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William Blake and Caroline Duffy show very different perspectives of how school can affect the childhood experience. Duffy’s poem ‘in Mrs Tilschers Class’ gives us a nostalgic view of a child’s experience in school, reminding us of the warmth and security of early childhood. William Blakes poem ‘the schoolboy’ shows a very different childhood experience. In this poem, school is seen as a place that darkens childhood freedom and disallows any natural childhood creativity. Both poets are successful in showing aspects of childhood.

Blake opens his poem by providing a flashback on how joyful childhood “i love to rise in a summer morn, when the birds sing on every tree”. He uses a style of natural creativity to show the meaning of freedom and joy of childhood before he suddenly changes tone “but to go to school in a summer morn O it drives all joy away!”. This comparison in creativity shows his negative view to how education can remove all happiness from childhood. In complete contrast, Duffy uses an engaging simile to present school and childhood as warm, welcoming and almost magical. Were told “the classroom glowed like a sweetshop” which suggests the children are in a happy exciting environment. This experience positively progresses their childhood.

Both poets use metaphors to help further explain that childhood experiences can be hard. In ‘miss Tilschers class were told that “a rough boy told you how you were born” this metaphor represents the loss of childhood innocence. Blake however uses a metaphor to expand his view that education ruins childhood experience. “How can the bird that is born for joy sit in a cage and sing?” he is saying that a child shouldn’t be trapped if he is to reach his creative potential.

Both poems have a change in tone to explain childhood experience. At the beginning in ‘the schoolboy’ childhood innocence is replaced by a tone of desperation as seen in the lines “O! father and mother if buds are nipped and blossoms are blown away” the speaker is suggesting that childhood innocence gets lost if, like flowers their natural development is changed. The change of tone in miss Tilschcers class is more gradual. We see a caring tone throughout the poem which highlights the security a lot of children find in school. The metaphor, “that feverish July, the air tasted of electricity”. Suggests both excitement and suspense but also the tone becomes tense and uneasy as childhood is giving a way to adolescence.

The poets use contrasting imagery to reflect different perspectives on childhood. Blake uses natural imagery like the free birds and summer mornings to suggest childhood should be a time of joy and freedom, which is later stifled in school. In contrast, Duffy’s sensory imagery like the ‘glow’ of the classroom and the ‘laugh of a bell’ presents school as a place of warmth and security. Her use of sibilance creates a flowing, nostalgic tone that shifts into uncertainty.

Structurally ‘miss Tilschers Class is written as free verse as the four stanzas are of varying lengths with no rhyme nor rhythm patterns. This mimics the lack of restriction in the early childhood experience being, described here. ‘The schoolboy ‘is structured differently as it uses a 6 stanza structure, each with five lines and a very definite rhyme pattern which is ABABB. The very rigid structure may have been used to show the speakers ambition for freedom in childhood and how it can be ruined.

Both of these poems successfully explore the theme of childhood. Duffy explores the journey from childhood innocence to the awareness of approaching adulthood. She captures the warmth and security of early education but also acknowledges the inevitable changes that come with growing up. Blake however chooses to critique the rigid and oppressive education system of his time. He suggests that childhood should be a time of freedom and joy rather than discipline and suppression.