down: "We have come in dragging." Their exhaustion is both physical and existential. The next lines introduce an unusual desire—"If someone would give us a needle and thread, or send us / on a mission to collect something at a store, we could walk for twenty years / sorting it out." This longing for a task, for something tangible to grasp, reflects their frustration with abstract learning. They are full of thoughts, emotions, and distractions—"How do we open, when we are so full?"—suggesting that their inability to absorb knowledge is not due to lack of intelligence but an overwhelming internal state.

Despite this, the teachers persist. "The teachers have more faith than we do. / They have organized into units." The concept of “units” here is both practical (as in lesson units) and metaphorical—teachers break down learning into manageable parts, believing in structure and order even when students do not. The line "We would appreciate units if we gave them a chance." acknowledges that the students are not fully aware of the value of what is being offered to them.

The poem then shifts into a meditation on memory and perspective. The teachers, though present in the classroom, have their own internal lives: "The teachers look at our papers / when they would rather be looking at / a fine scallop of bark / or their fathers and mothers thin as lace, / their own teachers remaining in front / of a class at the back of their minds." This moment humanizes the teachers, showing that they, too, have their own histories, their own pasts shaped by teachers who once stood before them. The description of their past teachers as crystallized by "so many seasons of rain, sun, wind" suggests that time has polished their memories into something luminous, something now understood as essential.

Yet, the students remain oblivious to this depth: "But we don’t see that yet." The "yet" is crucial—it hints that understanding will come, but not immediately. Right now, the students are burdened: "We’re fat with binders and forgetting. / We’re shaping the name of a new love / on the underside of our thumb." Their concerns are immediate, personal, fleeting—they are caught up in young love, rumors, anxieties. The phrase "diagnosing rumor and trouble / and fear" suggests that their mental energy is directed toward social concerns rather than academic ones. Teachers' words reach them only intermittently: "We hear the teachers / as if they were far off, speaking down a tube. / Sometimes a whole sentence gets through." This humorous but poignant image captures the way students often half-listen, absorbing only fragments of what they are taught.

Yet, the teachers persist: "But the teachers don’t give up. / They rise, dress, appear before us / crisp and hopeful. They have a plan." The repeated "they have a plan" emphasizes their steadfastness. Teaching is not just about delivering lessons—it is about showing up, about believing that even if students do not fully understand today, someday they might.

The poem’s closing image draws from nature, a parallel to learning: "If cranes can fly 1,000 miles / or that hummingbird return from Mexico / to find, curled on its crooked fence, a new vine, / surely." The comparison of teachers and students to migratory birds suggests that just as birds instinctively find their way across great distances, students, too, will eventually come to understand what their teachers have tried to show them. The trailing "surely." holds both hesitation and hope—an acknowledgment that nothing is certain, but faith remains.

The final lines bring the metaphor full circle: "We may dip into the sweet together, if we hover long enough." The morning glory, suggested in the title but never named directly in the poem, is a flower that opens in the morning and closes by afternoon. Like students, it takes time to fully open, requiring patience, persistence, and the right conditions. The hummingbird, hovering over it, mirrors the way knowledge is absorbed—not all at once, but through repeated encounters.

“Morning Glory” is a poem about endurance—both of teachers who continue to guide their students despite seeming indifference, and of students who, even without realizing it, are slowly coming into their own understanding. Through layered imagery and a tone that balances realism with hope, Naomi Shihab Nye captures the quiet but profound work of education, suggesting that learning, like the opening of a flower or the return of a bird, happens in its own time.

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