last lesson of he afternoon

1a.
In the first three stanzas, the author used alliteration, metaphors and pun to express his feelings.
On the first line of stanza one, alliteration was used with the alphabet “w” to specially emphasis on the word “weariness”. The use of alliteration works as it brings the whole mood of this poem into weariness, with just the first sentence of the poem suggesting that the persona is feeling impatient and wants to end the lessons immediately. “when” and “will” being used in this alliteration shows impatience as if longing for something to happen, in this case is the end of the lesson, thus, showing that he dreads lesson time.
Another alliteration used is on the fourth line of the third stanza, “Their dross of indifference; and take the toll”. The use of alliteration shows that the persona is worn out (from the word “toll”) that the students are not paying attention in class as “toll” heavily expresses the sense of getting deprived and getting worn out.
The poet also uses metaphors to further express his feelings. He uses metaphors like “unruly hounds” and “insults of blotted pages, and scrawl”. “unruly hounds ”gives a rude expression of a rowdy pack of ferocious dogs. As for insults of blotted pages, and scrawl”, it most probably mean that the students’ works are illegible or otherwise insulting the words by comparing them to just ink blotted on the pages. “Insults” could mean that the writer is feeling insulted that the students cannot produce the work that he requires and is highly possible that he is angered by the handwritings. As for “scrawl”, it refers to the handwriting as a scrawl which is irregular.
The poet also uses pun to describe the persona’s feelings. Examples of pun are “quarry of knowledge” and “take the toll”. “quarry of knowledge” could mean the vast ocean of knowledge that the students were supposed to be after. It makes us think that the students just hate learning and the writer is worn out after hauling them there, thus, made the persona feel impatient for them. As for “take the toll”, it could mean the writer has to make a sacrifice for teaching the students.
1b.
The poet illustrates the writer’s anger through the use of literary devices like metaphors, personification and choice of words. The persona expresses his anger by using metaphors like “My pack of unruly hounds!”, “endure the brunt” and “insults of blotted pages”. The first metaphor could suggest that the writer is feeling very angry at his students, and thus he described his students as a pack of unruly hounds which most probably means that he treats his students like unruly hounds, as if they were rude, rowdy hounds. The second metaphor expresses how much pain he has to endure. As for the third, it could mean that the persona is angry that his students are insulting him with their handwriting that he had to read. The use of metaphor thus describes the persona as feeling angry. The poet also uses personification to describe his feelings, like “goes down the same abyss”, to express his anger.