Did I Miss Anything ?

Important Question / Answer:

1. Who composed this poem?
Ans: This poem was composed by Tom Wayman.

2. What did the students do in the absence of their teacher?
Ans: The students simply sat in silence with their hands folded on the desks when their teacher was absent in class.

3. What did the angel reveal to the students?
Ans: The angel revealed to the students that each students should work hard to get divine wisdom of knowledge.

4. How does the speaker in the first stanza spend time for the full two hour?
Ans: The speaker simply sat in silence with their hands folded on the desks for the full two hours .

5. Why does the speaker in the second stanza think being in the class is important?
Ans: The speaker in the second stanza thinks being in the class is important because the teacher has conducted the heavy exams, assigned some readings and prepared a quiz and in case if any student is absent in the class they he/she can miss a whole day of knowledge.

6. What does the speaker say in the third stanza regarding the value of education?
Ans: The speaker says that the classroom education is valueless, meaningless and waste of time and is uncertainly impractical in future.

7. 'Education enlightens people with wisdom'. Does the speaker in the fourth stanza agree with this statement? How?
Ans: 'Education enlightens people with wisdom'. Yes, the speaker in the fourth stanza agrees with this statement .
He agrees because he claims that with the help of education a person is enlightened and in this poem the poet has compared the teacher with an angel. The teacher is incarnated divine figure who is considered to be the source of light of wisdom. When he/she is regularly seen in the classroom, undoubtedly, every boy and girl will get life based education and good learning

8. What does the last stanza suggests?
Ans: The last stanza suggests to all students those who have doubts that they should always be present in the classroom so as to overcome their weaknesses and gain knowledge.

9. What is the theme of the poem ?
Ans: The poem is about classroom education which reveals that education is an opportunity which is important in creating who you are and it shouldn't be missed.

10. What is the theme of central idea poem?
Ans: The theme of the poem is to reveal the importance of responsibility of the student and the teacher. The students should never miss any classes and the teachers should be regular through which the classroom education becomes live, interesting, exciting and productive.

General Summary For Students :
Ans:

"Did I miss Anything " poem is a poem full of "Sarcasm" . The teacher is talking to the students that asked "Did I miss Anything?" When the speaker says "nothing" the author is indicating the question being answered from the students point of view. Example: "Nothing. When we realized you weren't here we sat with our hands folded on our desk in silence for the full two hours." This shows the student assumes that being absent was not a problem because nothing important takes place in the classroom when they are not there. When the speaker answers "everything" the author indicates the answer is giving from the teacher's point of view. Example: "Everything. I gave an exam worth 40 percent of your grade this term and assigned some reading due today on which I am about to hand out a quiz worth 50 percent." This shows that the class does go on when the students are absent, rather than waiting for the student to return. It is not really the teacher's responsibility to get a student caught up. The student has classmates that were present the day they were absent so they could easily ask another student and be more responsible. The tone of the poem is "Humour". Therefore, the speaker replies using sarcasm and is really mocking the question. The poem is a Free Verse poem: Every stanza starts with one word sentence fragments. This is effective because it represents the tone of the poem. With only one word used, the poet stresses that nothing and everything was missed without explaining what it was in the same sentence Form The poem has little punctuation: This affects the meaning of the poem because it does not finish the poet's idea and leaves the reader with thoughts, ideas and guesses of what else might be said or happens Structure The author uses indented stanzas to show the swinging back and forth in the speakers sarcasm All stanzas that begin with "everything" are indented. Both are nasty and mocking What is the mood of the poem? Sarcastic, Angry, Mocking, Humorous. Tom Wayman wrote this poem out of his own teaching experiences Teachers put in hours of time and effort preparing a class, thinking of the best way to present the material to the students so they understand it. Teachers have to introduce, develop, and summarize a lesson, then monitor the class to see the effectiveness of their presentation. When an absent student ask "Did I miss anything?" the assumption made by the teacher that the student thinks their work is not worth "anything". The stanzas in the poem are responses Wayman wanted to say to the students who asked if they missed anything.The theme of the poem is the importance of responsibility of a teacher as well as a student