For a Five-Year-Old by Fleur Adcock

Question 1

In one sentence, what is the first stanza of ‘For a Five-Year-Old’ by Fleur Adcock about?

Answer 1

The mother is recounting a simple story of a time when a snail crawled into her child’s bedroom

Question 2

In one sentence, what is the second stanza of ‘For a Five-Year-Old’ by Fleur Adcock about?

Answer 2

The mother is looking at herself as a person

Question 3

At the end of ‘For a Five-Year-Old’, the speaker says:

“But that is how things are: I am your mother,
And we are kind to snails.”

What does she mean by this?

Answer 3

She is accepting the fact that she has wronged in the past but feels she still must teach the next generation to be as kind and caring as possible

Question 4

What are some of the themes in ‘For a Five-Year-Old’?

Answer 4

○Youth
○Innocence
○Mother-child relationship
○Self-reflection

Question 5

What language or poetic techniques are used in ‘For a Five-Year-Old’?

Answer 5

○Simple sentence structure
○Complex sentence structure
○Rhyme
○Imagery

Question 6

What effect does the poet’s use of simple sentence structure in the first stanza of ‘For a Five-Year-Old’ have?

Answer 6

It imitates a children’s book and relates the poem to children, and creates a calm, gentle and innocent tone

Question 7

What effect does the poet’s use of complex sentence structure in the second stanza of ‘For a Five-Year-Old’ have?

Answer 7

The second stanza shows a turn in the poem. The tone changes from calm and gentle, to one of wisdom and self-reflection. The change from simple to complex language helps to separate the two different moods in stanzas one and two

Question 8

What is the rhyme scheme of ‘For a Five-Year-Old’?

Answer 8

abbccdda

Question 9

What are some of the images in ‘For a Five-Year-Old’?

Answer 9

○The snail on the windowsill - simple, clear image that sets the scene of the first stanza
○Mother giving her child advice - simple image of the mother giving her child advice or teaching them a lesson