“In Mrs Tilscher’s Class” is a poem by the Scottish poet Carol Ann Duffy, first published in her 1990 collection titled The Other Country. The poem describes the angst-filled transition between childhood and adolescence. Childhood is a safe and innocent place for the speaker until learning about sex and desire makes the world feel messy and confusing. The speaker longs nostalgically for the comfort and security of childhood, but also knows that change is irreversible; once you grow up, the poem implies, you can't go back.

• Read the full text of “In Mrs Tilscher’s Class”

• “In Mrs Tilscher’s Class” Summary

• “In Mrs Tilscher’s Class” Themes

  • 

    Growing Up

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-30

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “In Mrs Tilscher’s Class”

  • Lines 1-4

    You could travel ...
    ... Ethiopia. Khartoum. Aswân.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-8

    That for an ...
    ... a running child.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-12

    This was better ...
    ... of a mistake.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-16

    Mrs Tilscher loved ...
    ... from another form.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-21

    Over the Easter ...
    ... the lunch queue.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 21-23

    A rough boy ...
    ... got back home.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 24-28

    That feverish July, ...
    ... then turned away.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 28-30

    Reports were handed ...
    ... into a thunderstorm.

    

    

    

    

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• “In Mrs Tilscher’s Class” Symbols

  • 

    Sweet Shop

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 10: “sweet shop”
  • 

    Tadpoles

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 17: “tadpoles”
  • 

    Thunderstorm

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 30: “thunderstorm”

• “In Mrs Tilscher’s Class” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • End-Stopped Line

    

    

    

    

