Childhood poem
Poem: Childhood
by: Markus Natten
When did my childhood go?
Was it the day I ceased to
be eleven.
Was it the time I realised
that Hell and Heaven,
Could not be found in
Geography,
And therefore could not
be,
Was that the day!
When did my childhood go?
Was it the time I realised
that adults were not
All they seemed to be,
They talked of love and
preached of love,
But did not act so
lovingly,
Was that the day!
When did my childhood go?
Was it when I found my
mind was really mine,
To use whichever way I
choose,
Producing thoughts that
were not those of other people
But my own and mine alone
Was that the day!
Where did my childhood go?
It went to some forgotten
place,
That is hidden in an
infant’s face,
That’s all I know.
Stanza Wise Interpretation:
Stanza 1:
The poet wonders when he lost his childhood. He muses that
perhaps it was the day he realised that the concepts of Heaven and Hell, he had
been taught of since his youngest years, had no standing in the light of the
day. Geography textbooks did not give the location of any such place. Education
made the poet question his faith and look at the world much more rationally.
The poet realises that he might have lost his childhood when he gained
this rational outlook.
Stanza 2:
In the second stanza, the poet recalls the time when he realised
that the adults around him did not practise what they preached. They told the
poet to be loving and caring, however, they were themselves argumentative,
violent and discourteous. Their behaviour was a far cry from the love they
sermonised about and advocated so reverently to the child.
Thus, the child lost his faith in the adults around him, whom
he had so far, trusted without question. Their latent hypocrisy became evident
to the growing child. Perhaps, says Natten, that broken trust was one of
the major steps towards adulthood.
Stanza 3:
As he grew up, the poet realised that his mind was unique, could
form its own opinions and could take its own decisions. He gained a sense of
individuality which set him free from the prejudiced opinions of others
around him. His own experiences shaped his thoughts now and he realised that
this might have been the time he lost his childhood innocence completely.
Stanza 4:
In the final stanza, the poet changes his question. From
wondering at what point in time, he had lost his childhood, the poet now
wonders where it went.
The last three lines may be interpreted in two ways.
1. The poet claims that his
childhood is nothing more than a long lost memory. He recalls his infancy and
believes that his true childhood resides there, in that infant’s face, and that
innocence cannot resurface in this lifetime.
2. The poet believes that his
childhood has become nothing more than a memory for him but has become the
reality of some other infant. Innocence is a cyclical process where lost from
one person, it travels to another, finding residence there. Thus, till date,
adults can easily recall and seem to almost relive their own childhood, through
an infant in their lives.
Summary
In
the poem ‘Childhood’, Markus Natten depicts the reality of childhood innocence
gradually transforming into adult rationality, hypocrisy and individuality. The
poem begins with the poet wondering when did his childhood go – was it the day
he ceased to be eleven; was it the day when he could distinguish between
fantasy and reality by realizing that heaven and hell don’t exist since they
are not found in geography books; was it the day when he could understand the
hypocrisy of adults by realizing that people were not all that they pretended
to be; or was it the day when he became conscious of his own growing
individuality by realising that he had a mind of his own and that he was
capable of producing thoughts and opinions that were different from other
people.
In
the final lines, the poet concludes the speculations in his mind regarding his
lost childhood. He now tries to understand where his childhood has gone. Though
he is not aware of the day he lost his childhood, he knows that it has gone to
some forgotten place, that is, on the face of an infant. The poet believes that
though his childhood has become a memory for him, it has become a reality for
some other child. Childhood is a cyclic process, where it leaves one person and
goes to another.
Poetic devices –
Rationalism
the poet rationalizes that it would have gone when he was eleven and when he
found out that “hell and heaven could not be found in geography”,
Hypocrisy
– II Stanza – when he found out that the adults preached one but practised
another. They preached love but were not
so lovable.
Individuality
– III stanza. He now understood his
individuality, that he can make his own decision and is the master of his own
decisions.
Rhyme
Scheme – The poet does not follow any particular rhyme scheme. In the first stanza alone it has “ABBCCD”
Repetition
(refrain): “Is a group of verse or a phrase which gets repeated throughout the
poem.” Here “When did my childhood
go?...... “Was that the day?”
Antithesis:
“is a rhetorical device in which two opposite ideas are put together in a
sentence to achieve a contrasting effect.” Here, “Hell and Heaven”
Alliteration
– “My mind”; “Whichever way”; “That,
they, “the time.”
Inversion
– “when we reverse (invert) the normal word order of a structure, most commonly
the subject-verb word order”, is known as Inversion. Here, “To use whichever
way? I Choose.”
The refrain:
The refrain of any poem is/are line (s) that repeat at regular
intervals throughout the poem. The refrain often carries the central message of
the poem. The two lines which do so in this poem are:
When did my childhood
go?….
Was that the day!
The first line (which is a question) identifies the central theme
of the poem, that is, the attempt to identify when exactly the poet lost his
childhood.
Questions and Answers
1. Why does the poet think
that he had lost his childhood?
Ans: The poet, Markus Natten, believes that he has lost his childhood.
