As History Welltread Essay Duffy

Explore representation of Childhood or School in the poem Welltread by Carol Ann Duffy
Duffy has presented school as a nostalgic part of her childhood, with the recollection of her
memories being so vivid. Duffy has presented school as almost being a prison facility where children
were disciplined with corporal punishment methods, such as the cane.
The poem begins with the description of ‘Welltread’ who’s ‘face was a fist,’ highlighting that Duffy
did not think highly of her headteacher and her first impression of him had connotations of
aggression and violence, subsequently making her childhood school experience unpleasant. The
metaphor of his face being a fist shows not only that his mannerisms were those exuding violence,
but his appearance displayed that he was an unwelcoming, cold-hearted person. The name
‘Welltread’ insinuates that you would need to be careful or ‘tread well’ around him to avoid being
faced with brutality and aggression. When Duffy refers to ‘Spelling and Punishment’ the
capitalisation of the words refers to the book ‘Crime and Punishment’ and could be the use of
collocation, which associated Duffy’s school as a place of discipline where learning is joined with
punishment. It also shows that although to the reader, it may seem insignificant; to Duffy, as a child
all of this would be more significant and have a greater impact on her. This large impact is also
shown where it describes ‘A big brass bell dumb on his desk.’ Duffy’s use of plosives creates a sense
of imposingness and power over everyone else, which the headteacher seemed to possess and
treasure. Furthermore, the emphasis that the bell was ‘dumb... till only he shook it’ reinforces this
idea of having a superiority complex and exuding power over everyone. It emphasises that nobody
else had the authority that the headteacher had.
Snapshots of memories that Duffy held during her childhood are reinforced in the second stanza,
where she reminisces on ‘the mothers who spat on hankies and rubbed you away.’ It may also refer
to the idea that in her childhood, Duffy was constantly expected to conform and do so while looking
presentable. The sentence ‘rubbed you away’ may also be symbolic of the rubbing away of her
childhood as she recalls the memory or rubbing away at parts of her personality. The lexical set also
creates a sense of youthfulness with the word ‘hankies’ and shows how Duffy is recalling the
memory so vividly and that she really cherishes her childhood memories. The explanation that
‘Welltread stalked / the forms,’ highlights a sense of predation and prey with the headteacher. As a
child, Duffy was heavily intimidated by Welltread and the enjambment used in that line almost
scares the reader or creates imagery of a predator hunting its prey, but then brings them back into
context as it says that he stalked ‘the forms.’ The reference to Aberfan is also symbolic of the
persona’s childhood and gives context to the time period. Where it mentions that ‘We prayed for
Aberfan, vaguely reprieved,’ it may suggest that due to the disaster of Aberfan that occurred, the
attention is not inherently on the children as much as it would have been, suggesting that they may
have had some time out of lessons or may perhaps have even had days off school. Although the
disaster was a terrible occurrence, Duffy explores the fact that as a child, the only prominent part of
the disaster would be that their regime, prison-like school structure had been disgruntled slightly,
allowing them time of lessons or easing of punishment, which they clearly loathed.
The poem obtains a loose iambic pentameter rhythm with free verse, almost giving it the feel of a
dramatic monologue. This is also reinforced when Duffy recollects the memory of her name being
called out to be caned. The proclamation of it being ‘The wrong child for a trite crime’ almost refers
to the idea that when children are punished, they sometimes perceive themselves as the victim and
disregard the bad behaviour that they have committed as they are only focused on the disciplinary
act that is about to be imposed on them. The fact that it was a ‘trite crime’ may also show the
indifference of the headteacher and that he does not care for the wellbeing of the child, but only
wants to create fear over a small crime that has been committed. Where Duffy has used the line ‘he
hurt himself more than he hurt me’ may create a sense of guilty consciousness and could be
something that was used as an excuse for what he was doing as she is paraphrasing what the
teacher has said. The teacher also had to do it as it was a commonly used disciplinary act of the time,
but he does not feel guilty as ‘his face is a fist’ so he does not care about punishing the child, as he
has probably had to do so several times before. The line could also be the persona simply trying to
convince themselves that the teacher does not really mean to be aggressive or malicious, they are
simply punishing them for bad behaviour.
Duffy presents ideas of her childhood in a very nostalgic way in which she has vividly recalled
memories of experiences that many people could relate to.

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Explore representation of Childhood or School in the poem Welltread by Carol Ann Duffy

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