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    Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “scenery.”
    • Line 4: “Aswân.”
    • Line 6: “dust.”
    • Line 7: “pole.”
    • Line 8: “child.”
    • Line 9: “books.”
    • Line 10: “shop.”
    • Line 12: “mistake.”
    • Line 14: “name.”
    • Line 15: “shaved.”
    • Line 16: “form.”
    • Line 19: “dunce,”
    • Line 23: “home.”
    • Line 24: “electricity.”
    • Line 25: “hot,”
    • Line 27: “smiled,”
    • Line 28: “out.”
    • Line 29: “grown,”
    • Line 30: “thunderstorm.”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “Nile / with”
    • Lines 2-3: “route / while”
    • Lines 5-6: “milk / and”
    • Lines 11-12: “Hindley / faded”
    • Lines 13-14: “found / she’d”
    • Lines 17-18: “changed / from”
    • Lines 18-19: “frogs / hopped”
    • Lines 20-21: “croaking / away”
    • Lines 21-22: “boy / told”
    • Lines 22-23: “stared / at”
    • Lines 26-27: “her / how”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “finger, tracing”
    • Line 4: “Tana. Ethiopia. Khartoum. Aswân.”
    • Line 5: “hour, then”
    • Line 9: “home. Enthralling”
    • Line 11: “paper. Coloured shapes. Brady”
    • Line 12: “faded, like,” “faint, uneasy”
    • Line 13: “you. Some mornings, you”
    • Line 15: “slowly, carefully, shaved.”
    • Line 17: “term, the”
    • Line 18: “marks. Three”
    • Line 19: “playground, freed”
    • Line 20: “kids, jumping”
    • Line 21: “queue. A”
    • Line 22: “born. You,” “him, but”
    • Line 23: “parents, appalled, when”
    • Line 24: “July, the”
    • Line 25: “untidy, hot,”
    • Line 26: “heavy, sexy sky. You”
    • Line 28: “away. Reports”
    • Line 29: “gates, impatient”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “tr,” “l,” “l,” “l”
    • Line 2: “r,” “t,” “r,” “r,” “t”
    • Line 3: “r,” “s,” “T,” “r,” “n,” “t,” “n,” “r”
    • Line 4: “T,” “n,” “t”
    • Line 5: “k,” “l,” “l,” “k”
    • Line 6: “k,” “d”
    • Line 7: “w,” “d,” “w,” “d,” “w,” “l,” “l”
    • Line 8: “l,” “ll,” “ng,” “ng,” “l”
    • Line 9: “b,” “b”
    • Line 10: “l,” “ss,” “l,” “l,” “s,” “s,” “h,” “p”
    • Line 11: “S,” “r,” “p,” “p,” “r,” “r,” “sh,” “p,” “e,” “d,” “n,” “d,” “n,” “d”
    • Line 12: “f,” “d,” “d,” “f,” “n,” “n,” “s,” “m,” “m,” “s”
    • Line 13: “s,” “l,” “r,” “l,” “m,” “m,” “r,” “n,” “n,” “d”
    • Line 14: “d,” “l,” “g,” “d,” “g,” “l,” “d”
    • Line 15: “sc,” “n,” “n,” “c,” “l,” “s,” “l,” “l,” “ll”
    • Line 16: “n,” “n,” “n,” “s,” “n,” “s,” “r,” “f,” “r,” “m,” “r,” “f,” “r,” “m”
    • Line 17: “r,” “t,” “r,” “t,” “r,” “m,” “n,” “t,” “d,” “n,” “d”
    • Line 18: “fr,” “m,” “c,” “mm,” “c,” “m,” “m,” “rk,” “r,” “fr”
    • Line 19: “pp,” “n,” “p,” “n,” “d,” “fr,” “d,” “d,” “n”
    • Line 20: “f,” “ll,” “d,” “l,” “k,” “d,” “c,” “k”
    • Line 21: “b”
    • Line 22: “y,” “y,” “r,” “b,” “r,” “k,” “ck,” “b,” “t,” “t,” “r”
    • Line 23: “t,” “r,” “p,” “r,” “n,” “t,” “pp,” “n,” “b”
    • Line 24: “t,” “t,” “s,” “t,” “tr,” “c,” “t”
    • Line 25: “t,” “l,” “l,” “m,” “m,” “l,” “t,” “t”
    • Line 26: “c,” “s,” “s,” “x,” “s,” “k,” “k,” “h”
    • Line 27: “h,” “r,” “r,” “n,” “n,” “d,” “r,” “s,” “l,” “r,” “s,” “l”
    • Line 28: “r,” “d,” “R,” “r,” “ts,” “r,” “n,” “d,” “d,” “t”
    • Line 29: “r,” “n,” “r,” “g,” “t,” “t,” “g,” “r”
    • Line 30: “s,” “s,” “p,” “t,” “p,” “n,” “n,” “t,” “n,” “r,” “s,” “t,” “r”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “ou,” “ue”
    • Line 3: “e,” “y”
    • Line 4: “a,” “a,” “E,” “i,” “i,” “a,” “A”
    • Line 5: “a,” “a,” “i,” “i”
    • Line 6: “u,” “i,” “u”
    • Line 7: “o,” “o,” “o”
    • Line 8: “u,” “u”
    • Line 11: “a,” “a,” “a,” “y,” “ey”
    • Line 12: “a,” “ai,” “u,” “u,” “o,” “a”
    • Line 13: “o,” “ou,” “o,” “ou”
    • Line 15: “e,” “e”
    • Line 16: “o,” “o”
    • Line 17: “Ea,” “y”
    • Line 18: “o,” “o,” “a,” “o”
    • Line 19: “o”
    • Line 20: “y,” “i,” “o,” “u”
    • Line 21: “a,” “o,” “u,” “ueue,” “ou”
    • Line 22: “you,” “you,” “ou,” “i,” “i”
    • Line 24: “e,” “e,” “i,” “i,” “y”
    • Line 25: “A,” “a,” “a,” “ay”
    • Line 26: “ea,” “y,” “e,” “y”
    • Line 28: “a”
    • Line 29: “a,” “a,” “a,” “o”
    • Line 30: “o”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “t,” “r”
    • Line 2: “t,” “r”
    • Line 3: “T”
    • Line 4: “T”
    • Line 7: “w,” “w”
    • Line 9: “b,” “b”
    • Line 10: “sh”
    • Line 11: “S,” “sh”
    • Line 12: “f,” “f,” “u,” “o”
    • Line 14: “g,” “g”
    • Line 15: “sc,” “s”
    • Line 16: “f,” “f”
    • Line 18: “fr,” “fr”
    • Line 19: “fr”
    • Line 20: “f,” “k,” “c”
    • Line 21: “q,” “b”
    • Line 22: “y,” “y,” “b,” “Y,” “b”
    • Line 23: “b”
    • Line 24: “t”
    • Line 25: “t,” “a,” “u”
    • Line 26: “h,” “s,” “s,” “h”
    • Line 27: “h,” “T,” “s”
    • Line 28: “t,” “R”
    • Line 29: “r,” “g,” “g”
    • Line 30: “s,” “s”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “You could travel up the Blue Nile / with your finger”
    • Line 5: “a skittle of milk”
    • Line 6: “and the chalky Pyramids rubbed into dust”
    • Line 8: “The laugh of a bell”
    • Line 11: “Sugar paper”
    • Lines 17-18: “the inky tadpoles changed / from commas into exclamation marks”
    • Line 24: “the air tasted of electricity”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Line 10: “The classroom glowed like a sweet shop.”
    • Lines 11-12: “Brady and Hindley / faded, like the faint, uneasy smudge of a mistake.”

