In Mrs Tilcher's Class Flashcards
“You could travel up the Blue Nile with your finger”
“You” - Personal pronoun– creates a chatty tone/engages the reader
“Travel up the Blue Nile” - Metaphor – compares children’s journey growing up with an adventure along the Nile. Long sentence – mirrors the long journey children take through childhood.
“while Mrs Tilscher chanted the scenery”
“Chanted” - Word choice - Happy, singing voice of Mrs T. Connotations of casting a spell
“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”
“That for an hour,” - Chatty tone - Also shows day is broken down.
“skittle of milk” - Metaphor - compares milk bottles to bowling pins, suggests fun and excitement of time spent in Mrs T’s class.
“and the chalky Pyramids rubbed into dust.”
“chalky Pyramids rubbed into dust.” - Suggests magical, passing of time, something ending and being lost
“A window opened with a long pole.”
Personification poem from imagination to reality.
“The laugh of a bell swung by a running child.”
“The laugh of a bell” - Personification - projecting the child’s laughter onto it, which creates a happy atmosphere, establish an uplifting and carefree world, where children are free to grow and find themselves within a nurturing setting.
“This was better than home. Enthralling books.”
“This was better than home.” - Short sentence - suggests safety/Happiness Informal tone.
“Enthralling books.” - Word choice - suggests interested/absorbed by the learning/literature. Short sentence emphasises the strength of their feeling.
“The classroom glowed like a sweetshop.”
Simile – temptation, wonder and delight, trigger interest and imagination
“Sugar paper. Coloured shapes. Brady and Hindley faded, like a faint uneasy smudge of a mistake.”
“Sugar paper. Coloured shapes.” - Short sentence/list – describe setting, transport to magical world.
“Brady and Hindley faded, like a faint uneasy smudge of a mistake.” - Juxtaposition of security and danger of the moors murderers. Simile – power of loving environment, removes fear.
“Mrs Tilscher loved you. Some mornings, you found she’d left a good gold star by your name.”
“good gold star” - Word choice - suggests positive atmosphere, sense of magic, link to setting. The kids want to earn her approval.
“The scent of a pencil, slowly, carefully, shaved.”
List of adverbs - prolong the line, mimicking the slow act of sharpening a pencil, a universal memory of childhood
“A xylophone’s nonsense heard from another form.”
“xylophone’s nonsense” - Personification - implies that it hasn’t been mastered yet but sounds fun and appealing.
“Over the Easter term, the inky tadpoles changed from commas into exclamation marks.”
“Over the Easter term,” - Word choice - a time of growth and regeneration, signals a turning point in the poem and the speaker’s growth.
“inky tadpoles changed from commas into exclamation marks.” - Metaphor – represents children growing up. Punctuation links to growing up and links to setting and learning.
“Three frogs hopped in the playground, freed by a dunce,”
“Hopped” - Word choice – games and enjoyment.
“Dunce” - Word choice – stupid person, old fashioned.
