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The History Teacher by Billy Collins

Trying to protect his student's innocence
he told them the ice age was really just
the Chilly Age, a period of a million years
when everybody had to wear sweaters.

And the Stone Ages became the Gravel Age,
named after the long driveways of the time.

The Spanish Inquisition was nothing more
than an outbreak of questions such as
"How far is it from here to Madrid?"
"What do you call a Matador's hat?"

The War of the Roses took place in a garden,
the the Enola Gay dropped one tiny atom
on Japan.

The children would leave his classroom
for the playground to torment the weak
and the smart,
mussing up their hair and breaking their glasses.

while he gathered up his notes and walked home
past flower beds and white picket fences,
wondering if they would believe that soldiers
in the Boer War told long, rambling stories
designed to make the enemy nod off.


Er det her ikke meget dækkende om nedenstående digt i forhold til hvad det fortæller om identitet:

I think it's saying that we must tell history honestly, or kids (and adults) will not be able to function in the world; they'll be in a fantasy world. He is not telling them how bad the actual events were in order to "protect" them, but if we don't learn how horrible the Spanish Inquisition or the Holocaust actually were, how can we learn and not make those mistakes again? It also states the children were picking on weaker/nerdy kids on the playground - events in history show adults doing the same. He is not teaching them!

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jo jo

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Tak for svaret Teil.

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