  • Asyndeton

    

    

    

    

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    Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

    • Line 12: “faint, uneasy”
    • Line 15: “slowly, carefully, shaved”
    • Lines 19-20: “freed by a dunce, / followed by a line of kids”
    • Lines 25-26: “untidy, hot, / fractious”
    • Line 26: “ heavy, sexy sky”

  • Parataxis

    

    

    

    

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    Where parataxis appears in the poem:

    • Line 4
    • Lines 7-8
    • Line 9
    • Line 10
    • Line 11
    • Lines 11-12
    • Lines 15-16
    • Lines 17-22
    • Lines 24-26
    • Lines 26-30

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Lines 11-12: “Brady and Hindley / faded, like the faint, uneasy smudge of a mistake.”

• “In Mrs Tilscher’s Class” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Blue Nile
  • Chanted
  • Tana
  • Ethiopia
  • Khartoum
  • Aswân
  • Skittle
  • Laugh
  • Sweet shop
  • Brady and Hindley
  • Shaved
  • Form
  • Dunce
  • Queue
  • Tangible
  • Fractious
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “Blue Nile”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “In Mrs Tilscher’s Class”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “In Mrs Tilscher’s Class” Speaker

• “In Mrs Tilscher’s Class” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “In Mrs Tilscher’s Class”

• More “In Mrs Tilscher’s Class” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Brady and Hindley — An article on the Brady and Hindley murders from the Telegraph.

    • The SRB Interview: Carol Ann Duffy — A recent interview with Carol Ann Duffy and the Scottish Review of Books.

    • Biography of Carol Ann Duffy — A detailed biography of Carol Ann Duffy from the Poetry Foundation.

    • Winning Lines — A 2002 profile of Carol Ann Duffy from The Guardian Newspaper.

    • "In Mrs Tilscher's Class" at the BBC — A detailed exploration of the themes of "In Mrs Tilscher's Class" from the BBC.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Carol Ann Duffy

    • A Child's Sleep

    • Anne Hathaway

    • Before You Were Mine

    • Circe

    • Death of a Teacher

    • Demeter

    • Education For Leisure

    • Elvis's Twin Sister

    • Eurydice

    • Foreign

    • Havisham

    • Head of English

    • In Your Mind

    • Little Red Cap

    • Mean Time

    • Medusa

    • Mrs Aesop

    • Mrs Darwin

    • Mrs Faust

    • Mrs Icarus

    • Mrs Lazarus

    • Mrs Midas

    • Mrs Sisyphus

    • Originally

    • Penelope

    • Pilate's Wife

    • Pope Joan

    • Prayer

    • Pygmalion's Bride

    • Queen Herod

    • Quickdraw

    • Recognition

    • Salome

    • Standing Female Nude

    • Stealing

    • The Darling Letters

    • The Dolphins

    • The Good Teachers

    • Thetis

    • Valentine

    • Warming Her Pearls

    • War Photographer

    • We Remember Your Childhood Well

    • Work

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