Comment by pinkmuffinere

I think your more charitable interpretation is also more-correct, but it is still an indictment of sorts: we’ve all read this poem, but very very few were critically paying attention to what we read. We mostly trusted our instincts, and didn’t care to double check.

To be fair, I don’t think we can expect more of elementary school kids. But I think I might have read it in high school, and should have done better.