Hide and seek key quotes Flashcards
and here they are, whispering at the door/ you’ve never heard them sound so hushed before
the end stopped lines and short cut sentences mirrors the boys excitement and creates a sense of tension. Later on in the poem it mirrors his sense of dissapointment
don’t breath. don’t move. stay dumb
the use of imperative minor sentences show the boys excitement. nothing stirs is another minor sentence showing the boy’s sense of abandonment
they’ll never find you in this salty dark
the phrase ‘salty dark’ is unusual sense imagery combining taste and sight (synaesthesia). this shows how heightened the boys senses are in the dark possibly showing hos alert he is and also how excited he is with his hiding spot
but be careful that your feet aren’t sticking out/ wiser not to risk another shout
the poetic voice is unusual as it is written in second person so it represents the inner voice of the boy, almost as if he is talking to himself. one interpretation of this is that it shows how few friends the boy has.
you mustn’t sneeze when they come prowling in
the verb prowling is animalistic imagery/ zoomorphism. the other boys are described with the language of predators. this is the first time that the reader understands that their intentions towards the boy are not kind
hide in your blindness
this command from the boy’s internal voice could have two meanings. the literal meaning could be describing the darkness of the shed. it could also be a metaphor for the boy’s ignorance towards the other children’s cruelty
the darkening garden watches+ the bushes hold their breath
personification as the boy emerges from the shed and realises that he’s been fooled, nature in depicted as spying on him almost as if it is in on the prank
but where are they who sought your
the poem ends on a rhetorical question this gives a sense of incompleteness. neither the reader nor the boy ever gets an answer. The effect of this is to emphasise how alone the boy feels
