Criminal and constant Essay

What impression do we form of childhood in â€Å"I Remember, I Remember† and â€Å"Growing Up†? What similarities/differences do we recognise in the poets’ approach? In the poem â€Å"Growing Up†, by U. A. Fanthorpe, the main theme of childhood is trivialised by the poet in the first stanza. â€Å"Shoplifting daintily into my pram† implies gracefulness and therefore is a humorous. However, at the same time, it is light-hearted and trivialises the age of being a baby. The poet mocks the years when you are a baby, too, describing her action of â€Å"burrowing my way through the long yawn of infancy†. This suggests that she is hiding from the years of infancy. At the same time, it mocks infancy as the â€Å"long yawn† refers to the fact that babies tend to sleep a lot when they are very young. Fanthorpe’s choice of words shows her dislike for childhood. â€Å"Nudging† implies that childhood was urging her insistently and annoyingly to grow up, and she did not want to go through childhood. â€Å"Nudging† implies persistence, which can be perceived to be annoying. Moreover, she relates sordid and negative experiences with growing up. â€Å"Hairy, fleshy growths and monthly outbursts† and â€Å"blood-thighed† are examples of this. This emphasises her dislike for childhood. The poet shows that childhood is mechanical by describing the people who fit into society as â€Å"well-oiled bolts†. This is not a warm description of childhood, showing it to be a horrible part of life. The poet in this poem brings out the idea of childhood being inevitable. â€Å"I tried to annul the future, pretended I knew it already† implies her trying to ignore the future, but constantly getting evidence of her growing up into a woman. This shows that you can’t fight childhood, it will happen whether you like it, or not. The poem suggests that there is something sinister about childhood. Sinister vocabulary is used throughout it, like, â€Å"masking†, â€Å"sabotaging†, â€Å"criminal† and constant negative statements like, â€Å"Not a nice girl. No. † These quotations help to emphasise the negative tone of the poet’s view to childhood. Now I shall move on to analysing â€Å"I Remember, I Remember† by Philip Larkin. Initially, Larkin expresses his journey happened â€Å"in the cold new year†. This suggests that childhood is like a new beginning, but he is not hearty and warm towards it; he appears to be cold towards childhood. Next, Larkin expresses his negative feelings about childhood. â€Å"I wasn’t even clear which side was which† is rather casual, and the tone appears to suggest that he does not really care seriously about childhood. Simultaneously, he degrades childhood to little value when Larkin states, â€Å"No, only where my childhood was unspent, I wanted to retort, just where I started. † By this he means that his childhood was wasted and therefore, it was of little value for him. It was only the foundations of what he would experience in later life. He seems ashamed and embarrassed about his childhood when the poet writes, â€Å"staring at my boots†. At the same time, this implies boredom, too. It is in a complete contrast to the question that his friend asks in the next line, â€Å"Was that where you ‘have your roots? ‘† because roots implies stability, solidity and a positive anchorage symbol. It is a positive question, full of optimism, in contrast to the friend’s view on Coventry and his childhood. The enjambment and illogical order of his recollections of his childhood memories suggest a feeling of spontaneity, which may reflect the author’s view on growing up.