To my 9 year old self Flashcards
Describe the structure
Dramatic monologue
Stanza lines get shorter - running out of similarities and connections to her younger self and also running out of time
“You must forgive me.”
Immediately creates a distance between her past and present self
Creates a confessional, blunt tone in which the speaker is repenting, almost begging for forgiveness which is ironic as it seems the speaker doesn’t forgive herself
Caesura - the pause increases the weight of the speaker’s plea, emphasizing regret.
“Surprised, perplexed, eager to be gone You would rather run than walk, rather climb than run,rather leap from a height than anything”
following a triplet of almost hyperbolically emotive adjectives, this triplet of active verbs emphasises youthful agility and energy, contrasting the frailty of her older self
–> uses syntactic parallel to emphasises her free movements
“I have spoiled this body we once shared… look at the scars… bad back or bruised foot. Do you remember we’d
jump straight out of the ground floor window into the summer morning?”
Plosive b - spitting out the words as if contemptuous of her ailments.
Window - acts a metaphor for the outside world brimming with childhood possibility. The tone becomes more lyrical and nostalgic as the perspectives begin to merge with the use of the pronoun ‘we’. The adult and the child become closer.
“The dream we had, no doubt it’s as fresh in your mind as the white paper to write it on”
Dunmore reference to “white paper” links to John Locke’s theory that all children are born a “blank slate” and gain identity and personality through life experiences
“Time to pick rosehips for tuppence a pound, time to hide down scared lanes from men in cars after girl children”
Anaphora of “time” - an uncontrollable force - a relentless passage
“scared lanes - transferred epithet - indicate that childhood involves hidden fear
“or to lunge out over the water on a rope that swings from that tree long buried in housing”
“rope that swings from that tree” - double entendre of play and suicide to highlight the speakers death of her younger self
The juxtaposition of the old and the new – the old tree and the new houses. This imagery indicates that childhood is completely lost and buried by adulthood
“I shan’t cloud your morning. God knows I have enough fears for the both of us”
Introduces another barrier - a mental one.
“Cloud your morning” is in contrast to the ‘summer morning’ referred to earlier. - suggests a refusal to taint childhood optimism with the adult pessimism. Clouds have connotations of cynicism and weariness
“I leave you in an ecstasy of concentration slowly peeling a ripe scab from your knee to taste it on your tongue”
“Ecstasy” - youth is like a drug
“slowly” - speaker wants her younger self to savour the moment.
allusion to scarring later on in life emphasises the long-lasting
effects of memory but also the process of healing. The simplicity of youth prevents the child
from understanding the reality of the future
allusion to scarring later on in life emphasises the long-lasting
effects of memory but also the process of healing. The simplicity of youth prevents the child
from understanding the reality of the future
