"The School Children"

"The School Children" written by Louise Gluck is a poem about the difficulties a mother has to face during the time of her child’s departure from home. A possible thesis for this poem could be: In the poem, “The School Children”, Louise Gluck explores the difficulties mothers face and reveals the sadness and lonesome they feel once their children leave home, through imagery, contrast and tone shift.

Right from the start the author explores the idea of “children go(ing) forward” as their mothers labor at home and do shores that are “unknown” to them. Possibly meaning that the only thing that mothers know how to do best is to take care of the children. To them the chores seem to be “of another language” as their kids go to school. The second stanza, suggests the fact that the kids are the “great offerings” which are received “on the other shore”, being teachers, schools etc. The mothers are left behind with all their efforts put into the children and the children just leave, leaving no credit behind. The mothers give apples to the children, as in they teach their kids the right from wrong. But all that the children do is, leave the home and take their knowledge elsewhere. Moreover, as the teachers “instruct them in silence” the children are spoiled by the teachers’ rotten traps and all of their innocence goes away. The mothers try to “scour…for a way out” as they feel trapped inside by their duty to stay at home. They show little ammunition, because they are tired of labor and they miss their children.

This poem is very true in most cases. The author did a great job emphasizing the importance of mothers upon the children. The real pain can be felt throughout the poem as the author displays imagery in various parts throughout the poem. Just as poetry does, this poem also interrupts the “stream of life” in order to let humans process it. This poem is concerned with a moment in life where the hardest part of being a mother is to watch your children leave the home. All your efforts and caring go out the door, without an idea of whether they will come back or not. The poem works by making the readers feel how mothers feel exactly and the pain that they go through. And this way the author does a great job capturing what really is going on at that moment of time in a mother’s life.