Hide and Seek, Vernon Scannell Flashcards

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1
Q

Meaning

A
  • Exploration of isolation/loneliness & anxiety
    of childhood
    • Imitating wider experiences when an adult
  • Extended metaphor: Child thinks he’s won titular game BUT experiences flood of anxiety
    • Imitates complexity of adult emotions
    • & Nature of life’s challenges & disappointments
  • People you’re close to aren’t what they seem
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2
Q

Context

A
  • Scannell writes about pains of childhood
  • Time in army made him sensitive to injustice & cruelty
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3
Q

Imagery #1

A

“Sacks in the toolshed smell like the seaside”

  • Smilie
    • Reminds reader of playful times at beach
      • Suggests boy is happy
  • Sibilance
    • Sinister + unsettling
    • Foreshadows change in tone
  • Harsh consonantal ‘t’ + stress & then unstressed
    • Jarring upon 1st reading
    • Convey claustrophobic environment
    • Mood = things aren’t exactly they seem when first in shed
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4
Q

Imagery #2

A

“Don’t breathe. Don’t move. Stay dumb.”

  • Triplet of imperatives
    • Builds tension = shows effort child wanting to win
  • “Stay dumb.” = sinister connotations
    • Remain silent
      • Voice wishes boy could remain innocent or ignorant of cruel pranks forever
    • Colloquial meaning: ignorant
      • Boy foolishly not understanding trick his friends
        are playing on him
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5
Q

Tone #1

A

Excited, happy, jubilant

“‘I’m ready! Come and find me!’”

  • Dialogue = boy’s character
    • Excited, friendly & happy
    • Makes poem seem dramatic & immediate
      • Drama enchanted by present tense
      • Written as though it’s happening as we read it
      • Tranports reader to moment of game = places us within action
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6
Q

Tone #2

A

Reflective, fearful and somewhat pessimistic tone

“But where are they who sought you?”

  • Rhetorical question
    • Story never gets resolved
      • No happy ending
  • Reader discoveries truth that friends had deserted him
    • Wider implication = growing up involves realising people will not always support you
    • & world will not necessarily be your friend
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7
Q

Structure #1

A

Single stanza + free verse

  • Conveys anecdotal tone
  • OR mimics stream of consciousnes
  • Gives sense of concentration & focus
    • Reader must pay attention to details of game (which become increasingly signifiant)
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8
Q

Structure #2

A

Occasional patterns of rhyme but no coherent scheme

  • Mirrors increasing sense of uncertainty + boy trying to cling onto the familiar when hiding
    • Occasional rhymes = moments of clarity
      • “they’ll try the land / And then the greenhouse and back here again.”
    • Amongst sense of chaos
  • When boy decides to emerge from shed = rhymes disappear
    • Implies jolly and child-like world is ending
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9
Q

Comparisons 3x

A
  • Blessing
  • Half-past Two
  • Prayer Before Birth
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10
Q

‘Prayer Before Birth’ Comparison

A

Contrast between unborn child who knows human beings are cruel & this child in poem who has to learn this

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11
Q

‘Half-past Two’ Comparison

A

Childhood + Loneliness

  1. Child who is let down by grown ups only to learn positive session about life
  2. OTHER boy (in this poem) = disappointed by other children & learns harsh lesson about life
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12
Q

‘Blessing’ Comparison

A

Children enjoying themselves together in adversity

VS

Children who turn game into act of bullying

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