English (Core) · Ch 8 — Childhood
Summary
Summary
- Poet & poem: Childhood by Markus Natten — a short reflective poem in which a young speaker asks when and where his childhood disappeared.
- Structure: four stanzas; the first three open with the refrain "When did my childhood go?" and end with "Was that the day!", while the last asks "Where did my childhood go?"
- Stanza 1 (Rationalism): childhood may have gone when he reasoned that Hell and Heaven are not real places on a map.
- Stanza 2 (Hypocrisy): or when he saw that adults preach love but do not act lovingly.
- Stanza 3 (Individuality): or when he found his mind was truly his own, producing thoughts that were his alone.
- Stanza 4 (Conclusion): unable to fix a moment, he decides childhood has gone to a "forgotten place" now hidden in an infant's face. …