to my nine year old self - helen dunmore

Question 1

caesura

Answer 1

emphasise distance

back to reality

you are protected from the bad part of the world during childhood

Question 2

enjambment

Answer 2

inevitable process into grim adulthood

Question 3

irregular stanzas

Answer 3

ups and downs in life

Question 3

title

Answer 3

carefree

disconnected

Question 3

disjunction

Answer 3

shows distance and separation between younger and older self

Question 3

changes in perspectives

Answer 3

different attitudes towards life

Question 3

‘don’t look so surprised, perplexed and eager to be gone’

Answer 3

vast change

don’t recognise themselves

inattentive

children find older people and their grumbles tedious

feels cautious and guilty- knows her younger self would not be proud of how she turned out

Question 4

‘you must forgive me.’

Answer 4

imperative

distanced themselves

obvious difference between young and present

poet comes to terms with aging

ironic because, as the poem progresses, we can see that she doesn’t really forgive herself

Question 5

‘balancing on your hands or on the tightrope’

Answer 5

childlike

embarrassed to do that as an adult

child’s agility and fearlessness

joys of naïve youthfulness in comparison to the speaker’s older self

it is also a metaphor for the risks children take, unaware of dangers. She regrets the fearless little person she once was

balancing on the boundary between her adult and child self

Question 6

‘you would rather run than walk, rather climb than run rather leap from a height than anything’

Answer 6

excited about life

we care too much as an adult

less active as an adult

more fun thing to do

syntactic parallels, to create rhythm and balance

impatience of the child

Question 7

‘i have spoiled this body we once shared’

Answer 7

collective

personal

didn’t take sufficient care of herself

ambiguous - being over-indulgent as adults may be to a child

Question 8

‘look at the scars and watch the way i move’

Answer 8

from the past

emotional scars, the effect of grief and worry

but they also link to everlasting impressions and memories

used to be spirited, full of energy, but now she moves carefully in fear of injury

adulthood is associated more with trepidation and care

semantic field of injury

Question 9

‘bad back’

Answer 9

alliteration

physical tolls of adulthood

contemptuous of her ailments

Question 10

‘do you remember how, three minutes after waking we’d jump straight of the ground floor window into the summer morning’

Answer 10

addressing her past self - nostalgia

temporal deixis

positive - leaping into the morning

window is also a metaphor for the future and the world outside

‘summer’ signifies hope and growth and happiness.

Question 11

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

Answer 11

young people imagine the future in terms of happiness or adventure or hope

it is ‘fresh’ in the adult poet’s mind, but clearly altered by reality

Question 12

‘white paper to write it on’

Answer 12

new and clear

symbolises innocence

blank canvas - be what you want

Question 13

‘we made a start but something else came up’

Answer 13

disjunction

distracted - typical of childhood

distractions that nudge young people off one path to try another

Question 14

‘summer of ambition’

Answer 14

no end to possibilities

wanted to grow up?

a time of little responsibility

Question 15

‘i’d like to say that we could be friends’

Answer 15

things were easier

can’t reconcile

urging herself to come to terms with the progress of the years and, emotionally, make peace with what has happened to her

‘could’ shows doubt

Question 16

‘but the truth is we have nothing in common’

Answer 16

disjunction - separation

not the same anymore

trying to come to terms with who she has become

Question 17

‘hide down scared lanes from men in cars after girl children’

Answer 17

fearless

child who was scared, not the lane, or maybe the adults were scared for her safety

indicates that childhood involves hidden fear, such as that expressed in gruesome fairy stories, or even the excitement of a scary adventure.

warned of the danger of child rape or abduction.

Question 18

‘long buried in housing’

Answer 18

cut down

things have changed

childhood is lost and buried by adulthood

Question 19

‘i shan’t cloud your morning’

Answer 19

doesn’t want to lose her innocence

metaphor for the reality that represents childhood hope, and doesn’t wish to spoil the innocence

she is trying to preserve these beautiful memories

Question 20

‘i have fears enough for us both’

Answer 20

adult fears differ from childhood fears - the former involve terror of illness and death and responsibility

a child’s may just be a dark lane that represents an uncertain future

Question 21

’ i leave you in an ecstasy of concentration’

Answer 21

spatial and temporal deixis

into something

youth is like a drug – full of wonders

melancholy at the end — the speaker is content in her reflection of the past which she is ready to leave behind

Question 22

‘taste it on your tongue’

Answer 22

curiosity and innocence

the injury represents future flawed life

the first ‘injury’ of adulthood - the precursor of the later injuries

Question 23

headlines

Answer 23

we lose the excitement in life as we get older

we don’t recognise our younger self

the innocence in childhood

experience breeds fear

the loss of innocence is inevitable

we often reflect on out past

sadness felt with childhood nostalgia

dreams of childhood become less realistic when we enter adulthood

the future seems to have more opportunities when we’re young