Turning points and transitional moments are key moments in many people’s lives, and as such are the focus of many texts exploring childhood experiences. Both Scannell’s ‘Hide and Seek’ and Fanthorpe’s ‘Half-past Two’ explore a turning point in a child’s life which occurs during early childhood. Each poem features the antithetical juxtaposition of a childlike and more adult perspective, and a shift in the balance of power between these perspectives is catalysed by a climactic moment of epiphany. However, while both poems express the importance of these experiences their moods differ drastically. In ‘Hide and Seek’ Scannell seeks to show the harsher side of childhood, examining the cruelty that children inflict and endure, breaks the illusion …show more content…
The fact that the poet has chosen to write a continuous text without stanza breaks suggests the rapidity of the transition between childhood naivety and the bitter adult knowledge. In addition, the poem also employs the use of repeated rhyming couplets at equidistant intervals is a means to express his regular expectations, and as a child he is ignorant of the hardships of the world. The disruption of this regulated rhyming couplets at the turning point in the poem is mimetic of the disruption of the central character’s trust in the reliability of his friends. Furthermore, the frequent use of enjambment in ‘Hide and Seek’ is a very effective as it speeds up the implied transition process from naive childhood to knowledgeable adulthood. For instance, the fact that ‘they’ll try the lane’ isn't end-stopped and is rather an example of enjambment, gives us a sense of excitement, which contrasts with the up coming revelation therefore making it seem very bitter at a second glance. Additionally, caesura is best used in order to create short abrupt sentences as seen when the boy is ordered by what we presume to be the matured boy looking back, creating a dual narrative, ‘Don’t breathe. Don’t move’ and so on. Short sentences are used to build up tension. ‘Don’t breathe.
In the poem “On turning Ten '' by Billy Collins and in the short story “ Marigolds” written by Eugenia W. Collier, both authors talk about how life has changed and the end of their childhood based on situations of their past life. In the poem and the short story, both authors explore the impact of losing innocence by describing their memory and discovering the truth. Both authors show how emotional it was to face the truth and reality based on his and her memories. In “Marigolds”, she starts losing her innocence when she “Never heard a man cry before” (Collier 42) and how she discovered Miss Lottie wasn’t frustrated with the situation at the end but was upset. In “On Turning Ten” he realizes “I skin my knees.
The appeal of adulthood and independence reaches its apex in fervent children. However, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, poet of My Daughter at 14, Christmas Dance, 1981, conveys the paternal perspective of viewing one’s own kin experiencing the “real” world through her daughter’s first relationship. The Family of Little Feet, written by Sarah Cisneros, illuminates the negativities of young girl’s eagerness to physically develop in hope of acquiring attention from possible suitors. While both pieces of literature possess varying perspectives of epiphanies, Gillan and Cisneros divulge the significance of cherishing one’s youth, as the realities of maturity divest children of their innocence.
Exhibited across all three works of literature, children’s identities are often shaped based off of their parents’ level of care and commitment, and the community that surrounds them—whether it be good or
That violent, crazy act was the last act of childhood” (Collier, Pg.4). Most of the time there is a moment in life where one realizes they have lost all innocence and gained some compassion. “Marigolds” shows how one young girl transferred from a child to young adult through her life experiences. Introduce quote (give background information). "She never left her yard and nobody ever visited her.
The formulistic construction and simplistic language echo a child’s understanding of the world, enhanced by the synecdoche “beak and claw”. Harwood’s repeated references to literal and figurative blindness through “daylight riddled eyes”, are metaphoric of the child’s ignorance. The child belief of “death clean and final not this obscene” is left reeling, highlighted through alliteration and grotesque imagery “stuff that dropped and dribbled through loose straw tangling in bowels”.
The essence of great poetry lies with the author’s ability to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. Most poets use universal themes to connect their audience through emotion and experience, making the written theme relatable. But it is only when combined with the use of carefully placed literary techniques that this connection is enhanced and the work transforms from simple words on paper to an art form. Gwen Harwood uses a number of her poems to connect us with the universal journey from childhood innocence to experience and adulthood. Harwood also weaves the idea of memory into her writing, as a way to trigger emotion through a connection to the past, a connection to feelings that transcend through time.
