'Compare the Different Moods, Themes
and Ideas Created in the 'Childhood'
Main Point 1 - The idea of
contrast between the vibrancy, naivety, and excitement of childhood as in poems
such as “Half Past Two” and “Hide and Seek”.
Sub point A: The excitement, childishness and naivety portrayed by ‘playing
the game’ and ‘losing yourself’ in the moment, there is a sense that time
‘flies’ when a child is enjoying
themselves.
Evidence: “She said he’d done Something Very Wrong”
Explain: Fanthrope’s capitalization of
“She” in addition to “Something Very Wrong” a hyperbolic sense that the persona
is in of what the young boy had done and that even though the persona has
forgotten – the act must have been really bad as “Very” and “Wrong” are
capitalized to emphasize this. Furthermore the inclusion of simplistic language
for instance “Something Very Wrong” accentuates the simplicity of the boy
further showing his youth but additionally this also shows that the persona
also maintains the particular theme of innocence and naivety through the free
indirect discourse in which the persona describes the boy being punished as
“Something Very Wrong” rather than describing what the boy had this, which
makes the boy and the persona seem more innocent and naïve as well as
indicating that the persona himself is also young. The free indirect discourse
of the persona also enables the persona to take on the point of view of the
child and converse through the child’s language.
Evidence: ”Beyond onceupona,out
of reach of all the timefors,”
Explain: Fanthrope utilizes made-up
childish language to emphasize a sense of childishness and youth. By having the
persona mention that the boy had waited “beyond onceupona”
makes the readers recall an image of a fairytale or childhood stories and lore
this therefore reaffirms the sense of childishness as story-telling was a common
part of childhood which the reader can then relate to. Fanthrope
reinforces the sense that time races away through the fact that the boy is
“beyond” time and the “onceupona” as well as being
“out of reach of all the timefors” which therefore
creates a ephemeral sense of eternal childishness and
enjoyment through being lost in his imagination.
Evidence: “Gettinguptime, timeyouwereofftime,
Timetogohomenowtime, Tvtime”
Explain: Fanthrope applies these clustered
words into phrases to portray a sense of naivety by which the persona cannot
differentiate between ‘real’ and ‘proper' time and time that is an everyday
routine act. This signifies to the
naivety and the innocence that the persona and other children has. By clustering
the words this also puts emphasis on the childishness and that the persona and
the boy have some sense of excitement towards the different “times” to do
things. This also emphasizes childishness as the Childs time is opposed to
adult time which is exact and based on a clock, because the child’s time is
broken down by events show that he has not yet learned to tell time in the
correct way.
Evidence: “I’m ready! Come and find me!”
Explain: The short phrases “I’m ready!” and “Come and find me!”
consist of two to four words showing excitement with the addition of
exclamation marks to signify the anticipation of a young child playing hide and
seek. The words are also very simple and
are what young children say when they play the game.
Sub point
B: Childhood is full of life and vibrancy, the children are not aware of the real world and
are therefore naïve.
Evidence: “I’ve won!”
Explain: Throughout the poem, we assume that the third person
persona is a mature adult looking back at the young boy and sometimes using a
first person voice to recollect or rather reminisce the memories and the
excitements by using free indirect discourse allowing the persona to take on
the perspective of the excited child at times for example in “I’ve won” which
shows his naivety as well as his excitement thinking that he had won the game.
The free indirect discourse helps the persona portray to the readers the
naivety, innocence, simplicity as well as the excitement more vibrantly.
Evidence: “Here I am! Come and own up I’ve caught you!”
Explain: This in another example of how Scannell
uses exclamation marks as punctuation to stress out the excitement after
thinking that he has won the game. Moreover the simple language: “I’ve caught
you” and “Here I am” signifies to the simplicity of the young persona. This is
the climax where the persona has built up all their excitement.
Main Point
2 - The more duplicitous, and corrupted
present/ reality in the poems, “Piano”, “Once upon a time” and “A mother in a
Refugee Camp”, which gives the persona a sense of nostalgia and longing for the
past and their childhood as a source of hope.
Sub point
A: A need for a chance to change and go back to
how things used to be and the fact that in a sense the children or childhood is
hope.
Evidence: “So show me, son how to laugh; show me how I used to laugh
and smile once upon a time when I was like you”
Explain: This is somewhat a plea for help in which the persona has
realized that he/she has become corrupted and through the use of numerous
pronouns the poet – Okara expresses how the persona is
wants to feel his past strongly and is desperate to become who he used to be.
