I attended Tintern CEGGS from the tender age of eight until I matriculated in 1962. I never really fitted into Tintern's conservative, middle class sort of environment, though I had a sneaking respect for its headmistress, Miss C M Wood ( never found out what the M stood for either).
Constance M Wood - Headmistress Tintern CEGGS 1939-1968
How she charmed and terrified me!
I can still see her (fifty years on)
winging her way across the quadrangle -
black gown flapping,
small laced feet pecking the gravel.
I used to imitate her in my senior years
(I wonder if she knew?)
I loved the titillation
of risking detention
in the pursuit of audience approval.
Mind you, Miss Wood was quite the actress herself.
Every Monday she took center stage at assembly.
Small and diminutive
(Queen Victoria minus the veil)
she would proclaim her orders for the week.
Then lead us all in her favorite hymn -
'Morning Has Broken.'
I was about twelve when she took us for Latin -
and for the first time
I met the teacher behind the gown.
A brilliant educator
with a passion for her subject
and a devotion to her students.
(Such a generous marker, too!)
I heard she died last year.
She must have just turned 104!
It's sad to think she spent her last forty years
without her girls.
You have taken us all back to our own school days Allie.I just adore your concluding stanza here.Brilliant verse on a proud headmistress for sure.Thanks for sharing.
M stood for mercy I guess and she made you my fair Lady!
a really fitting tribute to an imminent lady who shaped numerous lives.. your poem so very well describes her madam that i could actually have a fair idea about her appearance and her personality.. Great teachers, in fact all of them possess similar qualities i guess. the ending was heart wrenching for sure.. regards prashant
What a gift to have had this fine lady in your life...no wonder, your passion for life. Dorothy A Poet Who Loves To Sing
dear allie, i am your classmate!
A tribute rendered in beautiful chosen words...touching lines...!!
Icons like are etched in our memory. I can feel your respect and admiration for this formidable woman and fine educator. Great write.
A lovely and fitting tribute to your headmistress Alison.It is always so nice to look back on your childhood days and remember happier times. Love, Andrew x
a nice one. shows your respect and feelings for your headmistress.
A fitting tribute for a fine Headmistress. Some people are made to be teachers, and from what you have so honestly and creatively written, she certainly was. I simply LOVE the bird imagery in the first stanza and the "small laced feet pecking for gravel "did it for me! A wonderful write for a a very special Headmistress...
Very nostalgic! Our golden schooldays..........and a fine tribute!
Good teachers are truly deserving of a tribute. As always Allie, your poem is so light yet so beautiful, thanks for sharing your gift. ....SMILE! THE DAY IS A NEW GIFT! :)emilou g.
A lovely tribute. I guess so many of us never really get to know the teacher behind the gown. They seem to be swathed in the midst of childhood folly. It seems that so many of our teachers were simply branded as objects of fun. Lovely piece Allie.
a great tribute
Thanks Allie for this gem of a write...makes me too recall the Principal of my School..they all seem to be cast from the same mould...Tough but great in the field of education....
This one took me back to my school days as well as well, our headmaster was Mathew Jones, long white hair and black coat which billowed out behind him as he walked quickly down the corridors. He was a fine illlustration of authority, he put the fear of God into everyone. Thank you Allie it is good to look back and remember. A fine tribute to your headmistress.
Immortal character you have wonderfully depicted here as a nice tribute!
I had the same admiration for our headmistress, Miss Malan, who seemed a benevolent rock of stability in life's stormy seas, she was all velvet-clad iron protecting her compassionate heart, she seemed to belong to a god-like race when I was thirteen - a great commemoration written so well, thank you.
Ah - dear Allie, this picture of your Miss C. Wood could so easlily be that of my Miss Oliver as I remember - so alike in their devotion to teaching. Her girls would always live in the heart of this paragon of influence in young lives and Miss Wood too would not be forgotten as a character of substance - - you verse her rather prim ways with just the right amount of parody. I am certain she would blush at the reference to her brilliance at Latin.
Alliee wonderful poem.. Great poem that would even make Enid Blyton proud. I specially loved the second stanza where you spoke of the titillation of risking detention in the pursuit of audience approval.".. Again the first part of the amuses the reader. But as with the case with most of your works you end the poem in a very touching note... very nice Allie