Page 1 - LN- CHILDHOOD

CHILDHOOD BY: MARKUS NATTEN

THEME: This is a poem written in nostalgia (deep longing) about the loss of innocence of
childhood days. The poet is in a quest to explore the point where he ceased being a child. He
goes back into the alleys of memory and exposes the hypocrisy of the adults.

MAIN POINTS:

*The poet feels sad at the fact that he has lost the innocence of childhood. So he wonders
when he stopped being a child.

*He realized that the concept of hell and heaven had no place in geography. He has come
to look at the world with a rational point of view. He wonders that perhaps he lost his
childhood when he gained rationality.

*The poet further tries to recall the time when he realized that the adults are hypocrites.
They teach their children to be loving and caring while they are argumentative and violent
themselves.

*The poet realized that he is an individual with a unique personality. He could form his own
opinions and take his own decisions.

*He tries to recall the time when he learned to shape his own thoughts without getting
influenced by others. Perhaps this was the time when he lost his childhood.

*In the last stanza, the question changes from “when...” to “where did my childhood go?”

*He realizes that childhood is actually hidden in the face of an infant, a time where it is
impossible for him to go back now.

POETIC DEVICES:

1. REFRAIN: “when did my childhood go?...was that the day!”-The refrain of any poem
is/are the line(s) that are repeated after regular intervals to highlight the central idea.

2. REPETITION: “They talked of love and preached of love”- when a word is repeated with
the same intended meaning.

3. ALLITERATION:”My mind, whichever way, the time etc.”

4. ANTITHESIS:(A device in which two opposite ideas are put together to achieve a
contrasting effect.)Example: Hell and heaven.