In Mrs. Tilscher’s Class Carol Ann Duffy

1. In Mrs. Tilscher’s ClassCarol Ann Duffy M. Leon Molina & D. Alexander Fenjves

2. Stories about Sex…

3. Pre-Read Context: • Tana, Ethiopia, Khartoum and Aswan ↦ places in North Africa along the Nile • Tana is the lowest on a map and it works up to Aswan, Northern point • Ian Brady and Myra Hindley↦ ‘Moor Murders’ ↦ assassination of 5 children in the Greater Manchester Area

4. In Mrs. Tilscher’s Class You could travel up the Blue Nile with your finger, tracing the route while Mrs. Tilscher chanted the scenery. Tana. Ethiopia. Khartoum. Aswân. That for an hour, then a skittle of milk and the chalky Pyramids rubbed into dust. A window opened with a long pole. The laugh of a bell swung by a running child. 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 of a mistake. Mrs. Tilscher loved you. Some mornings, you found she'd left a good gold star by your name. The scent of a pencil, slowly, carefully, shaved. A xylophone nonsense heard from another form. Over the Easter term, the inky tadpoles changed from commas into exclamation marks. Three frogs hopped in the playground, freed by a dunce, followed by a line of kids, jumping and croaking away from the lunch queue. A rough boy told you how you were born. You kicked him, but stared at your parents, appalled, when you got back home. That feverish July, the air tasted of electricity. A tangible alarm made you always untidy, hot, fractious under the heavy, sexy sky. You asked her how you were born and Mrs. Tilscher smiled, then turned away. Reports were handed out. You ran through the gates, impatient to be grown, as the sky split open into a thunderstorm.

5. The Markup You could travel up the Blue Nile / with your finger, tracing the route / while Mrs. Tilscher chanted the scenery. Tana. Ethiopia. Khartoum. Aswân. That for an hour, then a skittle of milk / and the chalky Pyramids rubbed into dust. A window opened with a long pole. The laugh of a bell swung by a running child. This was better than home. Enthralling books. The classroom glowed like a sweet shop. Sugar paper. Colouredshapes. Brady and Hindley/ faded, like the faint, uneasy smudge of a mistake. Mrs. Tilscher loved you. Some mornings, you found / she'd left a good gold star by your name. The scent of a pencil, slowly, carefully, shaved. A xylophone nonsense heard from another form Allusion Personification Alliteration Juxtaposition / = enjambment Assonance / Slant rhyme Metonym Olfactory Imagery Auditory Imagery Auditory / Visual Imagery Visual Imagery Symbolism SynetheticImagery

6. The Markup Allusion Personification Alliteration Juxtaposition / = enjambment Assonance / Slant rhyme Metonym Olfactory Imagery Auditory Imagery Auditory / Visual Imagery Visual Imagery Symbolism Synethetic Imagery Over the Easter term, the inky tadpoles changed / from commas into exclamation marks. Three frogs / hopped in the playground, freed by a dunce, followed by a line of kids, jumping and croaking / away from the lunch queue. A rough boy / told you how you were born. You kicked him, but stared / at your parents, appalled, when you got back home. That feverish July, the air tasted of electricity. A tangible alarm made you always untidy, hot, fractious under the heavy, sexy sky. You asked her / how you were born and Mrs. Tilscher smiled, then turned away. Reports were handed out. You ran through the gates, impatient to be grown, as the sky split open into a thunderstorm.

7. Form • 2, 8 line stanzas; 2, 7 line stanzas → 30 total lines → The change in form represents change to Duffy • Enjambment is seen throughout the poem → may be seen as the confusions encountered when growing up. • 4 stanzas = 4 school terms • Free verse → No regularity in rhythm or rhyme scheme (sense of confusion which is present in the poem).

8. Form • All lines are of practically the same length, syllable count ranges from 8-11 • Sentence length varies, making the poem seem direct and the ideas it sends across sort of simple • Even though the poem is autobiographical, uses “you” in order to connect the audience with its universal theme of growing up (second-person).

