Analysis of In Mrs Tilscher's Class by Carol Ann Duffy

The poem ' In Mrs Tilscher's Class' written by Carol Ann Duffy, is written in free verse and includes four stanzas. The poem consists of metaphors, similies and the five senses. This essay will outline the areas in which Duffy uses diffrent literary terms to define the theme of growing up.

The first two stanzas have a joyful tone as Duffy remembers her cherished childhood memories. The atmosphere of the classroom is full of excitement as the children learn new things. The use of the five senses : touch, smell ,sight, taste and sound all help us engage in the journey.

You could travel up the Blue Nile

with your finger, tracing the route

while Mrs Tilscher chanted the scenery.

Tana. Ethiopia. Khartoum. Aswan.

Duffy's use of one word sentences and the effective third person term 'You' makes the reader feel more interacted with the poem. The reader can hear the names of these tropical places being chanted and picture the image in their heads. The word chanted also suggest that the children where in a trance like state, listening to the teacher that they loved teaching them interesting things about these faraway places along the Nile almost as though they where on a boat but still in the saftey of the classroom.

This was better than home. Enthralling books.

The classroom glowed like a sweet shop.

Sugar paper. Coloured shapes. Brady and Hindley

faded, like the faint, uneasy smudge if a mistake.

As we move onto the second stanza we read more about the classroom and how it 'glowed like a sweetshop' this suggests that the room was filled with bright colour and was a good learning enviroment. We then go onto read about Brady and Hindley, who where known as the moor murderers. The words faint and uneasy tell us that the...

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...coming to an end. The children ran through the gates but this time they are running away from the school rather than into the school, they are running into the outside world which is full of new adventure and lots more to learn just without the protection on the classroom. ' The sky split open into a thunderstorm' can symbolize two thing, either a new beginning for the childen as they become older or the start of a unsecure start where they will struggle.

I enjoyed this poem and i liked the way Duffy made it interesting to read. She is a very talented author and i would like to do another one of her poems sometime. This one really did make me think back to my childhood days and ive realised that it is true, the changes, the feeling, everything. The peom has also made me realise how much i have actually changed and it is quite scary alothough funny to think about.