The persona wants to be like “I” an individual and not the “they”;
the persona longs for the re-emergence of individuality.
Evidence: “former life – a little daily act of no consequence”
Explain: Achebe depicts a tragic sense by comparing that prior to
how life is now the things she once did were merely a routine act which was no
important and had no consequences but is now contrasted with the present in
which it is only a tragic memory. The phrase “daily act” suggests that before
there was no fear – no consequence but now the only connection she has to the
“formal life” is a memory which evokes pathos as we learn that before the woman
could take care of her baby but all she could do now is to try to hold on but
in vain as her child is dying. By mentioning their “formal life” also makes it
seem like it was a completely different life ago that strongly contrasts to how
it is now therefore intensifies the horrific image of how things of “no
consequence” now means the world to the woman.
Evidence: “In her eyes the memory of a mothers pride.”
Example: This signifies how intense and strong a mothers mutual love
for her child and because of this she yearns for her past before all the tragedy.
The “memory” in her eyes is a symbolic metaphor in which people believe that
eyes are the windows to our souls and her memory is her soul. There is
desperation to hang on to the things they once had – she wants to hang on to
her memory with her soul.
Evidence: “Teeth like a snake’s bare fangs!””So
show me, son”
Explain: Okara depicts a strong visual
image using a metaphor to bring to life an image of an animalistic reptile
which connotes a two-faced, slimy creature that is violent. This can also lead
to a biblical image of evil and deceit as it develops into the idea of Adam and
Eve which is relevant because at first Adam and Eve were also innocent but they
were mislead by the snake – in which initially Eve was fooled first and she
went on to deceive Adam which shows a cycle of sinful behavior. The son in the
poem is therefore like redemption for the sins – the son becomes a path to
salvation.
Sub point B: The strong sense of melancholy
nostalgia in which the persona yearns for the past
Evidence: “She would soon have to forget”
Explain: Here there is a sense where there is no chance the ellipses
used gives an idea of fading away creating a sense that things are abruptly
taken away but she does not want to forget.
Evidence: “Humming in her eyes”
Evidence: Metaphorically speaking the women remembers the daily
routines in which she used to be able to do for her child but is now doing it
simply from a memory.
Evidence: “Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see a child
sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings.”
Explain: Here Lawrence reconstructs an image in which the music has
taken him back through a nostalgic view, as if walking down a path in which he
is actually imagining an idealized image of his home in the past – this is an
romanticized picture which puts prominence on the fact that this was a pleasant
memory for him where he is taken back – the tone is nostalgic and calming.
Evidence: “Poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings
Explain: From what we know Lawrence has a strong bond with his
mother but their relationship is poignant as he had helped her overdose on
sleeping pills, therefore this image of his remembrance is tinged with sadness
and the tone is somewhat melancholy as he looks back on his past.
Evidence: “insidious mastery of song”
Explain: The fact that the Lawrence uses the adjective “insidious”
to describe the way the song was played gives a subtle sense of sneaking which
can be interpreted as his memories sneaking back to him, even “in spite” of
himself (as though he does not want to remember) he cannot help but be
nostalgic and he cannot escape the past.
Evidence: “Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong”
Explain: The persona “weeps to belong” showing an overwhelming
nostalgia of wanting to return to the comforting past and “home” in which we
therefore get an implication that his current life is lacking what he had in
his childhood.
Evidence: “So show me, son how to laugh; show me how I used to laugh
and smile once upon a time when I was like you”
Explain: By asking the son to “show” the persona how to be the
person he used to be conveys a sense of nostalgia of wanting to return to a
better person.
Evidence: “The glamour of childish days upon me, my manhood is cast”
Explain: Because the childhood memory is “glamorous” there is a
sense of an attracting childhood which is almost like an illusion unlike the
common connotations of “glamour” which is fancy and such. Furthermore despite
the “appassionato” of the piano is loud he is so overwhelmed that the sounds
have faded and for the persona the centre of attention Is
the “childish days”. Furthermore the nostalgia is so strong that it unmans the
persona casting away his manhood because he is drying (stereotypes of a male
that they are tough and do not cry)
Evidence: “down the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the
past.”
Explain: This phrase is so overwhelming as “flood” is usually a
gigantic and destructive force of water and when compared to remembrance we has
presented with the idea that the memories are so strong they have swept him
away and bringing him to tears as Lawrence how the persona weeps “like a child”
– there is an irony where the persona is weeping like a child when he is truly
weeping about himself.
