To My Nine Year Old Self

Question 1

TITLE

Answer 1

• addressed to be a letter
• connotes personal intimacy
• epistolary mode
• nine is youthful and discovering, not yet reaching double digits

Question 2

Free verse/ lack of clear form

Answer 2

• encourages viewpoint that this is an homnest and personal writing rather than something intricately crafted to be published
• mirrors the free spirit of those in their youth

Question 3

Inconsistent line and stanza length

Answer 3

• confirmsideas of uncertainty, stanza geat shorter which may suggest loss of hope//intereest in life as a result of its challenges
• lines constantly fluctuate which mah represent the growing and changing memories of the speaker which is very natural to the reader rather than harshly structured
• stanzas also get longer in the middle, this may reflect how life increases in hope and anticipation before decreasing
• equally it may underscores the stages of life and how you develop and then weaken again

Question 4

Caesura

Answer 4

• rhyme constantly broken by caesura and end stops
• adds layers of emotions and pauses for reflections, many coming after actions reminding us of the later consequence of our actions in life.
• forces reader to question the cruel nature of the world
• dashes when discussing her goals and dreams expresses the transgression the speaker has and the weight of each of her actions leading her further and further away from her true goals and dreams.
  -gives time to reflect on the dreams that are shattered by adulthood
  -towards the end the end stopped lines change to commas and hyphens which allows a more constant and free flowing speech, perhaps underscores how this letter has given them clarity and maturation

Question 5

Contrasting field-childhood

Answer 5

• begins with semantic field of an nativity and childhood
• dynamic verbs and quick succession of abstract nouns highlight how childhood is free and blissfully ignorant
• creates a sense of nostalgia
• also mirrors the short attention span of a child and their inability to ponder on trivial issues in the manner in which adults are prone to
• ‘leap from a height’ is carefree and dynamic but undertones with danger, this furthers the idea that children are ignorant to any potential issues in life

Question 6

Contrasting semantic field- bodily injury

Answer 6

• juxtaposes the blissful ignorance towards danger and highlights the reprocussions upon maturation.
  -I have spoiled this body we once shared’ places Blame onto the narrator with the additional stress on ‘I’ due to its opening the second stanza. ‘spoiled’ become significant because it demonstrates the impact that the present today and that it was once ‘better’ potentially with greater innocence and happiness.
  -implies that adulthood is an amalgamation of pain and difficulty and even remorse over trivial parts of the past tat have become this

Question 7

Balancing on your hands on the tightrope’

Answer 7

• reveals the blisssful ignorance induced by children in spite of danger
• dynamic verb balancing shows the fragile choices that humans make and how they can amalgamate into greater pain later down the line
• change can come at any time, life is futile and fragile
• symbol of tightrope expresses a need for pervasion, perhaps childhood is rose tinted

Question 8

Regret
-‘the dream we had’
-‘you must forgive me’

Answer 8

• had is past tense and implies childlike things such as dreaming are absolished by the harshness of reality. Melancholy tone as she has disappointed who she used to be
• forceful opening to the poem makes the reader apprehensive and shows that the primary address of the poem is the speakers regret over the course of their life
• immediate parataxis is ominous

Question 9

Whitepaper

Answer 9

• idea of tabilarasa, life begins as a c=blank slate and anyone can make it how they wish to
• paper is fragile and can be bent and destroyed with ease, implies that life can easily go down a bad path due to the distractions that are listed afterwards in an overbearing asyndetic list
• white connotes purity and freshness
• reflects also how broad and flexible the dreams of a nine year old can be

Question 10

Pronouns

Answer 10

Change between I we and you which implies that the narrator becomes caught up int he reminiscence of the past and so vividly can re live their experiences
- change back at the end implies that this memory is false and they can’t truly connect with the freeedom of who they were

Question 11

Ishant cloud your morning

Answer 11

• contrasts the semantic field of summer and youth and implies again that maturation creates negativity and harshness
• homophone between morning and mourning may imply that the speaker longs to be who they were once again

Question 12

Cyclical nature

Answer 12

• poem ends with a similar sensory equal that leaves nostalgic ideas. Both images show an almost grotesque and worrying inability to feel worried by danger
• creates a melancholy tone as both are paired with imagery of intense pondering
• also ends with the same semantic field of decrepitude as before but this time it is paired with the field of childhood. Shows that injury in youth was interesting and joyous and didn’t surmount to endless pain

Question 13

THEME: childhood

Answer 13

• semantic fields of childhood and summer throughout create a sense of bright and joyous nostalgia
• childhood is also seen as dangerous but blissfully ignorant
• implies childhood is too easily matured from and is endlessly longed for and regretted