First Day of School

(i)

How does the poet bring out the fact that that the persona
is a young boy?
The poet, Roger McGough, tries to bring out the fact that
the persona is a young child presumably on his first day of
school. McGough shows this by reducing the language
capabilities of the persona in terms of literacy,
comprehension, as well as grammar. Furthermore, using a
first-person perspective, McGough also shows the fears and
tendencies typical of a young child. However, he does not
bring out the fact that the persona is a young boy rather
than a young girl.
McGough repeatedly shows that the persona has limited
literacy and language ability. Firstly, the persona conjures
up words. In line 1, he made up the word,
millionbillionwillion. This is common among young
children who have to make up words to make up for their
limited range of vocabulary in order to express themselves.
McGough also shows that the persona has poor
pronunciation ability and that causes misunderstandings
for the young child. For instance, the persona used
ellowwellies (line 24) without pronouncing the y. In
other instances, he pronounced lesson as lessin (line
16) and classrooms as glassrooms (line 19), and that
caused the persona to wrongly assume that lessons sound
small and slimy, and that classrooms were made of glass.
In fact, the personas language ability is so poor that he
assumes that a teacher is a person who makes tea, he
cannot remember his own name, he cannot read his own
name, and even needs the teacher to read it to him. These
language
inadequacies
as
well
as
according
misunderstandings are characteristic of a young childs
infant literacy.
McGough continues to show that the persona is a young
child by writing the poem using a first person perspective.
In doing so, he is able to expose the fears and tendencies
typical of a young child. For instance, the persona sees that
the other kids are so big (line 3) when kids should
actually be small. This implies that the persona should be
even smaller and hence likely to be a young child. In
another instance, it is revealed that the persona is afraid of
wolves and monsters (line 12) that may carry off and
eat children(line 13). This implies that the persona should
be a child himself since he is afraid of what these beasts
may do to children. McGough also highlights the personas

love for splashing in puddles by using the word useful

(line 22) to describe wellington boots, as well as highlights
the personas attachment to his mother by writing I wish
she was here (line 24). Such are the typical fears and
tendencies expected of a young child.
McGough successfully brings out the fact that the persona
in the poem is a young child through language flaws,
misunderstandings, fears, and tendencies. However, he is
not successful in showing that the persona is a boy or a
girl.
(ii)

What are the feelings of the persona? To what extent do

you, as the reader, identify with the persona?
The poem is written in first-person perspective. The
persona does not describe his feelings explicitly in the
poem. As a reader, I can only infer how he feels from the
way he thinks.
The persona feels lonely. This is shown by how he laments
that the games invented by the other children do dont
let (line 8) him in. Games are inanimate and do not allow
or disallow participants, hence it must be the other children
who have excluded the persona from their games. This
explains why the persona felt lonely. This is also shown
when he asks why are they all so big, other children?(line
3). This implies that he is probably much smaller than the
other children, who are probably older than him. Therefore,
he would probably feel lonely and left out as he sees
himself different from the other kids. As a reader, I can
relate to the personas loneliness as on the first day of
school, one would probably not have had enough time to
make any friends so feeling lonely on the first day of school
is understandable.
The persona also feels afraid. This is shown several times
throughout the poem when he is intimidated by the big
(line 3) and noisy (line 4) children, when he feels that the
games were rough and swallow you up (line 9), when he
was worried about wolves and monsters (line 12), and
when he imagined lessons as small and slimy (line 18)
creatures. All these can be interpreted as feelings of fear,
discomfort, anxiety, and uncertainty. As a reader, I can
identify when such feelings because people naturally fear
what they do not understand, and as a child on his first day
of school, the persona hardly understands what is
happening.

One can also see that the persona felt out of place like a
fish out of water. He says, so much at home they (the
other children) must have been born in uniform. This
indirectly shows that unlike the other children, he does not
feel at home and comfortable. Rather, he feels
uncomfortable and out of place. On the first day of school,
most people would feel like that as many new and different
things as well as people would be introduced into them. As
a reader, I understand how the personas discomfort
caused him to feel awkward and even afraid.
The persona craves familiarity, when he missed his mother
and his home. It is obvious that he feels very far away from
home and hopes to be at home when he says a
millionbillionwillion miles from home (line 1). It is also
clear that he misses his mother when he says, I wish she
(the personas mother) was here (line 24). With so much
on his mind, so many new things happening on his first day
of school, he still thinks about his mother and his home,
hence it shows his attachment to a familiar place or
person. As a reader, I can identify when the personas
feelings of being far away from home and his desire to
return to it. A young child naturally feels that he is very far
away from home during his first day of school because he
has never experienced school before. Being a young child,
it is normal for him to feel that a completely new and
different place is far away from home, unfamiliar, and
scary.
He also seems to be quite bored. This is shown almost all
throughout the poem. He seems to have too much time to
imagine things such as glassroom (line 19), wolves and
monsters (line 12), or small and slimy (line 18) lessins
(line 16). This would show that he is bored because if he
were occupied or was busy doing other things, he would
probably not have so much time to be so imaginative.
Readers, like I, should be able to understand that people
distract themselves with their imaginations when they are
bored.
In conclusion, the persona feels lonely, left out, out of
place, uncomfortable, afraid, and bored. Like most readers,
I am able to understand and identify with the personas
feelings.