Modern Shakespearean Sonnet 16. An Educator Defines Himself, by Andrew Barker

Описание: Andrew Barker's collection of original sonnets, "Joyce is Not Here: 101 Modern Shakespearean Sonnets," can be purchased, with a new cover, through Amazon at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Joyce-Not-He...

Modern Shakespearean Sonnet 16. An Educator Defines Himself, by Andrew Barker.

The taming label Teacher doesn’t fit.
Professor? Less a title than a role.
The Mentor mantle? Is that really it,
When academic tenure is the goal?
A Maven more than Classroom Lecturer;
Enthusiast much more than Pedagogue.
For Information Brokers, payment here
Is worth the darkness of this minor fog.
I have my special knowledge and observe
How definitions shape the role we play.
Some Educators rule where they should serve,
Believing that’s the part for which they’re paid.
I try to understand who I should be
To sell myself as proud Utility.
Andrew Barker

Sonnet 16. An Educator Defines Himself.
What’s it like being a teacher? I prefer the label educator but, to be honest, I’ve always quite enjoyed myself in the job. It’s nowhere near as hard as being a bricklayer, the hours are OK, I’ve been well enough paid, I’ve generally liked those I’ve taught, and love talking about books, poems and theatre anyway. I’m sure there are many whose experience is far different, many who absolutely despise the job, and many who see it as a vocation rather than a profession, but I’d be lying if I said that the experience above was not mine. At least at the time I wrote it.
A question though. Does this relative ambivalence make for good poetry? Don’t we tend to like the terror-choked or the celebratory disclosure far more? I think we usually do. But is there not also a recognition of a Larkinesque self-revelatory truth here?
A line I use with students all the time: “Remember, I work for you, not the other way around,” tends to sum up my views on teaching.
I do wonder what would happen if one of them were to turn that around and say, “You work for me!” though.
Actually, I don’t wonder. I know how I would respond, and it wouldn’t be pretty.
Andrew Barker.