"The Good Teachers" appears in British poet Carol Ann Duffy's 1993 collection Mean Time. Looking at an old school photograph, the speaker reminisces about some of her former teachers. The speaker genuinely loved her English teacher, who inspired her to reach the top of the class and write poetry. But she disliked many of the other teachers: "proud," "qualified" women who told the rebellious speaker she'd fail. The speaker grows up, eventually settling down into a safe, normal, and perhaps mundane life; it's not clear whether the speaker considers this a triumph or disappointment. The poem questions what it means to be a "good" teacher as well as the way youthful rebelliousness tends to be tempered by middle age.

• Read the full text of “The Good Teachers”

• “The Good Teachers” Summary

• “The Good Teachers” Themes

  • 

    The Powerful Influence of Teachers

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-24
  • 

    Youthful Rebellion, Growing Up, and Regret

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-3
    • Lines 16-24

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Good Teachers”

  • Lines 1-3

    You run round ...
    ... the front row.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 3-6

    Soon now, ...
    ... Defenestration of Prague.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 7-12

    You love Miss ...
    ... in your head.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-16

    But not Miss ...
    ... es Salaam. Kilimanjaro.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 16-18

    Look. The good ...
    ... clean and qualified.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 19-21

    And they've got ...
    ... dumb insolence, smoke-rings.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 21-24

    You won't pass. ...
    ... sorry one day.

    

    

    

    

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• “The Good Teachers” Symbols

  • 

    Skirts

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 16-18: “The good teachers / swish down the corridor in long, brown skirts, / snobbish and proud and clean and qualified.”
    • Lines 19-21: “You roll the waistband / of your skirt over and over, all leg, all / dumb insolence, smoke-rings.”

• “The Good Teachers” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Line 6: “South Sea Bubble Defenestration of Prague.”
    • Line 10: “The River’s Tale by Rudyard Kipling by heart.”
    • Line 13: “Comment vous appelez.”
    • Lines 14-15: “Equal to the square / of the other two sides.”
    • Line 16: “Dar es Salaam. Kilimanjaro.”

  • Parataxis

    

    

    

    

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    Where parataxis appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-6
    • Lines 7-9
    • Lines 10-12
    • Lines 13-16
    • Lines 19-21
    • Lines 21-22
    • Lines 23-24

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Line 5: “You breathe on the glass, making a ghost of her,”
    • Lines 22-24: “But there's the wall you climb / into dancing, lovebites, marriage, the Cheltenham / and Gloucester, today.”

  • Anaphora

    

    

    

    

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    Where anaphora appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “You run”
    • Line 5: “You breathe”
    • Line 7: “You love,” “So much”
    • Line 8: “So much”
    • Line 11: “Her kind,” “Her cruel”
    • Line 12: “You are making”
    • Line 13: “But not Miss”
    • Line 14: “But not Miss”
    • Line 15: “Never Miss”
    • Line 19: “You roll”
    • Lines 20-21: “all leg, all / dumb insolence”
    • Line 21: “You won't”
    • Line 22: “You could”

• “The Good Teachers” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Double History
  • South Sea Bubble
  • Defenestration of Prague
  • The River's Tale
  • Comment Vous Appelez
  • Equal to the square of the other two sides
  • Dar es Salaam
  • Kilimanjaro
  • Swish
  • Snobbish
  • Got your number
  • Insolence
  • Cheltenham and Gloucester
  • (Location in poem: Line 4: “Miss Ross will take you for double History.”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Good Teachers”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “The Good Teachers” Speaker

• “The Good Teachers” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “The Good Teachers”

• More “The Good Teachers” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Duffy on Poetry and Education — Learn more about Duffy's attempts to get young people interested in poetry (which she deems "a form of texting"), along with some background on her own literary education. 

    • Duffy's Life and Work — Take a deeper dive into Duffy's life with this biography from the Scottish Poetry Library.

    • A Duffy Reading and Q&A — Hear Duffy read a selection of her own work and talk about her life, including the strong influence of one of her literature teachers.

    • "I Was Told to Get a Proper Job" — Learn more about the personal experiences underlying Duffy's poetry and why she understands poetry as a vocation.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Carol Ann Duffy

    • A Child's Sleep

    • Anne Hathaway

    • Before You Were Mine

    • Circe

    • Death of a Teacher

    • Demeter

    • Education For Leisure

    • Elvis's Twin Sister

    • Eurydice

    • Foreign

    • Havisham

    • Head of English

    • In Mrs Tilscher’s Class

    • In Your Mind

    • Little Red Cap

    • Mean Time

    • Medusa

    • Mrs Aesop

    • Mrs Darwin

    • Mrs Faust

    • Mrs Icarus

    • Mrs Lazarus

    • Mrs Midas

    • Mrs Sisyphus

    • Originally

    • Penelope

    • Pilate's Wife

    • Pope Joan

    • Prayer

    • Pygmalion's Bride

    • Queen Herod

    • Quickdraw

    • Recognition

    • Salome

    • Standing Female Nude

    • Stealing

    • The Darling Letters

    • The Dolphins

    • Thetis

    • Valentine

    • Warming Her Pearls

    • War Photographer

    • We Remember Your Childhood Well

    • Work

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