to my nine year old self

what is the poem about?

person looking back on her younger self

themes (4)

• nostalgia/ childhood

• past and present

• innocence vs experience

• old age

nostalgia and childhood

• entire poem built around childhood experiences and nostalgia that the narrator feels for their childhood

• persistent childhood imagery and an accompanying semantic field to reinforce this

past and present

• transitions between past exp and present realities are explored in the poem, and shown through use of caesuras and conflicting pronouns

• domination of childhood theme means that some of these interpretations + ideas may be overlooked

innocence vs experience

• depicts poet’s anxiety about the safety of little girl

• however, D also presents theme of summer and care-free enjoyment to juxtapose the concern

old age

• disease ridden imagery for depicting the theme of old age arouses pity for the poet

• contrast between old and young creates dichotomy between body and mind → speaker is old and worries more vs girls purely physical outlook (imagery of taste/touch)

structure

• stanzas rise and fall

• caesuras vs end stopped lines

• free verse

• dramatic monologue → failed dialogye

• correlates to poems attempted closeness to young child (pronouns shifting to we)

pronouns

• mixing of I, you and we

• narrator is increasingly caught up in the past

• contrast between youth and adulthood is inescapable → direct address and collective

ripe scab from your knee to taste it on your tongue

• metaphor for tasting danger without fear in youth

• dissonance between ecstacy and scab humerous