Main Point
3 - The essences of identity present in “Prayer
before birth” “Hide and seek” and “Once upon a time” where identity itself has
been challenged or in a way sullied by society and how adulthood can ruin this
purity creating a world in which there is dishonesty and that childhood is
threatened by this harshness.
Sub point
A: The
cruel, harsh, sinister reality of the real world portrayed in “Prayer before
Birth” and “Once Upon a Time”
Evidence: “Once upon a time”
Explain: “Once upon a time” has connotations of a fairy tale as
something of the past and something that does not exist anymore creating this
sense that all these things “once upon a time” could not and would not exist in
modern day as reality is sinister and harsh, the opening phrase foreshadows
what the persona is about to say and also makes it infinite that this was
something that had existed before but not anymore.
Evidence: “Only laugh with their teeth”
Explain: Okara uses this metaphor to apply
a sense of pretense in society and that society itself is emotionless and
false. The word “only” makes it seem
that the persona is disappointed, and that laughing with their teeth is not
good enough. The word “teeth” also has connotations eating and tearing apart
which shows an animalistic feature creating a sense that people are losing
their identities and their selves by becoming increasingly savage. The “T” also
has a harsh consonant emphasizing the menacing image.
Evidence: “search behind my shadow”
Explain: The
word behind signifies to the people being duplicitous, as the word behind has
connotations of being sinister or hiding. Searching his shadow also makes it
seem that they are searching for his weakness.
Evidence: “Bloodsucking bat” “Club-footed ghoul”
Explain: These images are closely associated to childhood fears. The
baby’s childish fears of supernatural horror signify how the unborn baby is
innocent and oblivious to the knowing of the sinister, harsh cruel reality of
the world. Moreover by beginning with the mention of the supernatural horrors, shows
a relation to childhood fear while progressing chronologically through the
poem.
Evidence: “trees to talk to me, sky to sing to me”
Explain: This part of the poem signifies to what the baby wants the
world to be and this is the environment that the baby wants to grow up in and
not the cruel, sinister reality. Also this part of the poem is significantly
shorter than other stanza which emphasizes that the hope for a better world is
pointless and that there’s very little of what the baby wants compared to the
reality. Nevertheless “trees” and “sky” have connotations of nature and freedom
and that is what is evidently lacking in the real world and the sinister
society.
Sub point
B: The persona is becoming corrupted and
tainted by those around him like dishonesty, lies etc.
Evidence: repetition of “I have learned”
Explain: The fact that Okara mentions that
the persona has “learned many things” and to “wear many faces” shows that the
persona him/herself have admitted that they have become deceiving. To say that
he learned to “wear many faces” emphasizes this sense of duplicitous and that
the persona is conforming, earlier on in the poem the pronouns used was “they”
but has slowly progressed to “I” showing the persona is conforming and has
become corrupted by society through learning how to be pretentious harboring
different faces which is essentially his identity – the persona has lost
himself. Using “I have learned” as a motif therefore reinforces this fact
throughout.
Evidence: “homeface, officeface,
streetface, hostface, cocktail
face”
Explain: This depicts a “two-faced” image but to another extreme.
The persona has lost his/her identity by learning all the different faces
he/she has been corrupted and cannot show a genuine face. The listing
emphasizes how even in everyday situations society has corrupted the persona to
such a degree that because the person’s identity is lost even at home the
persona cannot show a genuine face but a fake one.
Evidence: “I used to be” “I was like you”
Explain: Here the persona is strongly trying to convince us that
“once upon a time” he too has been sincere and genuine but has changed because
of society.
Evidence: “conforming smile”
Example: This shows that society itself has changed, everyone wants
to fit in and to do so they conform losing their individuality and identity.
Evidence: “Fixed portrait smile”
Explain: Okara illustrates using imagery a
sense of a portrait in which as readers we can relate to the fact that a
portrait is lifeless, it captures only a single moment in time and because it
is manmade it is unnatural. The painting reflects the persona’s identity that
is gone leaving only unnatural and forced feelings and emotions – capturing
only one part of the persona which is falseness.
Evidence: Repetition of smile
Explain: Firstly the connotation of smile is happiness and genuine
positive feelings however this is contrasted with how in the poem this is not
true. The repetition of smile echoes what ‘used to be’ but because it is used a
lot it has lost its meaning and is no longer meaningful or genuine.
