Relationships in ‘To My Nine-Year-Old Self’ and ‘Scent’
In both ‘To My Nine-Year-Old Self’ and ‘Scent’, relationships take the form
of those between in past and present. In Dunmore’s poem, the
relationship between the speaker’s past and present self is shown to be
disconnected and plagued with a sense of both anger and loss, whereas
Abse contrastingly presents the deep connection and unity of the
relationship between the speaker and their deceased partner. Both poets
convey a sense of futility in these relationships- in Dunmore’s case, this is
the futile loss of childhood innocence, whereas in ‘Scent’, futility is
presented in the short-lived manner in which the past can be reclaimed.
Dunmore presents a disconnected relationship between the
speaker’s past and present self through the anger with which the present
self demands their past self to take accountability for their damaged body.
This disconnect is immediately apparent in her saying, ‘You must forgive
me’- the physical distance between ‘you’ and ‘me’ is reflective of the
separation between past and present persons, furthered by the fact
Dunmore attributes two different identities to one individual. The speaker
expresses an anger towards the careless nature of past self through the
tricolon of ‘You would rather run that walk, rather climb than run/ rather
leap from a height than anything.’ The enjambment gives the lines a fast
pace that manufactures a tone of fury which Dunmore furthers through
the imperative ‘Look at the scars’, demonstrating a bitter accountability
with which the speaker presently holds her past self too, displaying the
disconnect in their relationship. Furthermore, the disgust with which the
speaker regards these ‘scars’ is apparent in her connoting them to a
sense of rotting and decay in the notion that they ‘have spoiled this body
we once shared’. This serves as a direct contrast to the manner in which
the speaker’s past self is left ‘slowly peeling a ripe scab from [her] knee’,
an act that would eventually leave a scar. This demonstrates a
carelessness for body image that directly juxtaposes the speaker’s
present disgust with their ‘scars’ to further present the disconnect in the
relationship between past and present self in their differing regards of self-
image.
Contrastingly, Abse presents a deep connection between the past
and present in ‘Scent’ through the relationship between the speaker and
their now deceased partner. Abse, like Dunmore, presents the physical
distance between the pair through references to time, through saying ‘we
once shared’ and ‘you long ago planted’, firmly seating their union in the
past through the impermanence of ‘once’ as well as the past tense
employed in the verbs ‘shared’ and ‘planted’. However, whilst this gives
way to full disconnect through the anger and bitterness present within the
In both ‘To My Nine-Year-Old Self’ and ‘Scent’, relationships take the form
of those between in past and present. In Dunmore’s poem, the
relationship between the speaker’s past and present self is shown to be
disconnected and plagued with a sense of both anger and loss, whereas
Abse contrastingly presents the deep connection and unity of the
relationship between the speaker and their deceased partner. Both poets
convey a sense of futility in these relationships- in Dunmore’s case, this is
the futile loss of childhood innocence, whereas in ‘Scent’, futility is
presented in the short-lived manner in which the past can be reclaimed.
Dunmore presents a disconnected relationship between the
speaker’s past and present self through the anger with which the present
self demands their past self to take accountability for their damaged body.
This disconnect is immediately apparent in her saying, ‘You must forgive
me’- the physical distance between ‘you’ and ‘me’ is reflective of the
separation between past and present persons, furthered by the fact
Dunmore attributes two different identities to one individual. The speaker
expresses an anger towards the careless nature of past self through the
tricolon of ‘You would rather run that walk, rather climb than run/ rather
leap from a height than anything.’ The enjambment gives the lines a fast
pace that manufactures a tone of fury which Dunmore furthers through
the imperative ‘Look at the scars’, demonstrating a bitter accountability
with which the speaker presently holds her past self too, displaying the
disconnect in their relationship. Furthermore, the disgust with which the
speaker regards these ‘scars’ is apparent in her connoting them to a
sense of rotting and decay in the notion that they ‘have spoiled this body
we once shared’. This serves as a direct contrast to the manner in which
the speaker’s past self is left ‘slowly peeling a ripe scab from [her] knee’,
an act that would eventually leave a scar. This demonstrates a
carelessness for body image that directly juxtaposes the speaker’s
present disgust with their ‘scars’ to further present the disconnect in the
relationship between past and present self in their differing regards of self-
image.
Contrastingly, Abse presents a deep connection between the past
and present in ‘Scent’ through the relationship between the speaker and
their now deceased partner. Abse, like Dunmore, presents the physical
distance between the pair through references to time, through saying ‘we
once shared’ and ‘you long ago planted’, firmly seating their union in the
past through the impermanence of ‘once’ as well as the past tense
employed in the verbs ‘shared’ and ‘planted’. However, whilst this gives
way to full disconnect through the anger and bitterness present within the
