The poem has 4 stanzas.

The first 2 have 8 lines

Stanza one Title locates the poem in a school environment. The
and describe the positive atmosphere of the
introduces poem explores a young child growing up within a
classroom. Stanzas 3 and 4 introduce change and
an idyllic nurturing primary school environment.
growing up and have seven lines, which reflect
setting.
Personal
IN MRS TILSCHER’S CLASS the destabilising nature of adolescence. Also it is
predictable and regular like a school timetable.
pronoun –
creates a chatty You could travel up the Blue Nile Metaphor – compares children’s journey growing up with
tone/engages an adventure along the Nile. Long sentence – mirrors the
with your finger, tracing the route
long journey the children take through childhood
Word choice – while MrsTilscher chanted the scenery
happy, singing
voice of Mrs T Tana. Ethiopia. Khartoum. Aswan. List of one word sentences – mimic the patient
way that Mrs T pauses after saying things in class
That for an hour, then a skittle of milk
Chatty tone. Also
shows day is and the chalky Pyramids rubbed into dust. Metaphor compares milk bottles to bowling pins, suggests
broken down fun and excitement of time spent in Mrs T’s class
A window opened with a long pole.
Suggests magical, The laugh of a bell swung by a running child. Word choice brings action from the
passing of time,
Personification - projecting the child's laughter onto it, which poem from imagination to reality.
something
creates a happy atmosphere, establish an uplifting and
ending and being
carefree world, where children are free to grow and find In stanza two, Duffy continues a wonderful
Short sentence themselves within a nurturing setting. environment of a classroom.
suggests safety/ This was better than home. Enthralling books. She juxtaposes the external world with the
happiness descriptions of the classrooms.
Informal tone The classroom glowed like a sweetshop.
Sugar paper. Coloured shapes. Brady and Hindley Word choice suggests interested/absorbed
Simile –
by the learning/literature. Short sentence
temptation, faded, like a faint uneasy smudge of a mistake. emphasises the strength of their feeling
wonder and
Mrs Tilscher loved you. Some mornings, you found
delight, trigger
Juxtaposition of security and danger of the
she’d left a good gold star by your name.
Short sentence/list moors murderers. Simile – power of loving
– describe setting, The scent of a pencil, slowly, carefully, shaved. environment, removes fear
transport to A xylophone’s nonsense heard from another form.
magical world Word choice – suggests positive
List of adverbs - prolong the line, mimicking the slow act of atmosphere, sense of magic, link to setting
Personification - sharpening a pencil, a universal memory of childhood.
implies that hasn’t Stanza 3 - it is at this point that the child
been mastered it Word choice - a time of growth and regeneration, signals a speaker learns how she was born. It is
yet but sounds fun turning point in the poem and the speaker’s growth interesting that this stanza takes place
and appealing outside the classroom, as if this growth could
Over the Easter term, the inky tadpoles changed not happen in the bubble Mrs T created.
Metaphor –
from commas into exclamation marks. Three frogs
represents children Word choice – games and enjoyment
growing up. hopped in the playground, freed by a dunce,
Punctuation links to
growing up and links followed by a line of kids, jumping and croaking Word choice – stupid person, old fashioned
to setting and
away from the lunch queue. A rough boy
learning Word choice – link to boys’ voices
Word choice told you how you were born. You kicked him, but stared breaking through comparison to frogs
suggests sheltered
at your parents, appalled, when you got back home .
background,
short sentence - evokes her disbelief
snobbish behaviour,
Word choice and parenthesis places the word in the and perhaps her fear of the unknown
immature , lack of
knowledge of world. middle of the line, adding emphasis to her horror as her Word choice suggests violence,
Links to growing up familiar and safe world disintegrates in front of her eyes. childish reaction, unable to deal with
and gaining Complex sentence to highlight the complex thoughts of the feelings effectively at this stage in the
knowledge of sex reader speaker’s development.
 Stanza 4 describes the child's sexual awakening, as she Metaphor – compares the air to electricity, suggests danger,
experiences unfamiliar feelings and no longer finds the warnings and also excitement. new energy and excitement
answers with Mrs T. The poem ends with the speaker fuelling the children. But it also suggests the threat of lightening
leaving the school gates to embark on the next stage of life. and storms, suggesting the difficult time of adolescence.

Word choice - That feverish July, the air tasted of electricity.

Word choice –compares change of laughing bell
conveys the A tangible alarm made you always untidy, hot, to the speaker. Links to stress and excitement
flustered, agitated that the child perceives in physical terms. "alarm"
mood, suggests fractious under the heavy sexy sky. You asked her
also suggests a warning of what is ahead
illness, heat or how you were born and Mrs Tilscher smiled,
even excitement List – suggests the speaker feels uncomfortable,
then turned away. Reports were handed out.
experiencing the beginning of puberty
Pathetic fallacy links You ran through the gates, impatient to be grown,
to speaker’s feelings.
Word choice suggests As the sky split open into a thunderstorm. This time, when the child goes to Mrs Tilscher
a storm is building. for help and security it is no longer there. The
"heavy" suggests the
Contrast to stanzas 1 and 2. Instead of magical world line break is deliberate here to mimic the new
burden of new provided by Mrs T, reality sets in with school reports. division between teacher and pupil
knowledge and Mrs T’s role has become ordinary and matter of fact.
emotions, "sexy"
refers to sexual Parenthesis – creates emphasis of the speaker’s
2nd person pronoun – informal tone, speak directly to
awakening. feelings, fear has melted away and turned into
the reader, make the poem and its themes universal
eagerness to experience life and leave the
and relatable for all audiences.
Pathetic fallacy links world of Mrs T’s classroom behind
to speaker’s feelings
Metaphor – compare Themes
with the dramatic  Childhood  Metaphorical journey in final year of
feelings about  Growing up primary school
growing up, scary  Nostalgia
/exciting Word choice  Self-realisation  It begins in the safety and security of the
setting of Mrs T’s classroom
of split – breaking,  Innocence
damage, loss of  Contrasts
innocence, cannot  Change  During the year as the speaker changes so
return to does the atmosphere and there begins to
past/childhood be a feeling of fear, danger and excitement