He believes so because he has lost the innocence and purity of his childhood.
When he was a child, he used to believe in the existence of Hell and Heaven. He
also believed that adults had real love. In his childhood he didn’t have any
egoistic attitude.
2. What did the poet realize
when he was twelve years?
Ans: At the age of twelve, the poet learnt that Hell and Heaven were
not real but mere stories and that science didn’t support the existence of Hell
and heaven.
3. What did the poet realize
about adults?
Ans: The poet used to believe that his elders were sincere about
relationship and love. But later he realized that their love was not real. He
saw that the adults were only talking about love but never loved anyone.
4. What happened to the poet
when he was aware of his ego?
Ans: At the end of his childhood, the poet realized that he too was a
separate individual. He began to take his own decisions. He seldom listened to
his elders because he began to place himself at the center of everything.
5. What misunderstandings did
the poet have about adults till he became one?
The poet, until he was himself an adult, had thought that the
grown up people had real love for others. He believed that their love was true
and they were ready to die for their loved ones.
6. How did adults ‘seem’ to
the poet when he was a child?
Ans: When the poet was a child adults seemed to him as messengers and
poets of love. He heard them singing love songs and talking endlessly about
love and romance.
7. Bring out the hypocrisy
that the adults inhibit with regards to love.
Adults talk too much about love and almost every aspect of the
adult life is closely connected with love; movies, plays, novels and songs. But
the poet believes that the adults are hypocritical about love because in
practice they do not have true love for others.
8. How do social interactions
kill a child in a child?
Ans: A human being is supposed to live as innocent as a child
throughout his life but it is very hard in a society that believes “complexity
is maturity and science is the final word.” When the child grows up, he hears,
sees, understands and accept new codes of behaviour and new concepts of growth.
9. Where does the poet find
his lost childhood? How can he get it back?
Ans: The poet, a specimen of the counterfeit personality, finds his
lost childhood on the face of a child. he can get it back only when he commits
to be child again, forgetting the complex adult concepts and pseudo maturity
perceptions.
Reference to Poem: Extract Based Questions:

Was it the time I
realised that Hell and Heaven,
Could not be found in
Geography,
And therefore could
not be,
Was that the day!”
a. How did the poet
realise his being grown up?
b. What does the Hell
and heaven stand for?
c. What kind of phase
of his life does the stanza reveal?
Ans.a.
. The poet realised his being grown up, when he was able to differentiate between
truth and fiction. / when he was analysing the statement of adults.
Ans.b.
It stands for the world of imagination that fascinates only small children./
These are nothing but the product of our imaginative mind that helps the person
to escape from reality.
Ans.c. The stanza
reveals the phase of rationalism where he is using his seat of reasoning
.B. Read the stanza
given below and answer the questions that follow :
“ When did my
childhood go?
Was it the time I
realised that adults were not
All they seemed to
be,
They talked of love
and preached of love,
But did not act so
lovingly,


ii.
According
to the poem when did his childhood go?
iii.
What
contrast did he find in adult’s behaviour?
Ans.1. The stanza
exposes the hypocrisy of the adult.
Ans.2.
It might go when he was able to analyse the contrast of adult’s way of thinking
and way of life.
Ans.3. They talked of
human values but did not practise in their day to day life.
C. Read the stanza
given below and answer the questions that follow :
“ When did my
childhood go?
Was it when I found
my mind was really mine,
To use whichever way
I choose,
Producing thoughts
that were not those of other people
But my own, and mine
alone
Was that the day!”
(i)
What
do the words ‘My own’ and ‘mine’ stand for?
(ii)
When
did his childhood go?
(iii)
Which
phase of life does this stanza show?
Ans.1.
Its shows the independent way of thinking of a grown up./ It reveals the
development of his own seat of reasoning.
Ans.2.
It might go when I realised his ‘self thinking.’/When he was able to take his
own decision.
D. Read the stanza
given below and answer the questions that follow :
“Where did my
childhood go?
It went to some
forgotten place,
That’s hidden in an
infant’s face,
That’s all I know.”
i.What does the first
line suggest?
ii.
What
would the ‘forgotten place’ stand for ?
iii.
What
does he know about his childhood?
Ans.1. It suggests
place where his childhood went.
Ans. 2. ‘Forgotten
place’ stand for the childhood that cannot be regained or restored.
Ans.3.
He knows that childhood is the state of mind of a person it will reside in an
infant’s face only
Answer the following
question in up to 40 words.
Q.1.How does the poet
describe the process of being grown up ?
Ans.
The process of being grown up develops the critical thinking and analytical
point of view in the person. It makes the person rationalized and abled to take
his decision by virtue of his seat of reasoning.
Q.2. How does the
poet repent on his loss of childhood?
Ans. He expresses
concern over his childhood’s disappearance. Childhood cannot be regained. It
keeps our life aloof from the world of hypocrisy, bitter reality and
materialism.
Q.3.
The poet has asked two questions one is about the time and other is about the
place. Why has he used these questions?
childhood away. ‘When’ points out the process of being rational at a particular
time and ‘where’ states the place where the innocent world of childhood
resides.
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