Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Anne Sexton's "Elegy in the Classroom" is a sharp and vivid reflection on the transformation of a once-admired teacher into a grotesque and unsettling figure. Through the use of striking imagery and contrasting tones, Sexton captures the disillusionment and discomfort that can arise when one's perceptions of a respected figure are radically altered.

The poem opens with a description of the classroom as "thin," which immediately sets a tone of fragility or insufficiency. This description suggests that the environment is lacking in substance or warmth, a place where the expected depth of learning and connection is absent. The speaker recalls the teacher’s face as "noble" and his words as "all things," implying that there was once a deep respect and reverence for this figure. The teacher was someone who seemed to embody wisdom and significance, whose presence filled the classroom with meaning.

However, this idealized image is shattered as the speaker encounters a "boily creature" in the teacher’s place. The word "boily" conveys a sense of something unpleasant, raw, and perhaps infected—an image that is far from the nobility initially associated with the teacher. The creature is "disarranged," further emphasizing the sense of disorder and decay. The speaker's use of "squatting on the window sill" to describe the creature adds to the sense of unease, as if this being is out of place, disrupting the natural order of the classroom.

The teacher is likened to "a hunk of some big frog / watching us through the V / of your woolen legs." This comparison to a frog, a creature often associated with the grotesque and the uncanny, reinforces the teacher’s transformation into something monstrous. The image of the teacher’s "woolen legs" forming a V suggests a position of casualness or carelessness, as if the teacher has lost the dignity and poise that once made him admirable.

Despite this disturbing transformation, the speaker admits a reluctant admiration for the teacher’s "skill." The phrase "gracefully insane" suggests a twisted elegance in the teacher’s madness, a kind of artistry in his disarray. There is a paradox here—the speaker is repulsed by the teacher’s current state, yet cannot help but acknowledge the effectiveness of his peculiar presence.

The students, meanwhile, "fidget in our plain chairs / and pretend to catalogue / our facts for your burly sorcery." The use of "plain chairs" emphasizes the ordinariness and discomfort of the students, who are trying to maintain a semblance of normalcy in the face of the teacher’s unsettling transformation. The phrase "burly sorcery" conveys the idea that the teacher’s influence, though distorted, is still powerful and imposing. The students are caught in the tension between acknowledging the teacher’s former greatness and grappling with his current, grotesque state.

The poem concludes with an even more jarring image: "or ignore your fat blind eyes / or the prince you ate yesterday / who was wise, wise, wise." The description of the teacher’s "fat blind eyes" suggests a loss of perception and insight, as if the teacher has become blind to the very wisdom he once imparted. The reference to the "prince you ate yesterday" is particularly striking, evoking a sense of cannibalism or consumption of something precious. The repetition of "wise, wise, wise" underscores the tragedy of the loss—what was once a source of wisdom has been devoured, leaving nothing behind but a hollow shell.

"Elegy in the Classroom" is a powerful exploration of disillusionment and the complexities of admiration. Sexton’s vivid and unsettling imagery captures the shock of realizing that a figure once held in high esteem has become a shadow of their former self. The poem reflects on the inevitability of change and decay, and the uncomfortable truth that those we look up to are not immune to the ravages of time, madness, or self-destruction. Through this elegy, Sexton conveys the pain and confusion that comes with witnessing the fall of a once-great figure, and the difficult process of reconciling that fall with the memory of their former glory.

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