Did I Miss Anything?

The appearance of the angel in the poem is significant, since until that point the poem has been about solidly secular and realistic concerns. It is clear from the teacher’s sarcastic tone that the angel is a hyperbolic invention, but it is significant that Wayman uses the particular allegory of the angel. He could easily have chosen any other exaggeration – an alien, a superior technology, even a figure from history – to make his point, but the poet specifically singles out an angel or “any other heavenly being.” Even the alternative is described as a “heavenly being,” which introduces a religious element in the poem. Viewed in this light, the angel symbolism has many meanings. The angel is a metaphor for instant knowledge, implying that the idea of attainting knowledge instantaneously is as ludicrous as the likelihood of the heavens opening up and an angel descending into the classroom. The angel is also an ironic allusion to the hard work religious scholars have always put into achieving their epiphanies; the shaft of light or inspiration that scholars achieve is not the result of serendipity, but the result of showing up for their work with regularity.