There are three areas which can be compared and contrasted. First of all, although both poems depict the transition of phases in life, the tones of the personae are very different. Secondly, although the themes of the two poems are about time passing and growing up, the nature and style used are different. Lastly, both poems bring out the message that as time goes by, people change their ways of viewing things and perspectives through the poet’s choice of diction and poem structure.
The persona “you” used in ‘In Mrs Tilscher’s Class’ forces us to assume the role of a child and experience the change from innocence to knowledge, which many may easily relate to their own experiences. Duffy also uses a lot of figurative language to reflect the happy trusting relationship between teacher and student in early years and the difficult transition into puberty afterwards. The tone used in ‘In Mrs Tilscher’s Class’ is cheerful and pleasant in contrary to ‘Hometown’ where it is gloomy and dark. The persona in ‘Hometown’ expresses his/her eagerness to grow up and out of childhood, and the uncomfortable fact that, after growing up, they change so much that they cannot even recognize themselves.
The depiction of maturing is emphasized very effectively through the uses of metaphors and similes in the two poems. Duffy used a metaphor of the persona’s image vanishing and reappearing in the reflection of water in ‘Hometown’ to symbolize the process of maturing because although the persona’s image “reappeared”, it was no longer the original image. Similarly, Duffy used a metaphor of a tadpole changing from commas into exclamation marks to symbolize the growth of the persona and how he/her was gradually growing out of childhood and into adolescence.
The transition from childhood to adulthood can also be spotted in the change of tone of the personae in the two poems. The tone of the persona in ‘In Mrs Tilscher’s Class’ was very high spirited and carefree at first, “The laugh of a bell swung by a running child”, personification is used here to get a clear sense of the children’s laughter and sense of excitement in the atmosphere. But starting from the third stanza, puberty sets in and the tone of the persona coarsens as the “rough boy” tells the persona how he/she was born. “You kicked him, but stared / at your parents, appalled, when you got back home.” Sexual frustration and images of passion fill the final stanza, “under the heavy, sexy, sky.” In the beginning, school was better than home, the children were impatient to grow up and leave school. Duffy also uses the end of a school term to symbolize the end of childhood. Likewise, in ‘Hometown’ the persona’s tone was also very optimistic in the beginning, “a handful of years like old-fashioned sweets”. However, as time (stanzas) goes by, the tone gradually gets more and more depressing, like in the fourth stanza, “gloomy shortcuts” is used to portray an unpleasant imagery, and the poem ends with “not loving this tuneless, flat bell / marking the time. Or moved to tears by its same sound.” The tuneless, flat bell here is a metaphor used to symbolize the tasteless and boring life of the elderly and. There is a gradual change in tone for both poems to contrast the early stages of life and the latter ones.
Besides changing of tone, Duffy’s choice of diction in different stanzas and different stages also highlights the idea of transition and maturing. The words used in ‘Mrs Tilscher’s Class’ are simple and plain in the first two stanzas, yet as the persona grew up, his/her vocabulary started to build up and thus imageries are more colorful and passionate in the latter stanzas, “A tangible alarm made you always untidy, hot, / fractious under the heavy, sexy, sky” is greatly contrasted with “Sugar paper. Colored shapes” where the sentence structure and words used are a lot more childlike. The innocence of the children were also conveyed in the second stanza where they had no awareness of Brady and Hindley, two dangerous killers of their time. And the poem ends with the verse “as the sky spilt open into a thunderstorm.” which is a metaphor for the troubles and dangers met in adulthood which await the children. Both ‘Hometown’ and ‘In Mrs Tilscher’s Class’ have used “sweets” to create an imagery of good memories and happiness. In ‘Hometown’ the persona pictures himself getting old and recalls his early years at the same time. “Decades ahead of this, both of me, / then and now, pass each other like ghosts” This metaphor is used to emphasize the drastic changes the persona undergoed after years. Everything had changed for him, even his way of looking at things, he used to not like the sound of a bell, but after decades, he was moved to tears by the same sound. This is also a metaphor of the persona finally realizing he did not have much time left, whereas in the past the persona just took time for granted and didn’t like the “tuneless, flat bell”, thinking he has many years ahead of him.
Duffy manages to describe scenes so clearly that they are just like photographs through the usage of imagery, metaphors, similes and figurative language. The inevitable forward motion of time is also clearly conveyed in the two poems. Time and tide wait for no man, no matter how hard we try, no one can stop time, yet if we keep all the memories in our hearts, we may re-live those moments anytime.
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