It is always known that I am Zimmer,
The one who does the messy papers
And fractures all his crayons,
Who spits upon the radiators
And sits all day in shame
Outside the office of the principal.
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Zimmer in Grade School is a poem created by Paul Zimmer in 1983. The poem contains two long stanzas with 14 lines in each. The speaker of this poem is Zimmer himself that tells us about his life when he was young in school. As we can read in lines 22-23 "When I hide behind an elaborate mask,/It is always known that I am Zimmer,". The tittle "Zimmer in Grade School" also supported the fact that it is him in this poem, as in the first line "In grade school I wondered", the word "I" give us first person view which can also mean the speaker is the writer or the poet itself.
The setting of time in this poem is in the past, as we can read in the first line "In grade school I wondered", It is indicated that the setting of time in this poem is in the past time, because it uses past participle verb. The first line indicated that it was in the speaker's younger year, which is in his school year. Meanwhile, the setting of place, it takes place in his school, as we can read in line 9 "Learning, and my schoolmates." and also in line 16 "If I peed my pants in class" Â indicated that it takes place in school or in his classroom. Also mentioned in line 3, "To wrestle in the ashy puddles", "the ashy puddles" can be mean that the speaker was in a field. He also tells us "Outside the office of the principal." {line 28}.
The speaker has some relationship with some people, the distance between him, the teacher and his parents, as in lines 24-28, "...and fractures all his crayons/who spits upon the radiators/ and sits all day in shame..." he tries to get attention to the teacher and his parents.
Sometimes he fights with the other students, he says "my knuckles puffed from combat." {line 6} the speaker tells about the inconvenience in his life at school. "I feared everything: God,"{line 8} he is fear of God, learning and his schoolmates, "Learning, and my schoolmates."{line 9}.
