The Stages of Emotional Realization

A poem which appears to be about an ordinary everyday experience but which actually makes a deeper comment about life is “Mrs Tilscher’s Class” by Carol Ann Duffy. This poem shows the stages of emotional realisation as a child gradually enters adolescence. The focus of my essay will be to explain the techniques the writer has used to convey the image of a child growing up.

I shall start this essay by stating some of the imagery used to elucidate the comparisons to everyday life and growing up. We are told that ‘The classroom glowed like a sweet shop.’ This simile compares the classroom to a sweetshop. It makes you think that the classroom was a magical place. The author writes ‘The inky tadpoles changed from commas into exclamation marks. This metaphor shows the comparison between the commas growing into an exclamation mark like a child grows into an adult. The poem states “The laugh of a bell.” This uses personification to compare the ring of the bell to a laughing child. The writer also uses sensual imagery in the poem, Duffy states ‘the air tasted of electricity’, the function of this is to bring the poem to life so that the reader can hear, see and touch the scene.

The poets word choice makes me think about the change from a child into a teenager. Duffy writes ‘...the chalky pyramids rubbed into dust.’ This suggests that the faraway places have been rubbed off and they are back in the safe classroom environment. We are told that ‘you kicked him, but stared at your parents, appalled, when you got back home.’ This highlights the exact moment she lost her innocence; the writer says that she kicked the boy which shows a violent and physical reaction to being told about sex. The author writes ‘the air tasted of electricity.’ This illustrates that her body is going through changes and she is excited to experiment. The poem states ‘You ran through the gates, impatient to be grown.’ This suggests that looking back the speaker was very eager to grow up and she was looking forward to the unknown. However the closing line of this stanza contrasts the speakers need to grow up as Duffy finishes with the metaphor of a ‘thunderstorm’ which implies there will be a more dangerous, demanding and disastrous world out there which refers back to the essay question about the poem making a deeper comment about life.

The message throughout the poem is the changes a child goes through when entering adolescence. In stanza 3 the motion of swift change is highlighted by the imagery of tadpoles developing into frogs. The poet says “The inky tadpole’s changed from commas into exclamation marks.” The focus moves outside the protective classroom into the uncertain world of the playground where bad things can happen.

In summary ‘Mrs Tilscher’s Class’ by Carol Ann Duffy is a poem which seems to be about an ordinary everyday experience but which actually makes a deeper comment on life. Duffy has used similes, personification, imagery, metaphors and word choice to depict a sense of fear in growing up while still referring back to the classroom environment.