stanza 4

• "feverish July"

  • Transferred epithet - The mood changes to one of agitation/over-excitement to indicate the burgeoning awareness of sexuality that comes with the onset of adolescence.
• "tasted of electricity"

  • Synaesthesia describes one of the symptoms of hormonal change. The tension in the air is like 'electricity' which is experienced as a taste in the mouth. Connotations of danger/ storms emphasise the turmoil of puberty & adolescence.
• "tangible alarm"

  • Word choice highlights the confusion the children feel at this point in their lives. They are agitated and excited in equal measure.
• "untidy, hot"

  • List/ word choice highlights all of the symptoms of growing up and puberty.
• "heavy, sexy sky."

  • Transferred epithet: it is not the sky that it is 'sexy,' it is the thoughts, hormones and feelings of these young people at the point of sexual maturation.
• "smiled, then turned away."

  • Enjambment shows that she is firmly in the past – she is a primary school teacher and does not have to, or want to, answer questions about sex. The line break highlights the new distance between the teacher and her pupils.
• "impatient to be grown"

  • Parenthesis: eager and excited to experience the world outside the safety of the classroom.
• "as the sky split open into a thunderstorm"

  • The pathetic fallacy has a multitude of meanings: it signals the end of the protected bubble Mrs T kept her class in. The real world can be uncompromising, uncomfortable and terrifying – like a thunderstorm.  Life can also be exciting, exhilarating and thrilling like a thunderstorm.  The thunderstorm represents the overwhelming rush of emotions and hormones.