To My Nine-Year-Old Self

Question 1

You must forgive me. Don’t look so surprised,

perplexed , and eager to be gone

balancing on your hands or on the tightrope

You would rather run than walk, rather climb than run

rather leap from a height than anything.

Answer 1

Rather - anaphora  / reflects the building intensity of these actions and provides a sense of rhythm

Caesura - dramatic pause / not fulfilled dreams/tricolon (embracing all life has to offer)

Surprised - Childhood wonderment 

Tightrope /Balancing - Risk and Danger  / physical dexterity

Contrast of intensive activity (run is more active than walk, climb is more active than run) more and more seeking the opportunities in life 

Constant battle between we and I or you 

The 2 realities of past and present can only coexist for so long before breaking down

Freeverse -> free-spirited nature of speaker’s nine-year-old self

Question 2

I have spoiled this body we once shared.

Look at the scars, and watch the way I move,

careful of a bad back or a bruised foot.

Do you remember how, three minutes after waking

we’d jump straight out of the ground floor window

into the summer morning

Answer 2

Spoiled - declarative/passive 
- Spoil can be talking about indulgence / child being spoiled in treats
- Spoil can refer to indulgence / physical deterioration of the persona
- Switch in tone/deterioration and energy before hand

Scars -> emotional and physical damage

We - collective pronoun / put referencing in past tense
I - only one to blame or at fault 

Careful - contrast to before 

Bad back - alliteration and plosive emphasising the physical deterioration with age

Do you remember … - enjambment speeds up the line mirroring the speed and liveliness of the younger self / idolisation of youth / reliving moment of excitement 

Summer - a time of youth and exploration / temporary / symbolises freedom 

Morning - symbolises new beginnings 

Window - rebellion and freedom 

Question 3

That dream we had, no doubt it’s as fresh in your mind

as the white paper to write it on.

We made a start, but something else came up -

a baby vole, or a bag of sherbet lemons -

and besides that summer of ambition

created an ice-lolly factory, a wasp trap

and a den by a cesspit

Answer 3

Create -> creativity / empowerment and did not laze about

Fresh - constantly thinking / Importance to her as a child 

White paper - simile/paper is fragile but also limitless/limitless possibilities 

Ice lolly - sweets within child hood / contrast “wasp trap” requires a sense of fearlessness

Something else came up - / hyphen causes an interruption or line break mirroring the interruption of a dream 

Question 4

I’d like to say we could be friends

but the truth is we have nothing in common

beyond a few shared years. I won’t keep you then.

Time to pick rosehips for tuppence a pound,

time to hide down scared lanes

from men in cars after girl-children

Answer 4

We have nothing in common - extreme disconnect from younger self in dream/physicality and being 

A few shared years -> concession of this being their only connection

End stopped line after “years” -> / change of tone

I won’t keep you then - let go of their younger self 

Rose Hips - life and Youth  / herbal remedy to various ailments -> imagery of picking these rose hips builds on the idyllic image of childhood

 

Direct address - shows the disconnect 

Time -> anaphora / does not idealise the younger world / there are vivid fears in child hood

Personification of lanes as scared -> emphasises the power of the fear in childhood even affecting the perception of physical surroundings

Men vs girl - adulthood and childhood / sinister and lack of naivety 

Question 5

or to lunge out over the water

on the rope that swings from that tree

long buried in housing -

But no, I shan’t cloud your morning. God knows

I have fears enough for us both -

Answer 5

Swings - playful 

Tree - nostalgia unsafe 

Buried
- the finality of the act 
- loss 
-no return / no return of the younger self and it’s childhood wonderment 
-dash allows the pause to mourn that fact

Cloud - sadness and melancholy / Morning - happiness / does not want to cover the sadness or taint the younger self and it’s nostalgia 

I have fears enough for us - I to us / amount of fear and anxiety which may be limiting speaker 

Question 6

I leave you in an ecstasy of concentration

slowly peeling a ripe scab from your knee

to taste it on your tongue.

Answer 6

Ecstasy and Happiness with youth 

Enjamberment -> no caesuras/lack of interruption which shows the focus and concentration /Childhood living in the moment

Scab - protective later / leaving childhood and enter the harshness of the world - spoiled body  / tasting the idea of pain the idea of curiosity

Lack of understanding of pain that it is curious