Mrs Tilschers Class

Question 1

The laugh of a bell swung by a running child.

Answer 1

innocence.
(I) Personification - The stanza ends with the closing of the school day. Duffy personifies the bell, projecting the child’s laughter onto it, which creates a happy/upbeat atmosphere.

Question 2

2nd stanza Mrs tilschers class

Answer 2

(S.S) The short sentences used throughout the stanza highlight the matter-of-fact tone of the children. For them life is exciting and uncomplicated

Question 3

Easter

Answer 3

W.C) “Easter” has connotations of life, as well as death and hints at the death of their innocence before the beginning of their lives as adolescents.

Question 4

inky tadpoles

Answer 4

(W.C) ‘tadpole’ has connotations of something in its infancy. The tadpoles suggest sexual reproduction as well as development and growth.

Question 5

frogs

Answer 5

(I) Extended metaphor/ symbol of the children as tadpoles and then frogs represents the stages of growth. As adolescents they feel free from the constraints of childhood.

Question 6

rough boy
told you how you were born. You kicked him

Answer 6

(W.C) ‘kicked’ has connotations of aggression and lashing out and suggests the speaker found the transition to adolescence a difficult one.

Question 7

heavy, sexy sky

Answer 7

(I) Duffy uses pathetic fallacy/ personification to hint that the children are entering the early stages of puberty by suggesting that a storm is building.