Ms Tilshers Class – Poetry

The poem shows the safety and security that Mrs Tilscher’s classroom provides for the children, but hints the dangers that one would confront if one were to leave the classroom. Comment on how the narrator does this by close reference to the poem. ‘In Mrs Tilscher’s Class’ by Carol Ann Duffy is a poem about a young person entering the transition from childhood to adolescence. She shows the safety and security of the class through the use of techniques such as simile, listing and diction. However, she also hints at the dangers one will confront if they were to leave the classroom through the use of diction.

One way Duffy shows the safety and security in Mrs Tilscher’s class is by comparing it to a sweet shop. This is shown through the simile “The classroom glowed like a sweet shop”. This emphasises that the colours and shapes within the classroom can be compared to the colourful range of lollies available at a sweet shop. It also suggests that the classroom is so enjoyable it can be related to the joy and fun that is experienced when picking lollies at a sweet shop. They are both interesting and exciting. The listing of “Sugar paper.

Coloured shapes” also suggest the memorable images of the colourful classroom and further compare the classroom to a sweet shop. These show the safety felt by the children when in Mrs Tilscher’s classroom as it takes there mind off the outside world and lets them be innocent and childish. Duffy also shows the safety and security of the classroom through the use of diction. She uses positive diction such as “glowed”, “loved” and “better than home” to show how enjoyable and safe the persona feels in Mrs Tilscher’s class. “Glowed” suggests the bright and cheerful feel of the classroom which is experienced by the students. Loved” emphasises the true passion Mrs Tilscher had in making sure all of her students felt safe and free while in her class and the effort she put in to distracting her students from the outside world. “Better than home” shows the direct statement from the persona in saying that Mrs Tilscher’s class was “better than home”. The safety and security felt at home is lesser than that at school because of the cheerful, colourful feel of the class. The last way that Duffy shows the safety and security of the classroom is through the use of simile.

The simile “Brady and Hindley faded, like the faint uneasy smudge of a mistake” resembles the distraction of the classroom from the outside world. It suggests that within the classroom the outside world could be wiped out, as if literally erasing the mistake. The mistake being “Brady and Hindley” who were known as the Moors Murderers. The poem is set around the time of the murders which can be hinted to as one of the dangers one could confront in the real world. However the safety of the classroom allowed for the stress of the murders to be lost and for the students to relax and enjoy being children.

The dangers one would confront when they leave school are shown through the use of negative diction. Duffy uses negative diction to show the innocence of the persona, for example “appalled”. This suggests that the persona felt uncomfortable after learning how she was born. The new revelation was not a welcome one. As children grow up, there comes a time when they must mature. The use of “rough” and “kicked” add to the thought of violence. They change the tone of the poem as the persona begins to learn more about the chaotic outside world. The final line of the poem is “the sky split open into a thunderstorm”.

This emphasises the dangers of the outside world by comparing it to a thunderstorm. As the persona finishes school she can no longer rely on it as a safe place and has to battle through the thunderstorm that is to come. I conclusion “In Mrs Tilscher’s Class” by Carol Ann Duffy is an in depth representation of the transition from childhood to adolescence and hints at what thunderstorm is to come. Duffy shows us the safety and security of the classroom but also hints at the dangers one will confront when one leaves the classroom. Therefore this is a wonderful poem about the true reality of growing up as a child.