Mrs Tilcher’s Class

Question 1

“You can travel up the Blue Nile, with your finger, tracing the route while Mrs Tilscher chanted the scenery”

Answer 1

• The effect, along with the word choice of “You”, refers to the corporate response of the class, but the word “You” also instantly involves the reader.

Question 2

“Tana. Ethiopia. Khartoum. Aswan.”

Answer 2

• The minor one-word sentences evoke the route of the Blue Nile, but the fact that she chants places through which the Nile flies also evokes the teaching style of the period.

Question 3

“skittle of milk”

Answer 3

“skittle” as in 10 pin bowling is a metaphor for the small bottle of milk given at break time.

Question 4

“chalky Pryamids rubbed into dust.”

Answer 4

• After break the chalky “pryamids” have been rubbed off the blackboard.
• The word choice of ‘chalky’ and ‘rubbed into dust’ are literal - teachers used chalk and sisters to clean off the chalk.
• But also there is a metaphorical image of the ‘dust’ associated with desert conditions, and the ease with which the past can be brushed away.

Question 5

“a window opened with a long pole.”
“laugh of a bell”

Answer 5

• These lines present two different images:
• The window is ‘opened with a long pole’ evoking 1960’s classrooms, with their long, high windows.
• But captures the the movement + rhythm of the morning, from geography lesson for an hour, then break, the heat building up.
• Until the personification of “the laugh of a bell” signals lunch time; the verse conveys how happy + joyful it was.

Question 6

“This was better than home.”

Answer 6

The second verse begins with a declarative sentence, affirming her love of Mrs Tilscher’s Class.

Question 7

“Enthralling books. The classroom glowed like a sweetshop. Sugar paper. Coloured shapes.”

Answer 7

• Series of minor sentences which is then interrupted by the simile.
• The minor sentences provide a visual snapshot conveying the excitement and appeal of the classroom.
• The simile suggests the classroom was as enthralling as a sweetshop.
• “Sugar paper” with its bright colour and rough, sometimes sparkly. surface suggested the enjoyment of craftwork.

Question 8

“Brady and Hindley”

Answer 8

• From the Manchester area, are known as the Moors Murders who killed young people from 1963-65; people were scared, and the use of their names contrasts with the excitement of the classroom shocks the reader.

Question 9

“faded, like the faint, uneasy smudge of a mistake”

Answer 9

• The simile here is complex; ‘faded’ suggests that the awareness of Brady and Hindley had not disappeared, only diminished.
• The alliteration of the f sound along with the assonance of the long ‘a’ sounds contrasted with the short guttural ‘u’ sound all add to the confusion of her feelings about the murderers.
• ‘uneasy smudge’ + ‘’mistake’ convey the idea of an unsuccessful attempt to erase an error.

Question 10

“Mrs Tilscher loved you”

Answer 10

• overtakes the memories of the murders; the short declarative sentence brings warmth and security back to the verse.

Question 11

“you found she’d left a gold star by your name”

Answer 11

• The enjambement ‘you found/she’d left a gold star by your name’ highlights the fact that ‘Mrs Tilscher loved you’, the ‘gold star’ evoking success.

Question 12

“scent of a pencil, slowly, carefully, shaved.”

Answer 12

• This is not only a representative of primary classrooms at the time, but also the memory of pencils sharpened with a pen-knife to a fine point.

Question 13

“xylophone’s nonsense heard from another form.”

Answer 13

• The audial image of the quote reminds readers of the sounds of a school and the setting in that time.

Question 14

“the inky tadpoles changed from commas into exclamation marks.”

Answer 14

• The complexity of the metaphor conveys not only the physical change taking place with the tadpoles but also the symbolic change taking place among the children.
• The image ‘exclamation marks’ registers, perhaps, their surprise at what is happening to their bodies, but also their increase in confidence and boldness.
• The idea is developed by the semantic field of ‘inky’, ‘commas’ and ‘exclamation marks’, all language used in the classroom.

Question 15

“dunce” “a line of kids” “croaking”

Answer 15

The use of ‘dunce’ and ‘line of kids’ suggests the observation is from the slightly older persona’s perspective - she is being superior and condescending; the audial image ‘croaking’ adds humour to the frog image.

Question 16

“A rough boy told you how you were born.”
“appalled”

Answer 16

• The tone becomes serious: because of the enjambement, ‘told you how you were born’ comes as a surprise after ‘A rough boy’.
• Now she knows about sex, heralding her loss of innocence; she is unable to deal with the knowledge and kicks him, but, later, she looks at her parents ‘appalled’: she has understood.

Question 17

“That feverish july, the air tastes of electricity.”

Answer 17

• The transferred epithet ‘feverish July’ along with the synaesthes tasted of electricity’ (cant actually taste it) convey the emerging sexual aw of the pupils.
• ‘feverish’ suggests heat, agitation and intensity, while ‘electricity’ suc excitement and being emotionally charged.

Question 18

“A tangible alarm.”
“Untidy, hot, fractious.”
“heavy, sexy sky”

Answer 18

• In the next sentence, the word choice alarm’ conveys a concrete, physical agitation, a warning of sexual tension.
• The effect of which is expressed by the pile-up of adjectives - ‘untidy, hot, / fractious’ - all connoting increasing distress and confused feelings.
• In the transferred epithet ‘heavy, sexy’ the epithets + adjectives ‘heavy’ + ‘sexy’ have been transferred, it is the speakers + pupils who experience heaviness and sexual awareness.

Question 19

“You asked her how you were born… then turned away.”

Answer 19

• The use of enjambement: ‘You asked her / how you were born’ causes ‘how you were born’ to come as a surprise.
• Although ‘turned away’ suggests Mrs Tilscher wasn’t prepared to answer the question.

Question 20

“Reports were handed out”

Answer 20

• The short sentence suggests the conclusion of primary school.

Question 21

“You ran through the gates.”
“Impatient to be grown.”
“The sky split open into a thunderstorm.”

Answer 21

• The kinetic imagery of the final conclusive sentence contrasts vividly with the gentle movements in the opening verse.
• The last sentence almost explodes with energy and threat, especially with ‘sky split open’ and ‘thunderstorm’, portending the storms of adolescence to come, although there is the underlying idea of opportunities still to come.