Evidence: “I fear that the human race may with tall walls wall me”
Explain: MacNeice uses this to depict an image of society towering
this fragment of a child in which has not yet been born but is afraid of how
society can corrupt them. The monosyllabic phrase “tall walls wall” shows a
rhyming pattern to emphasize monotony and conforming as well as an image that
the walls are overwhelming the child and restricting its freedom and identity
much like how walls between people restrict their freedom and understanding.
Evidence: “Strong drugs dope me, with wise lies lure me”
Explain: The persona mentions that he/she fear that the “strong
drugs” will dope him/her which displays an image of inescapable and
overwhelming negative sides of society which once again restricts and corrupts.
Because it is “strong” also makes it seem harder to avoid creating a sense of
impending forces trying to strip the persona of his/her identity. Furthermore
the mention of “wise lies” that lure the persona also reinforces this cunning
and sly image of society that wants people to conform and as a result
infinitely losing their identities to these “lies”.
Evidence: “would dragoon me into a lethal automation”
Explain: The metaphor suggests being forced to do something, by comparing
the persona to a “lethal automation” further reinforces how there is a lack of
life and vibrancy, to compare the persona to a machine connotes lifelessness,
and monotony and to mention “lethal” also means emotionless and lifeless in
addition to lacking mercy and is deadly.
Evidence: “old men lecture me, bureaucrats hector me”
Explain: this creates a sense that society and all things around
persona are pressurizing him/her and forcing the persona to in a sense become
one of them – to become corrupted by their “lectures” and if not so to “hector”
the persona creating a sense of misery.
Evidence: “I am not born yet”
Explain: MacNeice expresses the sense of longing to find oneself by
having the persona constantly mention throughout the extract “I am not born
yet” to indicate that because the persona is not born yet the persona needs to
somewhat find themselves and their identity. Each stanza in the poem starts off
with “I am not born yet” and is followed by requests such as “O hear me”,
“provide me”. “forgive me” and as such to depict a
sense that the persona is pleading for society to listen and to show the
persona’s true identity without having the world around him/her corrupt the
persona.
Evidence: “rehearse me”
Explain: The persona is crying out for a plea to help him/her find
themselves, to “rehearse” and learn of society “in the parts” that the persona
“must play and “cues” that the persona must take showing that the persona is
seeking for a place and purpose for when the persona is born. There is a sense
of yearning to “play” a part in society but more significantly the persona is
actually appealing to us as readers to help him/her to fend themselves against
the oppressors in society (old men, bureaucrats).
Evidence: “I want to unlearn”
Explain: In ‘once upon a time’ the persona mentions that he wants to
“unlearn” all the “muting things” the things that had: corrupted him; changed
him for the worse and is once again seeking for his true and sincere self that
he used to be.
Evidence: “come and find me”
Explain: In the game of hide and seek the fundamentals are that the
seeker has to seek out each of the players of the game, in the poem ‘Hide and
Seek’ the persona is very devoted towards the game and is waiting for his/her
friends to come and find the persona however the truth is that one cannot
expect others to find them, you have to find yourself and reveal your own personality
in a sense.
Main Point
4 - Childhood maintains a sense of preciousness and
purity which can easily be taken away or damages as shown in poems such as
“Mother in a Refugee camp” and “Prayer before birth”.
Evidence: “No Madonna and Child could touch”
Explanation: There is a reference to Christianity which compares the mother to
an iconic and caring figure. The depicts how the image is pure due to the
comparison to a religious aspect as well as showing an unconditional love of
mother and child
Evidence: She took from her bundle of possessions”
Explanation: This shows that there is scarcity in security but throughout of
this the “bundle” keeps the mother and child together which portrays a sense of
closeness.
Evidence: “Rust colored hair left on his skull”
Explain: The fact that the baby’s hair is “rust colored” gives off a
sense that there is decay and that life is seeping away which creates a tragic
image giving off pathos to the readers. The poet carefully chooses to use to
word “skull” rather than “head” to symbolize death and that the baby is dying –
there is hollowness but despite this the mother will continue to comb the hair
of what is left of her child.
Evidence: “A mother who smiles as she sings”
Explanation: In a sense although the mood is nostalgic there is also a feeling
of tender loving of a mother and child - this is similar to how in ‘A mother in
a refugee camp’ in childhood the role of a mother is very significant and the
mutual bond is also very strong.