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 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!”

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,

Was that the day!”

i.What does the stanza expose?

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.

Ans.3. Individuality, transitional period – between childhood and grown up.

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?

Ans: He has used these two questions to interpret the time and place of way of going his 

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.