The piece revolves around the subject of motherhood, portraying a women who feels smothered and consumed by her children. Poetic devices were used by Harwood to emphasise the affect that change had on the woman and her life progression, whilst illustrating the negative response which became evident as a result. In the poem, whilst taking her children to the park, the woman encounters an ex-lover, briefly discussing their life progression and stating to herself after his departure, that her children 'have eaten [her] alive’. Harwood’s use of this metaphor and hyperbole, shows the affect of the change her choices created, and its impact. The use of symbolism, to a large extent, also portrays the woman’s feelings derived from her sense of imprisonment.
Alice Walker uses imagery and diction throughout her short story to tell the reader the meaning of “The Flowers”. The meaning of innocence lost and people growing up being changed by the harshness of reality. The author is able to use the imagery to show the difference between innocence and the loss of it. The setting is also used to show this as well.
It is wholly recurrent to blindly skim through a detailed piece of literature and be unconscious to the likeness it shares with other pieces of literature. I am surely guilty of this ignorant practice, however. As I was reading “Hanging Fire” by Audre Lorde and “On Turning Ten” by Billy Collins, I didn’t truly perceive the connection right away. The obvious was already divulged in my mind; they’re both in the points of views of children. They, however, both have a mutual theme; growing up brings uncertainty and disappointment.
An example of an enjambment from the text is, “There is/ no way to know how easy this/ white skin makes my life, this / life…” (Olds 26-29). The enjambments, although simple, give the poem a much more powerful meaning, by showing the harshness of the reality for blacks during this time period. They seem to reflect the thoughts and emotions of the poem and the author. It shows that she feels somewhat guilty, because of what she has in life because of her skin color, as opposed to what the boy has because of his skin color.
The “c”, “b”, “d”, and “t” sounds create a sharp diction that provides attention to the chaos that the author provides. In making a cartoon setting harsh, the roughness expands to the entire cartoon, which often represents childhood. Describing the children as “Ten-year-olds” puts emphasis on how young they are and how they shouldn’t be exposed to the harsh environment around them. Events such as “burning houses” and “car wrecks”, often have irreversible damage, which can relate to the irreversible damage of losing innocence. Cacophony ruining childhood innocence is present in both poems as Flynn uses the literary device to represent destruction of childhood innocence while Webb uses it to enhance the idea of death.
Through the Eyes of a Child There is a loss of innocence when a young child is exposed to societal truths. That being said, it is not uncommon for a child to feel a need for change in themselves when they are made aware of the flaws of the world as well as their own. This loss of innocence is found in the following short stories through a specific literary device. Although a wide array of elements is used in a work of literature, denotation is an assertive approach that puts more emphasis on the meaning.
Also it is depicted how the father is cruel and at the same time gentle. Booby Fang , a literary analyst, showed how this poem can have mixed feelings of interpretation. He mentions how the poem is like a seesaw where the elements of joy, which Fang notes as the figure of the waltz and the rhythm it has, balances with elements of fear which he mentions happens through the effects of diction used in the novel such as the words like romped, scraped, beat, and whiskey. The narrator in the poem is remembering an incident in his childhood which shows that thet there were qualities in his father that were good and bad. He mentions that the achievement of this poem is that it permits readers to access such powerful memories in their own lives in ways consistent with the words and construction of the
With the novel being read from a ‘twelve’ year old whose history motivates his understanding, perception and interpretation of the events he encounters and interprets to the reader,
The unusual image of “-humming in her eyes-” suggests a mother’s lullaby. The use of the dashes breaks the poem’s rhythm, bringing out the mother’s emotion. It is tragic that she can’t bring herself to sing but wants him to rest peacefully. The poet compares this mother to other mothers in the refugee camp to amplify her love for her child and therefore the suffering she has to go through while watching him die.