| Collection
Introduction (2) | The Other Country, 1990
Poem about change and transformation of childhood innocence into adult experience
Duffy parallels this transition with 'emigration' from the country of childhood into that of adulthood |
| Subject | The security and warmth in Mrs Tilscher's primary classroom is starkly contrasted with the uncertainties and excitement of growing up |
| Form (2) | Two octets and two heptets
The change from the octets into heptets marks the shift in the children as they leave childhood behind |
| Theme (3) | Childhood migration into adulthood
Dual sense of danger and excitement associated with self-discovery and emergent adolescence
There is no going back to childhood once the threshold into adolescence has been crossed, even though resistance is warranted; the 'rough boy' is 'kicked'
- School life and education
- Memory |
| Motifs (3) | "the inky tadpoles changed from commas into exclamation marks"
"impatient to be grown"
"tasted of electricity" (synaesthetic) |
| Cross References (2) | William Blake's 'Songs of Innocence and Experience' (1794) frequently express the idea of childhood innocence dissipating into adult experience
Seamus Heaney signals invasion of childhood innocence in 'Death of a Naturalist' (1966) |
| Diction; Pronouns
Lexical fields (2)
Conceit metaphor
Pathetic fallacy
Antrhopomorphic fallacy
Verbs
Transferred epithet | 'You' produces a direct and emphatic feel
1st two stanzas - Happiness and childhood innocence; 'laugh', 'enthralling', 'glowed'
2nd two stanzas - diction becomes darker, more experienced; 'rough', 'feverish', 'fractious'
'inky tadpoles changed from commas into exclamation marks' (synaesthetic)
'thunderstorm' signifies an unstable, turbulent transition into adolescence
'laugh of a bell' (auditory); joyous aspect of childhood
Dynamic - 'running', 'chanting'; highlight the excitement
'sexy sky'; complexity of emotions in a growing child |
| Imagery; Pictorial (2)
Auditory (2)
Synaesthetic (2)
Kinaesthetic | "chalky pyramids rubbed into dust"
"window opened with a long pole"
"laugh of a bell"
"xylophone's nonsense"
"chanted the scenery"; the children are transported to another world, one which is free of the horrors of Brady and Hindley
"jumping and croaking"; extended conceit of children transitioning like tadpoles
"ran through the gates"; impatience in wanting to grow up and leave childhood (the classroom) behind |
| Rhythm (3) | The tempo at the start is languorous, imitating the school day
It speeds up towards the middle and towards the end, mirroring the excitement of the children in wanting to grow up
Written in loose iambic pentameter; "Over the Easter term, the inky tadpoles changed" |
| Rhyme | Internal rhyme, aided by assonance - 'Sugar paper. Coloured shapes. Brady and Hindley/faded like the faint, uneasy smudge of a mistake'; sing-song quality |
| Tone
Mood (4) | Affectionate, nostalgic
The classroom is portrayed as a 'sweet shop' that was 'better than home'; youthful enthusiasm of the children
The 'untidy', 'hot' students immediately contrast the bright, cheerfulness of the previous stanzas
The seasonal shift into spring is associated with growth and new beginnings |
| Conclusion (3) | Duffy conveys abstract ideas through tangible, material forms
Childhood is presented through the concrete form of a classroom whilst adolescence is given substance through the weather
This idea of childhood transition is frequented within this collection, including 'Originally' |
