This is a poem analysis of "On Reading Poems to a Senior Class at South High" by DC Berry for AP English, Period 2, Ms. Kramer. This contains the final draft.

1. On Reading Poems to a
Senior Class at South
High
Poem by D. C Berry
Presentation by Alyssa Moore

2. Full Poem
Before
I opened my mouth
I noticed them sitting there
as orderly as frozen fish
in a package.
Slowly water began to fill the room
though I did not notice it
till it reached
my ears
and then I heard the sounds
of fish in an aquarium
and I knew that though I had
tried to drown them
with my words
that they had only opened up
like gills for them
and let me in.
Together we swam around the room
like thirty tails whacking words
till the bell rang
puncturing
a hole in the door
where we all leaked out
They went to another class
I suppose and I home
where Queen Elizabeth
my cat met me
and licked my fins
till they were hands again.

3. Full Poem Context
• We presume the speaker is a teacher, or guest speaker in a
senior classroom, probably Berry herself.
• The speaker is reading the poems to the class, and throughout
compares them to fish in a fish tank (extended metaphor).
• The poem is in first person, with mainly past tense throughout.
• The poem has no set structure or rhyme scheme.
• The tone fluctuates between tenacity and intrigue.
• The imagery is very water and fish related, due to the extended
metaphor

4. Stanza 1
Before
I opened my mouth
I noticed them sitting
there
as orderly as frozen fish
in a package.
1. Enjambment (all lines)
2. Allusion to popular cliche phrases (below)
3. Comparison
1. The school is a “school of fish”
2. The students are so close they are like
packaged/ordered like “sardines in a can”
Berry writes that she “noticed them
sitting there”. This shows her
intellectual distance to the
students at the start of the poem.

5. Stanza 2
Slowly water began to fill the room
Though I did not notice it
till it reached
my ears.
Here, Berry dives more into the
fish metaphor. The noise and
level of interest the students show
is represented by water imagery.
She doesn’t notice the flooding in the room, which creates a
feeling of tension in the reader. The speaker is overcome with
anxiety of reading to the class, so she
doesn’t notice that the students are actually listening and
eager to hear her. This is reflective of the silence of being
underwater. The silence reached her ears, which makes her
feel like she is drowning in anxiety, but there is no reason to
be.

6. Stanza 3
and then I heard the sounds
of fish in an aquarium
and I knew that though I had
tried to drown them
with my words
that they had only opened up
like gills for them
and let me in.
The simile of “opened up like gills for them
and let me in” demonstrates the students
connecting to the speaker. It could also be
significant that gills allow fish to breathe, and the
students in a similar way are allowing the
speaker to relieve her tension.
The realization of relief is also seen in the first line,
comparing the sounds and ideas of the students to fish in an
aquarium. They are interesting, moving, and, in a sense,
connected together. The speaker previously believed they
wouldn’t be engaged, and had been prepared with her own
ideas, which explains lines 3-5. She had been ready to drown
them out, override their opinions, but was pleasantly
surprised.

7. Stanza 4
Together we swam around the room
like thirty tails whacking words
till the bell rang
puncturing
a hole in the door
where we all leaked out
This stanza shifts tone, the speaker being
pleasantly surprised and enjoying the
discussion with the class. This stanza leaks
into a separated line to create an exaggeration
opposed to the rest of the poem and a sense
of unfulfillment in the reader.
At this point, the speaker feels at ease with the class and is
excited about their dialogue, comparing the exchanges to fish
rapidly swimming around. Yet, they all leak out quickly and
easily because of the bell, signaling its time to leave. The
image of “leaking out” implies that it was involuntary, and that
the speaker is disappointed. This is contrast to the earlier tone
of fear because of the exchanges, to sadness that it is over.
It’s also interesting that the speaker leaks out with the
students, no longer distancing herself from the group.

8. Stanza 4 (cont.)
There are interesting literary elements
in this stanza as well, including
alliteration (“thirty tails”, “whacking
words”), and diction (puncturing is
meant to disrupt the class, such as the
word disrupts the poem).

9. Stanza 5
They went to another class
I suppose and I home
It is at this point that the students leave the
class and the speaker leaves the room as
well. Momentarily connected, they now
depart one another without any knowledge
of the other’s lives. The speaker returns to
her normal life and has no more purpose in
their lives. The fish are once again grouped
together in her mind, and she is no longer a
part of their group. She distances herself
from them again.

10. Stanza 6
where Queen Elizabeth
my cat met me
and licked my fins
till they were hands again
The speaker returns home, returns to
normalcy, but still feels somehow
connected to the students of the day. The
cat licking her “fins” signifies the emotional
significance the day had for her, but the
true nature of her distance between her life
and those of the students.
Irony: the speaker’s cat is the one
distinguishing her from the “fish” at the school,
yet cats usually would eat fish.

11. Conclusion
The poem, “On Reading Poems to a Senior Class
at South High” demonstrates the speaker’s anxiety
of having to teach high schoolers poetry. Through their
engagement and listening, she warms up to them and
feels connected to them, like a part of the group. When the
class ends, she is daunted by the swift disconnection they
have once again. She returns home, realizing that she
is not a student and cannot be like them completely,
yet can be let into their world every now and then, and she
can be a part of their lives if only for a class period.

12. Conclusion (cont.)
The use of water to depict tension is realized
through the representation of students as
fish. The students, like fish, are rapid moving,
and have little connection to anything other
than one another. Though the speaker tries
to become like they are, she ultimately knows
by the end that she is human, and she is
different.

13. Definition Conclusion
My favorite poet, Emily Dickinson once said “If I read a book and it
makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me, I know that is
poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know
that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other
way?”. Based on this definition, I believe "On Reading Poems to a Senior
Class at South High" not to be a great work of poetry. Though it connects
deeply to the speaker and has a lot of hidden meaning and symbolism, it
does not strike me as passionate and as chilling as Dickinson might
describe it.