The History Teacher
The subject of this poem is a history teacher who is more concerned with the sociological implications of exposing innocent children to the ugly truth of history than he is to educating the ignorant. For instance, the War of the Roses was just a fight that took place in a garden and the plane which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima really just dropped one single atom. The teacher is thus a symbol for the lurking sociological implications of whitewashing history to make it palatable to the educational system.
The Speaker
While the title character is the central focus of the poem, the speaker is of equal importance. No identifying characteristics of the speaker are offered, but none are need. The speaker’s role and significance are related to perspective: the history teacher is oblivious how his students act outside the classroom and another pair of eyes are need to convey this information to the reader. And so the speaker provides the necessary information that when the students hit the playground, they turn into bullies who torment the weak and the smart equally while the teacher is walking home past white picket fences as he conjures up more lies to soften the harsh edges of history he has deemed a threat to the incorruptibility of kids.
