POETRY: in mrs tilscher's class Flashcards
all answer segments in italics are copied from the sqa's official marking scheme from 2019
**You **could travel up the Blue Nile/
YOU - ss, direct address, invites reader to remember
/ - ss, enjambement, suggests the motion of moving along the length of the river
‘could’ and ‘Blue Nile’ suggest the limitless possibilities of imagination.
with your finger, tracing the route
TRACING - wc, sensory description, suggests careful following of Mrs T’s instruction
‘with your finger’ simplicity of statement suggests the childish thrill of this experience.
while Mrs Tilscher chanted the scenery.
CHANTED - wc, suggests repetition, memorising, evocative teaching method + magic. suggesting spell cast by Mrs T over the speaker
Tana. Ethiopia. Khartoum. Aswan.
FULL LINE - ss, minor sentences and list, foreign sounding places engages children and their love of learning
That for an hour, then a skittle of milk
THAT FOR AN HOUR - wc? suggests routine and security
SKITTLE - wc, suggests playful, happy mood and a game
SKITTLE OF MILK - ima, metaphor, suggests shape of bottle, also fun and games, develops exciting nature of the class.
and the chalky pyramids rubbed into dust.
CHALKY - wc, suggests old fashioned teaching methods
PYRAMIDS + DUST - wc, suggest passage of time
PYRAMIDS RUBBED INTO DUST - ima, rubbed off board in class, suggests speaker’s engagement in lesson but the lesson has to end (passage of time)
‘chalky…dust’ suggests the magical evocation of reality in the blackboard drawings, as perceived by the speaker.
A window opened with a long pole. (no analysis)
n/a
The laugh of a bell **swung by a running child.
LAUGH OF A BELL - ima, personification mirrors speaker’s happy mood, creates joyful atmosphere. projects her laughter onto bell
SWUNG + RUNNING - wc, energetic words suggest energy, happy carefree world, safety and security
This was better than home. Enthralling books.
THIS WAS BETTER THAN HOME - ss, short dramatic statement, emphasises her love for learning - a safe, happy and exciting space. foreshadows issues with parents discussed later in poem.
ENTHRALLING - wc, suggests she finds books captivating and magical
ENTHRALLING BOOKS - ss, short sentence emphasises passion for learning
The classroom glowed like a sweet shop.
GLOWED - wc, suggests warmth, brightness and security
THE CLASSROOM GLOWED LIKE A SWEET SHOP - simile, suggests classroom is full of colourful displays to trigger the children’s imagination
Sugar paper. Coloured shapes. Brady and Hindley/
SUGAR PAPER. COLOURED SHAPES. - ss, minor sentences emphasises visual appeal of the class - room suggests class is warm and vibrant.
BRADY AND HINDLEY - ss, word placement emphasises fear at the edge of consciousness, faded (next line) suggests security of the class in relation to external dangers
faded, like the faint, uneasy smudge of a mistake.
FADED - wc and ss, aliteration w faint emphasises power of classroom to distract, Mrs T makes her students feel safe, but the memories linger
SMUDGE - wc suggests persisting external threats and dangers
FADED…OF A MISTAKE - ima, just as a smudge is a failed attempt at rubbing out an error, so the children cannot forget a child murderer and danger in society
Mrs Tilscher loved you. Some mornings, you found/
MRS TILSCHER LOVED YOU - ss, simple statement emphasises the speaker’s certainty of teacher’s ability to make students feel valued and treasured.
she’d left a good gold star by your name.
GOOD GOLD STAR - ima, aliteration makes phrase stand out to emphasise speaker’s youth and pride, transferred epiphet.
‘a good gold star’ — build-up of positive vocabulary suggests the thrill of being valued, tangibly conveyed by Mrs Tilscher.
The scent of a pencil, slowly, carefully shaved.
SLOWLY, CAREFULLY - wc, adverbs suggests emphasis placed on writing, pride in the speaker’s own work and Mrs T’s way of doing things properly
A xylophone’s nonsense heard from another form.
XYLOPHONE’S NONSENSE - ima, personification, whoever is playing could be young and inexperienced, contrast between the ordered perfection of Mrs T’s class and the din of the other classes
NONSENSE - wc, suggests chaos and dismissal of alternative classes.
Over the Easter term, the inky tadpoles changed/
INKY - wc, reference to writing and the school setting
THE INKY TADPOLES CHANGED - ima, metaphor reflects altered atmosphere in the playground, punctuation comparision relates to the school setting. just as the frogs are developing so too are the children moving towards adolescence.
CHANGED - wc and enjamb, theme of transition is introduced, emphasised by the word running on which continues the idea of growth and development.
from commas to exclamation marks. Three frogs
EXCLAMATION MARKS - suggests excitement to grow up, strong emotions to come
hopped in the playground, freed by a **dunce. **
DUNCE - wc, suggests and foreshadows bad behaviour and distinction from misbehaviour
followed by a line of kids, jumping and croaking
LINE OF KIDS - wc (also applicable to ‘dunce’) suggests readiness to grow and superiority/condescendance
away from the lunch queue. A rough boy
AWAY - wc, suggests move towards disorder and rejection of authority
ROUGH BOY - serious tone, suggests threat and prefaces shock about sex
‘A rough boy’ suggests the brutality of the knowledge adult world which destroys the speaker’s innocence.
told you how you were born. You kicked him, but stared/
YOU KICKED HIM - ima/wc menacing tone, suggests violence and the speaker’s simple denial of the new information revealed to her
STARED - wc, disgust, horror
at your parents, appalled, when you got back home
APPALLED - ss + ima, use of parenthesis to add extra information emphasises her shock, her disgust and horror is emphasised
That feverish July, the air tasted of electricity.
FEVERISH - wc, suggests flustered + agitation - children are growing and coming into adolescence
THAT…ELECTRICTY - ima, pathetic fallacy conveys flustered, agititated, emerging sexual awareness
A tangible alarm made you always untitdy, hot,
TANGIBLE ALARM - ima, suggests a concrete physical agitation, forshadows warning at sexual tension
UNTIDY, HOT - ima, word placement (ss) emphasises harsh emotional changes as they approach puberty
fractious under the heavy, sexy sky. You asked her
FRACTIOUS - ima, ss, heightened feelings of confusion irritation, annoyance on the brink of adolescence.
HEAVY, SEXY SKY - ima suggests emotional storm ahead, confusion, pathetic fallacy, burgeoning emotions
how you were born and Mrs Tilscher smiled
SMILED - ss, enjam mimics new division between teacher and pupil, suggests life is moving on and and things are changing
then turned away. Reports were handed out.
REPORTS WERE HANDED OUT - ss, simple statement suggests abrupt end to school year.
‘Mrs Tilscher…away’ suggests that even Mrs Tilscher fails to reassure in the relentless face of adult knowledge.
You ran through the gates, impatient to be grown,
IMPATIENT TO BE GROWN - ima, suggests urgency to experience life, leaving behind safety and security of Mrs T’s class
as the sky split open into a thunderstorm.
SPLIT OPEN - ima, violent intiation into adulthood from childhood restraints.
THUNDERSTORM - ima, foreshadows storm of adolescence + anticipation of opportunities ahead
