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!”
Explain “my mind was really mine”.
What did the poet realise?
Why is ‘I’ confused?
Answers
Answer:
About the Author
Markus Natten is a poet from Norway. Details of his life are very sketchy so it is unclear when and where he was born.
Poem – Childhood
When did my childhood go?
Was it the day I ceased to be eleven.
Was it the time I realised that Hell and Heaven,
Could not be found in Geography,
And therefore could not be,
Was that the day!
When did my childhood go?
Was it the time I realised 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!
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!
Where did my childhood go?
It went to some forgotten place,
That is hidden in an infant’s face,
That’s all I know.
Introduction
In the poem Childhood, the poet ponders deeply over the question of his lost childhood. He recalls a number of stages when his thoughts and perceptions about the world and people changed. He tries to identify that one particular stage or time when he lost his childhood and stepped into adulthood. He feels a sense of nostalgia for the lost childhood and finally settles down with an idea that his childhood has gone to some forgotten place and that place could only be found in an infant’s innocent face.
Summary
The speaker pondered deeply upon the spiritual questions of life and ultimately realized the fact that his childhood days were finally gone down into the past of eternity for good and would never return. Childhood would now only remain in his memories. He wandered if the end of childhood was the day he ceased to be eleven years old. The time when he realized that heaven and hell are not real places because they could not be located in geography and never could be.
Where did his childhood go? Was it the time he realized that adults were not all they seemed to be? They talked of love and they preached of love, but did not act so lovingly nor practiced what they preached. Was that the day. Where did his childhood go? Was it when he found out that his mind was really his? To use it whichever way he chose? To produce thoughts that was not those of other people but his and his alone. Was that the day? Where did his childhood go? It went to some forgotten place that is hidden in a baby’s face. That was all that he knew and that was all that he remembered.
In the poem ‘Childhood’, the poet is trying to realise the age when he lost his childhood, when he became mature enough to understand the worldly things. So he keeps saying, “When did my childhood go?” He finally realises that his childhood is gone to “some forgotten place”, “that is hidden in an infant’s face.”