"The History Teacher" first appeared in Billy Collins's 1991 poetry collection Questions About Angels. The poem depicts a history teacher who strives to preserve his students' innocence by telling them sugarcoated, fictitious versions of historical events with all suffering or cruelty removed. Despite his efforts to hide the truth about history—or perhaps because of them—his students become cruel and violent, bullying and beating up their peers on the playground. The history teacher remains unaware of the negative effects of his lessons, seemingly happy to live within the idyllic world that he has created for his ignorant pupils. Collins mixes his traditional wry sense of humor with a striking, serious message about the dangers of keeping learners from the truth.
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The Full Text of “The History Teacher”
The Full Text of “The History Teacher”
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“The History Teacher” Summary
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“The History Teacher” Themes
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Innocence vs. Ignorance
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Line 1
- Lines 2-13
- Lines 14-16
- Line 17
- Lines 18-19
- Lines 20-22
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History and Compassion
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-13
- Lines 14-17
- Lines 20-22
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The Danger of Misinformation
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-4
- Lines 5-13
- Lines 14-16
- Line 17
- Lines 20-22
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The History Teacher”
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Lines 1-4
Trying to protect ...
... to wear sweaters. -
Lines 5-6
And the Stone ...
... of the time. -
Lines 7-10
The Spanish Inquisition ...
... the matador's hat?" -
Lines 11-13
The War of ...
... on Japan. -
Lines 14-17
The children would ...
... breaking their glasses, -
Lines 18-22
while he gathered ...
... enemy nod off.
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“The History Teacher” Symbols
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Playground Violence
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 14-17: “The children would leave his classroom / for the playground to torment the weak / and the smart, / mussing up their hair and breaking their glasses,”
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Flower Beds and White Picket Fences
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Line 19: “past flower beds and white picket fences,”
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“The History Teacher” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
Where alliteration appears in the poem:- Line 9: “Madrid”
- Line 10: “matador's”
- Line 15: “to torment”
- Line 18: “while ,” “walked”
- Line 19: “flower ,” “white,” “fences”
- Line 20: “wondering,” “ would”
- Line 21: “War ”
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Allusion
Where allusion appears in the poem:- Line 2: “the Ice Age”
- Line 5: “the Stone Age”
- Line 7: “The Spanish Inquisition”
- Line 11: “The War of the Roses”
- Lines 12-13: “the Enola Gay dropped one tiny atom / on Japan.”
- Line 21: “the Boer War ”
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Assonance
Where assonance appears in the poem:- Line 1: “protect,” “students,” “innocence”
- Line 3: “Chilly,” “million”
- Line 4: “everyone,” “sweaters”
- Line 6: “driveways,” “time”
- Line 10: “matador's,” “hat”
- Line 12: “atom”
- Line 13: “Japan”
- Line 18: “notes,” “home”
- Line 19: “beds,” “fences”
- Line 21: “Boer War,” “stories”
- Line 22: “nod off”
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Consonance
Where consonance appears in the poem:- Line 1: “Trying,” “to,” “protect,” “students,” “innocence”
- Line 2: “told,” “really”
- Line 3: “Chilly,” “million”
- Line 9: “Madrid”
- Line 10: “What,” “matador's,” “hat”
- Line 12: “dropped,” “tiny,” “atom”
- Line 13: “Japan”
- Line 15: “to,” “torment”
- Line 16: “smart”
- Line 17: “mussing,” “glasses”
- Line 18: “gathered,” “walked”
- Line 19: “past,” “flower,” “beds,” “white,” “picket,” “fences”
- Line 20: “wondering,” “would,” “believe”
- Line 21: “Boer,” “War,” “rambling”
- Line 22: “designed,” “make,” “enemy,” “nod”
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End-Stopped Line
Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:- Line 4: “sweaters.”
- Line 5: “Age,”
- Line 6: “time.”
- Line 9: “Madrid?"”
- Line 10: “hat?"”
- Line 11: “garden,”
- Line 13: “Japan.”
- Line 16: “smart,”
- Line 17: “glasses,”
- Line 19: “fences,”
- Line 22: “off.”
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Enjambment
Where enjambment appears in the poem:- Lines 1-2: “innocence / he”
- Lines 2-3: “ just / the ”
- Lines 3-4: “years / when”
- Lines 7-8: “more / than”
- Lines 8-9: “as / "How”
- Lines 12-13: “atom / on”
- Lines 14-15: “classroom / for”
- Lines 15-16: “weak / and”
- Lines 18-19: “home / past”
- Lines 20-21: “soldiers / in”
- Lines 21-22: “stories / designed”
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Irony
Where irony appears in the poem:- Line 1: “Trying to protect his students' innocence”
- Lines 14-22: “The children would leave his classroom / for the playground to torment the weak / and the smart, / mussing up their hair and breaking their glasses, / while he gathered up his notes and walked home / past flower beds and white picket fences, / wondering if they would believe that soldiers / in the Boer War told long, rambling stories / designed to make the enemy nod off.”
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Juxtaposition
Where juxtaposition appears in the poem:- Lines 7-13
- Lines 14-22
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Metaphor
Where metaphor appears in the poem:- Lines 7-8: “The Spanish Inquisition was nothing more / than an outbreak of questions”
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Pun
Where pun appears in the poem:- Lines 20-22: “soldiers / in the Boer War told long, rambling stories / designed to make the enemy nod off.”
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“The History Teacher” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Ice Age
- Stone Age
- Spanish Inquisition
- Matador
- War of the Roses
- Enola Gay
- Mussing
- Boer War
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(Location in poem: Line 2: “Ice Age”)
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The History Teacher”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“The History Teacher” Speaker
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“The History Teacher” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “The History Teacher”
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More “The History Teacher” Resources
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External Resources
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The Poem Out Loud — Watch a video of "The History Teacher" read aloud and accompanied by a series of illustrations.
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The Boer War — Learn more about the war referenced in the end of the poem (which had nothing to do with "boring" soldiers!).
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Collins's Voice — This video provides an opportunity to hear Billy Collins's dryly witty delivery of his own poetry followed by a lengthy interview.
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The War of the Roses — The real story of the War of the Roses, which did not take place in a garden (but did inspire the Game of Thrones series!).
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Biography of Billy Collins — This biographical portrait of Billy Collins offers a thorough chronology of his work and a variety of responses from critics.
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The Spanish Inquisition — Read what the Inquisition actually entailed (hint: it was not about matador hats).
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The Enola Gay — Read about the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Japan.
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New York Times Review — This New York Times review of a 2001 Billy Collins collection that reprinted "The History Teacher" quotes and analyzes the poem's impact at length.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Billy Collins
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