Compare and contrast Carol Ann Duffy's 'In Mrs Tilschers class' to Seamus Heaneys 'Death of a naturalist'

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Elizabeth Roberts 1CDH

Mrs James

"Compare and contrast 'Death of a naturalist' and 'In Mrs Tilscher's class"

Both poems are extremely similar, in that they are centred around the ideas of the transition from childhood to the adult world. There are most definitely more similarities than differences.

Custom Essays on Compare and contrast Carol Ann Duffy's 'In Mrs Tilschers class' to Seamus Heaneys 'Death of a naturalist'

'Death of a naturalist' contains more references to nature than 'In Mrs Tilscher's class'. 'In Mrs Tilscher's class' seems to focus more on classroom life rather than life within nature.

Carol Ann Duffy has very cleverly deployed as many senses as possible to create the warm and comfortable atmosphere of the poem

"The scent of a pencil slowly, carefully shaved" and " The chalky pyramids rubbed into dust". I really like 'In Mrs Tilscher's class', it is a poem that I feel relates to everyone in some way or another, it also helps me to reflect on my primary school years.

A major similarity to comment on would be how the tone of both poems changes dramatically. It is when Heaney and Duffy realise life wasn't what it once appeared to be. It is interesting that both poets have decided to use tadpoles as a representation for the change; "The inky tadpoles changed from commas into exclamation marks" and "The fattening dots burst into nimble swimming tadpoles". The loss of innocence and growing is represented through the development of the tadpole. The use of the tadpole is quite a sexual one, as the shape it takes is extremely similar to that of sperm. This relates hugely to adolescence and puberty, mainly because children become more aware of reproduction and how the sperm swims towards the ovaries after ejaculation.

Duffy's poem opens with a rich and varied experience;

"You could travel up the blue Nile" The use of 'you' in a general sense suggests that this is the sort of primary school experience that most people have. The mood of this poem is extremely happy to begin with, this is portrayed in the line "This was better than home". The children clearly thought very highly of their teacher, this is emphasised by the line "Mrs Tilscher loved you". Duffy creates a very inviting image of the classroom by describing "Enthralling books" and saying "The classroom glowed like a sweet shop". These images create a clear sense of security.

The mention on 'Brady and Hindly' in the middle of the idyllic atmosphere of the classroom tells us that unpleasantness cannot be kept away from children. They occur here as a premonition of the disturbance that sexual awareness will cause;

"Brady and Hindly faded, like the faint, uneasy smudge of a mistake". In this particular line they are diminished by the use of alliteration on the 'f's' of 'faded' and 'faint'.

The first stanza of 'Death of a naturalist' contains many references to nature; "Dragon flies, spotted butterflies" and "The warm thick slobber of frogspawn". This is a way of looking back at his childhood with admiration, but there is an element of nostalgia. The happy atmosphere in the first stanza changes the tone; when the illusion of nature though the eyes of a child are shattered. Heaney organises his poem in two sections, corresponding to the change in the boy. By showing that this change is linked with education and learning, Heaney is concerned with the inevitability of the progression from innocence to experience, concerning the transformation from the unquestioning child to the reflective adult.

The images of decay, "festered", "rotted", "sweltered" and "the punishing sun do not seem to trouble Heaney in the first section, although they do prepare us for the second section and loss of innocence; he takes delight in the sensuousness of the natural world. The onomatopoeic "slobber" conveys the boy's relish for the tangible world around him. We can later see how he looks at the world by the words "clotted" and "jellied"; to Heaney, the frogspawn is like cream and jam, something to be touched and enjoyed.

The second two stanzas of 'In Mrs Tilscher's class' show discomfort and disturbance to the norm of school and life in general. The discomfort is represented through the image of developing tadpoles and later emphasised when the child discovers how children are created from the 'rough boy'

"A rough boy told you how you were born"

The use of words such as 'kicked', 'stared' and 'appalled' also emphasise the loss of innocence. It is interesting to compare the cosy classroom to a sweetshop; " The classroom glowed like a sweetshop". This line creates a huge feeling of security, as children adore sweets and a sweet shop is a familiar place for them. The line also creates a very colourful picture and is a very descriptive way of writing about the environment.

The way in which 'In Mrs Tilscher's class' evolves happens very subtly. The poem begins with very warm, inviting images such as; "The laugh of the bell swung", "Mrs Tilscher loved you" and "Enthralling books" and the images at the end of the poem in comparison to the start are hot and very uncomfortable;

"Feverish July", "The air tasted of electricity" and "heavy, sexy sky". It seems that the sense of something about to happen permeates everything. The handing out of reports signals the end of the primary school period and completes part of the rite of passage into young adulthood. At the end we see the idyllic days with Mrs Tilscher. They are a complete contrast to the world outside the school gates, where;

"…The sky split open into a thunderstorm."

That metaphorical storm has been gathering since July. The "sky splitting open" suggests that knowledge and adulthood are a shock "you" are no longer protected by kind Mrs Tilscher "you" are opened to the 'thunderstorm' of adulthood.

In section two of 'Death of a naturalist' everything changes. This change is marked by differences in tone, diction, imagery, movement and sound. The world is now a threatening place, full of ugliness and menace. However, it is not so much the world has changed; it is Heaney's perception of it. There is still a strong emphasis on decay and putrefaction, but now it is not balanced by images suggesting the profusion of life. The sounds are not longer delicate, but are 'coarse', 'bass' and 'farting'. The "warm thick slobber of frogspawn" has become "the great slime kings", and the further transformation is suggested by the threatening image of the frog as "mud grenades".

The poem 'Death of a naturalist' recreates and examines the moment of the child's confrontation that life is not always what it seems. The experience transforms the boy's perception of the world. No longer is it a place for unquestioning sensuous delight. It is a changing world of uncertainty. The success of the poem derives from the effective way Heaney builds up a totally convincing account of a childhood experience that deals with the excitement, pain and confusion of growing up.

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