Hide and Seek Flashcards
‘sacks’ ‘smell’ ‘seaside’
The use of sibilance could mimic the sound of waves and may also reflect the child’s excitement.
‘salty dark’
The metaphor is sensory as it uses both the sight and sense of taste, suggesting his senses are more alert than normal
Lines 5–8 are random sentences that do not seem to follow a logical order
This is parataxis and could reflect the child’s heightened senses and excitement as he is thinking of many things in a short space of time
‘prowling’
The zoomorphism makes the seekers seem predatory and animalistic in their pursuit of their prey, which is the child
The three short imperatives in line 11 tell the child how to behave in order to avoid getting caught, which builds the tension:
Also, the caesura in line 11, which happens after each of the line’s iambic feet, create a rhythm that sounds like a pounding heartbeat
It suggests the child is nervous at the thought of the seekers being so close
‘dark damp smell of sand moves in your throat’
This uses alliteration to highlight how the smell of the sand, which may have once seemed pleasant, is now stuck in the child’s throat
There are rhyming couplets in every fourth and fifth line in the poem up until line 22 but it does not continue after this:
This could reflect the child’s loss of innocence as he realises that no one was searching for him
‘darkening garden’
The personification of the “darkening garden” watching adds to the child’s sense of isolation and loneliness
the “bushes” holding “their breath
The personification of the “bushes” holding “their breath” creates tension, as if the bushes are waiting for something to happen
The use of a rhetorical question at the end makes the speaker, who was confident throughout the poem, seem unsure and vulnerable in addition to the child:
This incident could reflect the difficulty of growing up and realising that those you trust may end up abandoning you
The poem is written in iambic pentameter which is one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable five times in a line
Reflect the child’s excited heartbeat as he waits for seekers to find him
Mimic the counting down that is included in a hide-and-seek game
Reflect the child who is hiding and how he is sticking rigidly to the rules of the game as he waits to be found
While the poem does not have a consistent rhyme scheme, it does include some rhyme:
The use of occasional rhyme adds a rhythm to the poem that could reflect childlike innocence and excitement.
The writer uses caesura throughout the poem:
For example line 11:
“Don’t breathe. Don’t move. Stay dumb…”
The caesura in this poem is used to effectively indicate a command that the speaker is directing towards the child:
It also adds to the poem’s pacing as it creates a pause mid-way through a line
This is particularly effective at the end of the poem when “nothing stirs” and “the sun is gone” creating a sinister and lonely atmosphere
