This analytical essay will be looking at two poems; one by William Blake called ‘The Schoolboy’ and another called ‘In Mrs Tilscher’s Class’ by Carol Anne Duffy which will both compare the depicted theme ‘coming of age’. The ideas that will be discussed are the portrayal of the teachers, what school is like and preparation into adulthood. Both poets have written poems that link the theme ‘coming of age’ from a child’s perspective of what one year of school was like to them and how it would affect them throughout the years and all the way to adulthood.
Firstly, the type of relationship the kids had with their teachers will be overviewed and looked at. We are introduced to Mrs Tilscher from ‘In Mrs Tilscher’s Class’ when she was ‘chanting the scenery “Tana. Ethiopia.
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William Blake depicted the school in the poem as being unpleasant. We see this in the fourth stanza when the poet says ‘the bird that is born for joy sit in a cage.’ This sentence is structured to show a metaphor which refers to the kids as ‘birds’ who are meant to be full of joy and wellbeing are instead, locked up in a cage which is their classroom. On the other hand, Duffy’s poem tells us that the child’s classroom sparkled every time they walked into the classroom. This is stated in the second stanza when the poet claimed ‘the classroom glowed like a sweet shop.’ The poet has used a very simple but clever simile that tells the audience the classroom was like a candy shop. Duffy has described the child to see the classroom the same way it would see a candy shop as in it always glowed every time that the child walked into the classroom. In both the poems the reader can clearly see that the kid in ‘The Schoolboy’ sees school more like a prison being stuck in a cage and the perspective from the child in ‘In Mrs Tilscher’s Class’ is anything that involves the classroom sparkles to
In her poem “The School Children”, Louise Gluck uses imagery by applying an extended metaphor to show how going to school is similar to going to battle and by describing the mothers’ actions through the use of vivid verbs to portray the disconnection between children and their guardians, despite the sacrifices that mothers make.
"If she hollers, she is mine. If she needs to be changed, she is always mine...
Although Prize Giving highlights the superiority of the male Professor over the rest of the girls, there is a role reversal towards the end of the poem where the titian haired girl establishes power over him. Through her sexuality and musical talent, the girl asserts dominance in the final stanza and causes the professor to feel inferior for the first time, which comes as an uncomfortable shock to him (Harwood, pg.29). The poem of Father and Child which was published in Harwood’s 2nd Volume of poems continues to suggest a possible social change through the use of a child. Here, Harwood defeminises the child refusing to sentimentalise little girls by referring to the protagonist as a “wisp-haired judge” despite only being seven. The poem then links this to King Lear through the words “Old king” while reversing the relationship and position of power between father and daughter (Harwood, pg.111). These hints for change arise from the female children rather than the adults showing that although Harwood often represents women as subordinate to men, there is a possibility for change through the new
Each of the poems offers insight to what a boy needs to know and will expect when turning twenty one. The each shows different perspectives on the importance of this birthday and how it can change a boy into a man. The tone, dictions, and structure offers insights and help to the reader of how these poems can convey each their own compelling
How do observations of an ordinary and personal custom (in this case, a birthday party), evolve into reflections on the disturbing realties of everyday life? In “Rite of Passage”, the speaker in Sharon Olds poem impassively relates how first-grade boys (including her son) participate in and view violence as an achievement. Through a Post-Modern focus on society’s more intimate and hushed truths, the poem speaks on the unspoken norms of the path from boyhood to manhood. Disclosing social conventions, which automatically accept and propagate what is the standard role for boys. The role of an aggressor. The result is a myriad of possible meanings in a text, which at first appears to satirize those assumptive roles. Yet, the speaker of the poem
The fact that they feel they can sit about the knee of their mother, in this stereotypical image of a happy family doesn’t suggest that the children in this poem are oppressed... ... middle of paper ... ... y has a negative view of the childish desire for play which clearly has an effect on the children. The fact that they the are whispering shows that they are afraid of the nurse, and that they cannot express their true thoughts and desires freely, which is why they whisper, and therefore shows that Blake feels that children are oppressed. I feel that the two poems from innocence which are ‘The Echoing Green,’ and ‘The Nurses Song,’ display Blake’s ideological view of country life which I referred to in my introduction, and show his desire for childhood to be enjoyed.
