Poetry Geek

So there is a kid in my poetry class (I'm taking it because I have to) who really grinds my gears. Let me describe him in a very unorganized fashion. I'm sure whoever reads this and has taken at least one class in college has seen one of these kids.

His name is Steve. He has the kind of facial hair where it's obvious he didn't mean to have it on purpose. He also has the same kind of haircut. He wears sweatsuits to class EVERY night. Not the kind of sweat pants you would find at a nice store, but the kind you see at Modell's 2 for $15 that cling to your upper thigh and show your sack. Now I'm not totally judgmental on guys according to their how they look, but when a guy takes no consideration to his physical appearance it says a lot about how much he respects himself. I don't consider myself a handsome man by any means, but I at least like to keep my beard trimmed and wear normal clothes. But this fact is just the beginning of what pisses me off about him.

He sits in the VERY front and center row. And as if this doesn't scream, "Please Professor! Look at me!" enough, he verbally agrees with every statement the teacher makes. Everything the teacher says is followed by some sort of word from Stevie boy that tells the teacher he is in accordance.

"And the type of device used here is personification."
"Yeah."

"You'll see Emily Dickinson has a unique use of proper nouns."
"Oh yeah. I see that."

"Shakespeare's target audience in this poem is also the subject of it."
"Yes. Yes it is."

Every time Steve does this it makes me want to throw my desk at the back of his head. I actually told the girl next to me who in response said "That wouldn't be very nice."

He is also the type of person who, if the teacher speaks about something he knows a little bit about, he can't just let it slide. Without raising his hand he will blurt out things like "Oh yeah! I read a lot of Edgar Allen Poe and I have all of his books and audiobooks!".

I can describe his world. In his world he is front and center of this class and instead of 18 other students behind him, paying the same amount of tuition and trying to express the same amount of opinions towards credit in the class, he is alone in the class and only his opinions are worthy enough to be heard. He will readily tell people they are "wrong" and laugh at other opinions. I have opinions on every poem we read, but I only offer it if his is different. So as not to be annoying by repeatedly blurting out answers, and to make him look incredibly dumb. I have no tolerance for people like him and I can tell you right now that by the end of this semester I will have punched him in his dumb face.