Roger McGough's "The Lesson" was first published in his 1976 collection In The Glassroom. In this (very) darkly comic poem, a beleaguered teacher takes corporal punishment to an absurd extreme: the teacher gleefully massacres an entire class of unruly students in order to teach them a "lesson," with the great irony of the poem being that, in the end, no students are left alive to learn anything at all. Though the poem is satire (and In The Glassroom was billed as a book of poems for children), it implicitly argues the serious point that physical violence as a form of discipline has no place in schools.

• Read the full text of “The Lesson”

• “The Lesson” Summary

• “The Lesson” Themes

  • 

    Education, Disciple, and Violence

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-40

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Lesson”

  • Lines 1-4

    Chaos ruled OK ...
    ... in the din

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-8

    'The theme for ...
    ... you'll never forget'

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-12

    He picked on ...
    ... with grotty hair)

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-16

    Then sword in ...
    ... feet or toes'

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-20

    He threw the ...
    ... with his game

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 21-24

    The first blast ...
    ... plug's pulled out

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 25-28

    'Please may I ...
    ... temple and fired

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 29-32

    The Head popped ...
    ... in a grenade

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 33-36

    And when the ...
    ... in the air

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 37-40

    The teacher surveyed ...
    ... lesson' he said

    

    

    

    

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• “The Lesson” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Chaos,” “classroom”
    • Line 10: “throttled,” “then,” “there”
    • Line 11: “then,” “garrotted,” “girl”
    • Line 12: “grotty”
    • Lines 13-13: “hand he hacked / his”
    • Line 15: “First,” “first”
    • Line 16: “fingers,” “feet”
    • Line 21: “blast,” “backrow”
    • Line 24: “plug's pulled”
    • Line 38: “dying,” “dead”
    • Line 40: “let,” “lesson”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “in,” “din”
    • Line 11: “garrotted”
    • Line 12: “grotty”
    • Line 29: “popped”
    • Line 31: “nodded”
    • Line 32: “tossed”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Chaos,” “OK,” “classroom”
    • Line 3: “nooligans ignored”
    • Line 4: “voice,” “lost,” “in,” “din”
    • Line 10: “throttled,” “then,” “there”
    • Line 11: “garrotted,” “girl”
    • Line 12: “grotty”
    • Line 13: “hand he hacked his”
    • Line 14: “between,” “chattering”
    • Line 15: “First,” “first”
    • Line 16: “fingers, feet”
    • Line 21: “first blast,” “backrow”
    • Line 22: “skive”
    • Line 23: “collapsed,” “like”
    • Line 24: “plug's pulled”
    • Line 29: “Head popped,” “head round,” “doorway”
    • Line 30: “din,” “made”
    • Line 31: “nodded understandingly”
    • Line 32: “tossed,” “grenade”
    • Line 33: “was well”
    • Line 35: “Silence shuffled,” “forward”
    • Line 38: “dying,” “dead”
    • Line 40: “let,” “lesson”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “classroom / as”
    • Lines 9-10: “shouting / and”
    • Lines 13-14: “way / between”
    • Lines 19-20: “shotgun / he”
    • Lines 23-24: “dinghies / when”
    • Lines 29-30: “doorway / to”
    • Lines 35-36: “forward / with”

  • Irony

    

    

    

    

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    Where irony appears in the poem:

    • Lines 5-8: “'The theme for today is violence / and homework will be set / I'm going to teach you a lesson / one that you'll never forget'”
    • Lines 25-28: “'Please may I leave the room sir? ' / a trembling vandal enquired / 'Of course you may' said teacher / put the gun to his temple and fired”
    • Lines 37-40: “The teacher surveyed the carnage / the dying and the dead / He waggled a finger severely / 'Now let that be a lesson' he said”

  • Personification

    

    

    

    

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    Where personification appears in the poem:

    • Lines 35-36: “Silence shuffled forward / with its hands up in the air”

  • Pun

    

    

    

    

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    Where pun appears in the poem:

    • Line 15: “'First come, first severed' he declared”
    • Line 29: “The Head popped a head round the doorway”
    • Line 33: “And when the ammo was well spent”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 23-24: “they collapsed like rubber dinghies / when the plug's pulled out”

• “The Lesson” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Ruled OK
  • Nooligans
  • Din
  • Throttled
  • Garrotted
  • Grotty
  • Hacked
  • Chattering
  • Those who skive
  • Rubber dinghies
  • Vandal
  • Temple
  • The Head
  • Surveyed
  • Carnage
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “Chaos ruled OK in the classroom”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Lesson”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “The Lesson” Speaker

• “The Lesson” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “The Lesson”

• More “The Lesson” Resources

  • External Resources

    • "British End School Caning" — A 1986 New York Times article discussing Britain's passage of a ban on corporal punishment in schools.

    • "No to the Cane" Protest Photos — Take a look at images from the day 10,000 British students protested against the use of capital punishment in the classroom.

    • McGough's Advice for Young Poets — Watch the poet talk about his own craft and how young people might find a way into writing poetry.

    • School in 1970s Britain — Check out some documentary footage of the education system around the time the poem was written. 

    • "A Life in Poetry: Roger McGough" — The poet looks back on his life and literary career for The Guardian newspaper. 

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