To My Nine-Year-Old Self (Helen Dunmore)
Quick Summary:
Form – direct vocative address to herself as a child (personal, giving advice to past
identity). Free verse rather than structured in style (loose and evolving form,
unpredictable flow of nostalgic memories, changing identity). The last four stanzas get
progressively shorter – loss of time, having to leave and return to the present.
Imagery – focus is on literal rather than metaphorical description. Carefree, fearless and
oblivious child contrasts to the burdened and regretful adult narrator, emphasising
disjunction. Bodies are separate, yet united by shared memories (which shift to ‘we’
pronouns).
Rhythm/rhyme - no regular rhyme (random memories, changing identity).
Tone - tense constantly shifts from the past and the present and pronouns between
‘I’/’you’ vs ‘we’. Creates a stilted tone (disjointed and separate adult from her childhood
self, evolution of identity). Adult voice speaks in formalities/phatic diction –
awkwardness, child oblivious (intensely separated). Adult’s tone is apologetic and
regretful (‘spoiled the body we once shared’).
Title
• Direct address, vocative tradition – creates a formal address. Like a letter to
herself as a child – reader feels as though they are intruding
• Giving advice to her former self – literalises the popular modern cliché of
imagining going back in time and giving advice to yourself as a child to express
things you would have done differently, making the most of this time, and in doing
so expressing nostalgia and perhaps regret
• 9 years old – pre-pubescent self, unclouded innocence of childhood, lacks the
concept of ageing and has no thought of the distant future.
Possible themes
• Childhood vs adulthood, age
• Time
• Nostalgia and memory
• Identity and how this alters
Form
Free verse rather than structured in style – creates a loose and evolving form, mimetic of
the random, unpredictable flow of nostalgic memories, and of changes to identity as a
result of time passing. No regular rhyme structure – tense constantly shifts from the past
and the present without continuity, stilted tone conveys how disjointed and separate the
adult is from her childhood self. The last four stanzas get progressively shorter in number
of lines – loss of time, having to leave her memories and return to the present.
Quick Summary:
Form – direct vocative address to herself as a child (personal, giving advice to past
identity). Free verse rather than structured in style (loose and evolving form,
unpredictable flow of nostalgic memories, changing identity). The last four stanzas get
progressively shorter – loss of time, having to leave and return to the present.
Imagery – focus is on literal rather than metaphorical description. Carefree, fearless and
oblivious child contrasts to the burdened and regretful adult narrator, emphasising
disjunction. Bodies are separate, yet united by shared memories (which shift to ‘we’
pronouns).
Rhythm/rhyme - no regular rhyme (random memories, changing identity).
Tone - tense constantly shifts from the past and the present and pronouns between
‘I’/’you’ vs ‘we’. Creates a stilted tone (disjointed and separate adult from her childhood
self, evolution of identity). Adult voice speaks in formalities/phatic diction –
awkwardness, child oblivious (intensely separated). Adult’s tone is apologetic and
regretful (‘spoiled the body we once shared’).
Title
• Direct address, vocative tradition – creates a formal address. Like a letter to
herself as a child – reader feels as though they are intruding
• Giving advice to her former self – literalises the popular modern cliché of
imagining going back in time and giving advice to yourself as a child to express
things you would have done differently, making the most of this time, and in doing
so expressing nostalgia and perhaps regret
• 9 years old – pre-pubescent self, unclouded innocence of childhood, lacks the
concept of ageing and has no thought of the distant future.
Possible themes
• Childhood vs adulthood, age
• Time
• Nostalgia and memory
• Identity and how this alters
Form
Free verse rather than structured in style – creates a loose and evolving form, mimetic of
the random, unpredictable flow of nostalgic memories, and of changes to identity as a
result of time passing. No regular rhyme structure – tense constantly shifts from the past
and the present without continuity, stilted tone conveys how disjointed and separate the
adult is from her childhood self. The last four stanzas get progressively shorter in number
of lines – loss of time, having to leave her memories and return to the present.
