Poems- ‘The Teachers’ and ‘In Mrs Tilscher’s Class’
I am going to be comparing two poems, ‘The Teachers’ by Liz Lochhead and ‘In Mrs Tilscher’s Class’ by Carol Ann Duffy. The two poems talk about the same thing, which is teachers, but in different ways and the way that the poems' structures are created for the reader.
Both the poems recall parts of their school days and talk about memories of teachers they once had. Carol Ann Duffy talks about her fond memories of a teacher she once had, saying about how playful her school day was, she uses ‘skittle of milk’ to describe the joy of being able to have milk, also, she relates many parts of the poems to toys, including her teacher, ‘Mrs Tilscher’, who made many of their lessons more playful and at the end of the day it would leave her happy. On the other hand Liz Lochhead concentrates on the description of what happened in school and the characters of her teachers. On lines 5- 6 she says ‘Wars were bad but sometimes necessary’, this could represent the fact that the poem was written during or after the war era, she could also be talking about classroom wars, for example ‘wars of the sexes’. She chooses to start the poem on a really dull note; this could be because she may not have felt any emotions towards her school life or her teacher and peers. This dreary start makes the rest of the poem bland, with no detail of emotions, leaving it plain and basic to the reader.
In the first stanza of ‘In Mrs Tilschers Class’ Duffy, starts it with ‘You could travel up the blue Nile with your finger…’, even though the blue Nile isn’t blue, its like she remembers the start of the day as being perfect, but whilst everyone knows that the water in the blue Nile is actually ...
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...e last line of the poem would make us think even though they are going into a newer school habitat and age, they still are growing up and they will find out things that they never knew and are able to learn more even though that there are dangers on the way. Also the line could mean that they are now leaving Mrs Tilschers Class and now their lives may become dangerous without her.
Overall, I think that both the poems are good, but Lochheads is lacking the excitement that school can bring. Both the poems are similar to each other, but ‘In Mrs Tilschers Class’ is more modern than ‘The Teachers’ which many have been set in the war era, meaning everything was in short supply during the school day. Lochheads poem doesn’t make you feel any emotion, but Duffys makes you feel what she is feeling as a child, which I think makes it a more interesting poem to read.
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.
...ut something the mother is doing for herself, while the second poem is all about the sacrifices the father made for his son. Comparing them shows the mother to be the more "selfish" of the two, in that her child and husband are distractions from her revelry, and they are somewhat burdensome to her. But the father is totally self-sacrificing -- getting up in the "blueblack cold," making a fire with "cracked hands that ached." He takes no thought for his own comfort, except, possibly, when he gets angry. This makes me think if the father had spent some time relaxing like the mother, maybe he wouldn't have gotten as angry. Maybe thinking of yourself every once in awhile is a good thing, I don't know, but it is interesting to note the contrast. I think mother in the first poem is person we can relate to, but the father in the second poem is a person we admire.
I chose the poem, “Elena” by Pat Mora as the second poem to contrast with the first. Pat Mora conveys a deep meaning through tone and the speaker. This poem gave me a sad feeling of disconnection as both “The Red Hat” and “Elena” express the disconnection they both face with their children. However, “Elena” expresses the feelings of a mother who has lost a connection with her children. The author says in line 4 that she used to “understand every word they’d say.” This sentimental phrase is filled with emotion and hurt. This is a big part of the communication she had with her children and her being able to connect with them. Then the poem had a shocking abrupt shift in the mood in line 7 “But that was in Mexico.” The author then shifts to her current life.
In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by the name of Langston Hughes. A well-known writer that still gets credit today for pomes like “ Theme for English B” and “Let American be American Again.”
Duffy expresses her detailed language and vivid structure presentation in a deliberate and poetic form. Her powerful techniques such as metaphors and a range of repetition convey the striking love that she is expressing. “Answer” is a metaphorical poem that expresses feelings and thoughts in an element address.
I think this is the most significant line in the book because it shows how lifeless a school can get at night and really sets a tone for the rest of the book during this scene. It shows how empty some people feel when they leave school and must go back home when school is the only place they feel safe.
...erfect. Duffy uses paralinguistic to explain the incident ‘’told me to fuck off’’ An accident leads to chaos and embarrassment for the mother, a male telling a female off shows how dominant the male are in society.’’ My mother mute shame’’ this also indicates the lack of initiative, Duffy uses sensory language and juxtaposition at the end of the stanza ’the taste of soap’’ to show the extent of the astounding sense of embarrassment which epitomizes the way women were wrapped up in their own world. Both poets share the idea that women are unrealistic but due to their gender it’s been showed in a different understanding, In Litany Duffy portrays women as being stereotyped and controlled by a male dominated society which leads them to be untrue and in contrast in Large Cool Store Larkin portrays women as being deluded because they are naturally unreal and not normal.
Carol Ann Duffy's poem is the more serious of the two as she is using
The way the points of views in each different poem creates a different theme for each poems using different points diction to convey meaning for each of the two poems. In the poem “Birthday” a humorous tone shows a newborn baby in a first person point of view. As opposed to the poem “The Secret Life of Books” which uses a third person point of view for a more serious tone. The two poems would change dramatically whiteout the different points of views because without the humor of the newborn baby being the narrator the poem might take a different spin on the meaning to create a more serious tone. As opposed to “The Secret Life of Books” where the poem is a big personification which if it was not in a third person point of view it might have a a humorous tome in the background. The two poems have many things that help contrast them with each other another one of these being the theme chosen to give each poem a separate identity, while “Birthday” has some background information in some of the diction it uses to World War II “The Secret Life of Books” has no need for the knowledge of background information just the curiosity of the brain
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 all poems the theme of Disappointment in love is seen throughout. Duffy focuses on the pain, despair and acrimony that love can bring, whereas Larkin focuses on the dissatisfaction before, during, and after a romantic relationship. Both Duffy and Larkin differ in tone. Duffy takes a more aggressive and dark stance to portray what love can do to a person after a disappointing love life. Duffy also uses this sinister and aggressive stance to try and convey sympathy for the persona from the audience in ‘Never Go Back’ and ‘Havisham’ Whereas Larkin conveys his discontent in love through his nonchalant and dismissive tone, but still concealing the pain that has been brought by love in ‘Wild Oats’ and ‘Talking in bed’.
I am going to be comparing two poems in this essay the first poem is
I am going to compare and contrast “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid and “If” by Rudyard Kipling. “Girl” is where a mother writes to her daughter a list of rules she wants her to live by, however “If” is where a father is explaining to his son the importance of behavior, and how to act around strangers. These two poems are different in many ways such as the tone and the way the parents give the message. These poems are also similar in ways such as the message the parent is giving the child.
Duffy conveys the poem as a monologue, and her first three words set the mood for the entire poem. She begins with the words ‘Beloved sweetheart bastard’ which is an oxymoron, meaning that a set of terms that contradict each other. The juxtaposition here allows the reader to see how close love and hate are intertwined in this poem. Miss Havisham is incapable of progressing with her life and spends a lot of time obsessing over this heartbreak, showing the reader that she has become confused, and blinded with rage over time causing her to experience love and hate as similar things, showing that her impression of love has become distorted.
In Billy Collins’s poem Introduction to Poetry, he displays his opinion regarding how poetry should be taught versus how it is currently taught. In doing this, Collins contrasts enjoyable metaphors of how a poem should be viewed with savage personification of how students traditionally analyze poetry to develop his true attitude towards teaching poetry.