Watching too much television, according to the poet, corrupts the young minds of the children. Their minds are filled up with useless facts and are unable to ponder and imagine a whole new world. The children can no longer fantasize but gobble up whatever the TV teaches them. They only sit and stare at the screen, and the poet says how the child’s brain is transformed to a “CHEESE” and that they are unable to think as they observe what they see from the TV. The child no longer questions what is right or wrong but only digests whatever is injected into their brain through the TV.

Television Poem Stanza Wise Summary

Roald Dahl’s poem “Television” is a poem critiquing the object which has made not only the kids but everyone addicted to it. The poet uses a lot imagery to describe it as television is concerned with lots of wonderful and terrible images and must be interesting enough to watch the audience’s attention. He portrays the dangerous threat which a television poses for everyone especially the kids and pleads the parents to not put their kids in front of the “idiot box.” The speaker continues listing his reasons as why one should avoid buying a television. He says the children do nothing but “lounge about” in front of the TV until “their eyes pop out.” Their intelligence and thinking capabilities are drained and they get addicted to the TV and might as well not have eyes if all they do is watch TV. He says that the kids get intoxicated on the “ghastly junk” of television shows instead of being an actual drunk. Dahl uphold the virtues and pleasures of reading and being engrossed in book and at the same time critiques the invention of the television, very correctly known as the “idiot box.” He urges the parents to switch their kids from the TV to books as otherwise the young generation will be greatly harmed. Hence, the title of the poem is aptly justified.

Television Poem Stanza Wise Summary

The central theme of the poem is that the poet wishes to spread the message that TV is harmful for the young minds as they corrupt the children’s mind and make them unimaginative. The poet outrightly says that the children should not be allowed anywhere near your television set. The speaker then goes to describe the reasons why it’s harmful as the kids do nothing but gape at the screen. He points this out as the first negative impact upon the kids from the television. The speaker continues listing his reasons as why one should avoid buying a television. He says the children do nothing but lounge about in front of the TV until their eyes pop out. Their intelligence and thinking capabilities are drained and they get addicted to the TV and might as well not have eyes if all they do is watch TV. He says that the kids get intoxicated on the ghastly junk of television shows instead of being an actual drunk. He says the kids, before the invent of the television, used to read and read which nowadays no one bothers to do. He is also frustrated as how out of touch the parents have become along with their kids. Dahl uphold the virtues and pleasures of reading and being engrossed in book and at the same time critiques the invention of the television, very correctly known as the “idiot box.” He urges the parents to switch their kids from the TV to books as otherwise the young generation will be greatly harmed.

Television Poem Stanza Wise Summary