Childhood Summary..........................................
Answers
In the poem, the poet wonders when he lost his childhood and the innocence he had. He became conscious that he no longer sees the world as he did earlier and he can sense the hypocrisy in people. He recalled many instances in his life when he could have lost his childhood. He wondered if it was the day he ceased to be eleven or he realized that Hell and Heaven didn’t exist in this world and no one could find them in the geography. Next, he talks about the possibility when he realized that adults are not what they seemed to be and they are hypocrites. They talk and preach of love but their actions don’t say so. Was it the day when he realized that his mind was his own and capable of producing his own thoughts. No one could own that and he is an individual with his particular personality. In the last stanza, he talks about the whereabouts of his childhood. He concludes that it had gone to some forgotten place and it can only be found in the innocent face of an infant.
Answer:
The poet seems puzzled about the loss of childhood. It is natural in the process of growing up. Still, the poet tries to find an answer to his two queries: When did my childhood go?’ and Where did my childhood go?”
The first possibility of the time of departure of his childhood relates to the age when he had completed the age of eleven. It was then that he developed a power of understanding. Then he became aware that Hell and Heaven could not be found in Geography. Since they could not be located anywhere in world, he concluded that they did not exist. He thus reached a logical conclusion based on his reasoning power.
The second possibility relates to the time when he realized the hypocrisy of the adults. They were not all that they seemed to be. They talked of love and gave advice of love, but did not act so affectionately.
The third possibility relates to the time when he found that he was the master of his mind. He could use it whichever way he chose. He could now produce his own thoughts and need not repeat those of others. A sense of individuality dawned on him. He wonders whether he lost his childhood on one of these days.
In the final stanza, the poet dwells on the problem where his childhood has disappeared. On the basis of his limited knowledge he thinks that his childhood went to some forgotten place that was hidden in an infant’s face. The poet implies that adolescence follows childhood in the same way as childhood had replaced infancy. It is a stage in the process of growing up.
Explanation: