Page 1 - HA- CHILDHOOD

CHILHOOD-HOME ASSIGNMENT

(i) When did my childhood go? Was it the day I ceased to be eleven, Was it the time I
realized that Hell and Heaven Could not be found in Geography And therefore could not be,
Was that the day!

(a) Name the poem and the poet.
(b) What do you know about the poet’s age?
(c) What has the poet come to realize?
(d) What change has the poet observed in him?
(e) What has the poet lost?

(ii) When did my childhood go’: Was it the time I realized 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!

(a) Where are the lines from? Who is the poet?
(b) What change has the poet observed in him?
(c) What has the poet realized about the adults?
(d) When did the poet lose his childhood?

(iii) 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!

(a) What does the poet want to know?
(b) Explain “my mind was really mine”.
(c) Explain the phrase “to use whichever way I choose”.
(d) What has the poet decided?
(iv) Where did my childhood go? It went to some forgotten place, That’s hidden in an
infant’s face, That’s all I know.

(a) Whom does “my” refer to?
(b) What is “it” in the second line?
(c) Where has “it” gone to?
(d) Where is that forgotten place hidden?
(e) Explain the phrase “hidden in an infant’s face”.
(f) What does the poet long for?
(g) What has the poet gained after entering adolescence?

Short Questions:

1. How does the poet realise he has grown up?

2. What do the phrase ‘my mind was really mine’ mean?

3. Why does the poet take 11 years as the age of demarcation?