In the poem "The poetry lesson" by Don Maclennan, the poet is in a state of depression, he is finding it difficult to understand the reasons why he is doing poetry and teaching poetry to his students. The poem is also trying to make sense of poetry and trying to determine the purpose of it. The irony of this poem is that it is a poem about poetry and poem within itself. The type of irony that is shown in the poem is situational irony. We will have to look at the many reasons why Don Maclennan feels so depressed as such and how he feels about certain matters in his life. We will also be looking at the ironic remarks that he makes in the poem.
             The definition of irony in this poem is explained in the shorter oxford dictionary as " A figure of speech in which the intended meaning is the opposite of that expressed by the words used.." or " A contradictory outcome of events as if in the mockery of the promise and fitness of things."
             In the first stanza the poet describes his feelings of confusion and sadness. This sadness is shown to the reader when the poet says (l. 1) "I slide into [a] depression" This shows that the poet feels hopeless about his life and his understanding of poetry. His weakness which is portrayed in this stanza is further explained by him taking a (l. 2) "Smoke on the balcony". Usually a person who smokes is generalized as a weak person because smoking is an addictive habit. The poet also mentions his need to confess (l. 4) "I need someone to hear my confession". This again shows another sign of weakness. A confession is to admit to a weakness, the weakness that is spoken of in the poem is a weakness of not understanding the purpose of poetry. This is ironic because Don Maclennan is a Poetry teacher for many years at the Rhodes University yet he still does not understand the reason he is teaching poetry to his pupils.
             In the second stanza the weakness o...