Example Of David Talamantez On The Last Day Of Second Grade Essay

This poem celebrates the life-affirming excitement of an irresponsible seven-year-child, and equally suggests that the educational principles often applied by teachers might tend to stifle creative energy. According to this poem, teachers perceptibly suggest that “rules”, and not creative impulse or the emotional energy of the learner’s observation of the surrounding world dominate a child’s early education. The poem describes a boy named David. He lives in a Hispanic society, and the first line of the poem indicates that his mother is at work. According to the descriptions in the poem, his family is not a well-to-do family, and he is not subject to parental control in the day. The poem indicates that David has great problems with spelling, which could suggest that English was not his first language.
In this poem, the speaker is neither David nor the teacher. Therefore, I would say that the speaker is the narrator, who could be a third party. The tone of the poem is sympathetic. The narrator evidently defends David in the poem and presents him in a manner that the readers can sympathize with him. Additionally, the teacher’s voice is mean and loud. From the teacher’s remarks and the way he comments on David’s paper, it is evident that the teacher does not talk to David in the right tone that she should, especially considering that David is a young learner, who still has problems with spelling. Instead of helping David develop his spelling, the remarks discourage him and instead, he corrects the teacher’s comments. For instance, he crosses out the “teacher’s red numbers” and replaces them with giant affirmations of his own existence: “Yes! David, yes!” (l, 5).
After reading the introduction and the poem itself, I recommend this poem to second grade pupils and up. Younger pupils might require further explanations despite enjoying the language and the intonations of the poem. Additionally, to the teachers in schools with children about David’s age, and from different national origins, this poem can assist in helping the former to understand the importance of helping young learners develop their spelling and the right tone and sound to use when addressing these children. Teachers should also consider that some parents are committed to work, which leaves them with little or no time for their children’s educational development, thereby transferring this responsibility to the teachers.
The poem does not involve a lot of figurative language. Nevertheless, the author used affirmation like Yes! David, yes! in order to indicate that David did not like the teachers comments, but instead gives himself credit for the work that he did. In this statement, ‘.the ones older kids have wadded up like big spitballs, the ones run over by cars,’ the poet employs the use of similes. The further use of similes is evidenced with this line ‘.the ones older kids have wadded up like big spitballs, the ones run over by cars.’ Finally, the figurative language that I identified in this poem is the use of personification. This style is used when the speaker says that ‘.A goose with red-and-white striped shirt, a hen in a turquoise dress’ (l, 17). The poem was interesting and easy to read because of the simple language that was used and the few characters.