Starting with the first stanza, Blake creates a dark and depressing tone. He uses words such as died, weep, soot, and cry to support this tone. In the first two lines the child shares his family with us, stating his mother’s death and the fact that his father sold him sharing that the child must come from a poor background “When my mother died I was very young, And my father sold me while yet my tongue”(Lines 1-2). The image of a poor child getting tossed into another unhappy place sets the tone for the beginning of this poem. Blake uses the word “weep”, instead of “sweep” in the first stanza to show the innocence of the child “Could scarcely cry weep weep weep weep”(3). The fact that the child cried “weep” instead of sweep shows that the child could not be any older than four. Blake describes that they sleep in soot also meaning they are sleeping in their death bed. The average life span of children who work in chimneys is ten years due to the harsh work environment. The child portrays sorrow in the last line of the first stanza “So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.”(4)
Singleton, M. (2000). The school experience in the coming of age novel: Jane Eyre and The Catcher In the Rye. Retrieved October 13, 20003 from http://www.uh.edu/hti/curriculum_units/2000/v01/05.htm .
In the essay I hope to explain why I picked each poem and to suggest
Artists, and more precisely poets, are often inspired by the various stages of the human life. For instance, Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market,” Countee Cullen’s “Incident” and Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll” are all poems dealing with the transition from childhood to adulthood. Numerous poets in history have done the exact same thing, often discussing the influence of humans on their own fall from innocence to experience.
innocence and how it all changed at the end of primary school. inky tadpoles changed from commas into exclamation marks I believe. This symbolizes the change from a child into an adolescent. However, in Piano, the poem shows us how the past will always shape us. tells us how we can never go back to the past I weep like a child for.
In the beginning of poem, the poet states: "In the shade of the banks. / Here, every spring I would fill jampotfuls of the jellied / Specks to range on window sills at home,"(Line 10-12). These lines show personal tension because it's an something only the narrator experiences. The poet's use of tension allows the reader to appreciate the narrators depth. In the next lines, the poet states: "On shelves at school, and wait and watch until / The fattening dots burst, into nimble / Swimming tadpoles. Miss Walls would tell us how" (Lines 13-15). This is an example of public tension, because he is discussing something that happened at school where other students attend, and his teacher is remarking on his frog eggs. This use of this public tension builds an innocent feeling for this poem, so the ending makes a more powerful impact on the reader. It is also here to remind readers that the narrator is a child. And finally, the poet states "when fields were rank / With cowdung in the grass the angry frogs /Invaded the flax-dam; I ducked through hedges"(Lines 22-24). These lines exhibit the personal tension, because there are animals involved, but only one human. No other human is there to experience this. This personal tension makes a huge impact of the reader - we go from an innocent child at school to a person facing something that horrifies them. The way the poet uses the personal and
In conclusion, “Fern Hill” by Dylan Thomas demonstrates that at some point in life people will experience reminiscing on the past lifetime. It’s eye opening to see time pass oh so quickly, with death impending, youth is fleeting and infinitely valuable, as well as we do not fully appreciate childhood until it is too late. This poem displays beautiful imagery of how great childhood was, but it comes to a depressing thought at the loss of the beauty of his childhood, and he longs for his youthfulness. In the end, the whole idea of youth and age is
In the poetry of William Blake and William Wordsworth, this difference between children and adults and their respective states of mind is articulated and developed. As a person ages, they move undeniably from childhood to adulthood, and their mentality moves with them. On the backs of Blake and Wordsworth, the reader is taken along this journey.
In the poem, “The Chimney Sweeper” by William Blake, the author attempts to educate the reader about the horrors experienced by young children who are forced into labor at an early age cleaning chimneys for the wealthy. The poem begins with a young boy who has lost his mother but has no time to properly grieve because his father has sold him into a life of filth and despair. The child weeps not only for the loss of his mother and father’s betrayal, but also for the loss of his childhood and innocence. Blake uses poetry in an attempt to provoke outrage over the inhumane and dangerous practice of exploiting children and attempts to shine a light on the plight of the children by appealing to the reader’s conscience in order to free the children from their nightmare existence. Right away in the first lines of the poem we learn through the child narrator that his life is about to change dramatically for the worse.