9. Literal Meaning • An innocent girl who grows up to discover what sex is. As the poem develops, she starts to view her surroundings very differently because of her discovery The age of the girl at the start must be around 11 or 12; at the end she is 13-ish. The poem is also about her dealing with the beginning of puberty. It is clearly autobiographical, and is narrated by Duffy herself.

10. Figurative Meaning • Process Of Growing Up → From Innocence To Experience. • The difficulty and confusion of growing up → coming of age → puberty

11. Diction • “You could travel up the blue nile” • “Mrs. Tilscher chanted...” • “The inky tadpoles changed from commas into exclamation marks” • “Freed by a dunce” • “feverish July” • “Sky split open by a thunderstorm”

12. Allusion • “Brady and Hindley faded, like the faint, uneasy smudge of a mistake” • “The chalky pyramids rubbed into dust” • “Blue Nile” • “Tana. Ethiopia. Khartoum. Aswân”

13. Imagery • “Laugh of the bell” → auditory • “The classroom glowed like a sweetshop” → visual, gustatory? • “The scent of a pencil, slowly, carefully, shaved.” → olfactory • “Uneasy smudge of a mistake” → visual • “Jumping and Croaking away from the lunch queue” → visual, auditory • “Heavy, sexy sky” → visual • “The air taste of electricity” → synesthesia • “From commas to exclamation marks” → visual • “Sky Split open into a thunderstorm.” → visual, auditory

14. Tadpole Video , !

15. DQ In what ways and to what extent does “In Mrs. Tilscher’s Class” relate to “Originally”? Both poems touch upon the difficulties of growing up and transitioning from childhood to adulthood. Are they exposed in the same light? What does this tell you about Carol Ann Duffy’s childhood?Carol Ann Duffy uses sex as a vehicle to depict the difficulties of growing up. Is sex as much of a difficulty for boys as it is for girls? What other problems are faced when we grow up? Can the other gender relate?

16. In Mrs. Tilscher’s Class You could travel up the Blue Nile with your finger, tracing the route while Mrs. Tilscher chanted the scenery. Tana. Ethiopia. Khartoum. Aswân. That for an hour, then a skittle of milk and the chalky Pyramids rubbed into dust. A window opened with a long pole. The laugh of a bell swung by a running child. 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 of a mistake. Mrs. Tilscher loved you. Some mornings, you found she'd left a good gold star by your name. The scent of a pencil, slowly, carefully, shaved. A xylophone nonsense heard from another form. Over the Easter term, the inky tadpoles changed from commas into exclamation marks. Three frogs hopped in the playground, freed by a dunce, followed by a line of kids, jumping and croaking away from the lunch queue. A rough boy told you how you were born. You kicked him, but stared at your parents, appalled, when you got back home. That feverish July, the air tasted of electricity. A tangible alarm made you always untidy, hot, fractious under the heavy, sexy sky. You asked her how you were born and Mrs. Tilscher smiled, then turned away. Reports were handed out. You ran through the gates, impatient to be grown, as the sky split open into a thunderstorm.

17. Bibliography Sources: • http://www.s-cool.co.uk/gcse/english/poetry-of-carol-ann-duffy/revise-it/in-mrs-tilschers-class • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nQ7UG7lnkY Pictures: • http://p2.trrsf.com.br/image/fget/cf/619/464/img.terra.com.br/i/2012/03/01/2249428-0963-rec.jpg • http://sarahayward.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/carol-ann-duffy-low-res.jpg • http://www.newzealandfishing.co.nz/images/hook.jpg • http://peakwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/map.jpg • http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02266/brady-and-hindley_2266074b.jpg • http://favim.com/orig/201106/03/disney-disney-movie-disney-movies-grow-up-growing-up-movie-Favim.com-65072.jpg • http://cache1.bigcartel.com/product_images/59672663/growing-up_cmyk_700px.jpg • http://growingupgirls.info/images/MotherMeasuring.gif • http://www.thedailymuse.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/120111-Being-a-Grown-Up-275x270.jpg