Carol Ann Duffy - Childhood and Youth

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Raidah Haider 11-G

Mrs Bailey

“Explore the way Carol Ann Duffy presents ideas of childhood and youth in the 20th century in at least three poems”

Carol Ann Duffy has portrayed her views on childhood and youth in various ways in the three poems, “Mrs Tilscher’s Class, “Education for Leisure” and “Comprehensive” Duffy has written about her own personal experiences but has inverted the poems to address the audience as many readers from the same decade would have experienced the same scenarios as Duffy depicts in her poems, this is particularly true in the poem “Mrs Tilscher’s Class”. In Mrs Tilscher’s Class Duffy presents childhood an innocent stage of a person’s life where they are engrossed in this metaphorical “perfect” world within the classroom, away from the dangerous outside world. The child is on a journey to knowledge in the last year of primary school and becomes more experienced, and developed through this discovery.                                                           The theme of wanting something from life is carried on with “Education for Leisure” where a young person, most likely a teenager is desperate to be recognised, “I have had enough of being ignored”.  The teenager wants to be noticed and have an impact at school, as presently he is going through the education system with no feeling or desire to achieve anything.  In this poem childhood is presented as an isolation from the rest of society, the teenagers are driven to almost kill or carry out violence to be noticed, which tells us that this stage of their lives where difficult as they feel they have no purpose or meaning. In “Education for Leisure” it is clear that the teenager’s education is not doing him any good, as he has not been able to find work as he is on the dole, and not working, nor has it helped him to control his boredom or frustration. “I squash a fly against the window with my thumb.”  This is reflected in “Mrs Tilscher’s Class” where the primary school children are bored of the primary school, and are curious to know more about the world, e.g “how they were born.” This shows that the school system in the 20th century did not satisfy the needs of children and have led them into the world without the experience and knowledge they needed.                                                                                                                                                           In the poem “Comprehensive” Duffy presents the division between the “white” children and the immigrant children. There is a significant difference between the attitude of the two different groups, which shows the immigrants wanting to be able to learn and do something with their lives, yet the British children are more resentful and have fewer goals and ambitions. The poem shows a sense of diversity in the school but no community spirit or emphasis on learning in place; this may be the cause of uneducated children such as the teenager in “Education for Leisure” who feel they are being failed by schools.

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The poem “In Mrs Tilscher’s Class” is autobiographical and explains Duffys own personal experiences during her time at primary school. The theme of the poem shows the development from innocence at primary school to understanding and knowledge in the wider world. This transition is also shown in the physical form of a young child to adolescence. Duffy portrays primary school as a “safe” haven and when the child becomes more aware of their surroundings they begin to take that metaphorical journey to knowledge however the teacher, or in the case of Carol Ann Duffy “Mrs Tilscher” does not help them ...

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