To My Nine-Year-Old Self - Helen Dunmore
Stanza Quotation Theme Analysis Device
/Line
Title ‘to’ Letter form
1/1 ‘You must forgive Regret Direct address is a persuasive
me’ device, but the imperative suggests
that there may be a power
imbalance
1/3 ‘balancing on your Athletic - childhood
hands’
1/3 ‘tightrope’ Dangers of childhood and the risks
1/5 ‘leap from a that come with it. Possible theme
height’ of height
1/4 ‘run than walk’ Energetic verbs show how children
‘climb than run’ are daring and unafraid
2/1 ‘I have spoiled this Age Perfect tense. Could show regret
body’ but also the narrator distancing
herself from the past self that
ruined her body. Interesting that
‘this’ is used, rather than the
possessive pronoun ‘my’
2/1 ‘Look’ Imperatives link back to stanza 1.
‘watch’ Simultaneously warning and
apologising.
2 Pauses enact how she is wary of
moving
2/3 ‘bad back’ Plosive sounds show her pain
2/4 ‘Do you remember Colloquialism like Armitage
how’
2/5 ‘we’d jump’ Imperfect tense shows how this
was a repeated action. Interesting
juxtaposition of this energetic
action with her present physical
pain
2/5 ‘ground floor Represents how she is at the start
2/6 window’ of her life. ‘Summer’ has positive
‘summer morning’ connotations
3/1 ‘dream we had’ Past tense suggests that the
narrator no longer has this dream.
Perhaps a poem about unfulfilled
potential and forgotten ‘ambition’,
like the secretary in An Easy
Passage
3/2 ‘white paper’ Meta. Colour imagery represents
innocence. Also shows how her
Stanza Quotation Theme Analysis Device
/Line
Title ‘to’ Letter form
1/1 ‘You must forgive Regret Direct address is a persuasive
me’ device, but the imperative suggests
that there may be a power
imbalance
1/3 ‘balancing on your Athletic - childhood
hands’
1/3 ‘tightrope’ Dangers of childhood and the risks
1/5 ‘leap from a that come with it. Possible theme
height’ of height
1/4 ‘run than walk’ Energetic verbs show how children
‘climb than run’ are daring and unafraid
2/1 ‘I have spoiled this Age Perfect tense. Could show regret
body’ but also the narrator distancing
herself from the past self that
ruined her body. Interesting that
‘this’ is used, rather than the
possessive pronoun ‘my’
2/1 ‘Look’ Imperatives link back to stanza 1.
‘watch’ Simultaneously warning and
apologising.
2 Pauses enact how she is wary of
moving
2/3 ‘bad back’ Plosive sounds show her pain
2/4 ‘Do you remember Colloquialism like Armitage
how’
2/5 ‘we’d jump’ Imperfect tense shows how this
was a repeated action. Interesting
juxtaposition of this energetic
action with her present physical
pain
2/5 ‘ground floor Represents how she is at the start
2/6 window’ of her life. ‘Summer’ has positive
‘summer morning’ connotations
3/1 ‘dream we had’ Past tense suggests that the
narrator no longer has this dream.
Perhaps a poem about unfulfilled
potential and forgotten ‘ambition’,
like the secretary in An Easy
Passage
3/2 ‘white paper’ Meta. Colour imagery represents
innocence. Also shows how her
