Central Idea of the Poem Childhood
Central Idea of the Poem Childhood
In the poem ‘Childhood’, Marcus Nutten shows the reality of childhood innocence gradually transforming into adult rationality, hypocrisy and individualism. The poem begins with the poet wondering when his childhood went – was it the day he turned eleven; Was this the day that he could distinguish between fantasy and reality that heaven and hell do not exist because they are not found in the books of geography;
Was it the day when he could understand the hypocrisy of adults by realizing that people were not what they pretended to be; Or was it the day he became conscious of his own growing personality knowing that he had a mind of his own and was able to generate thoughts and ideas that were different from other people.
In the final lines, the poet ends the speculation going on in his mind about his lost childhood. He now tries to understand where his childhood has gone. Although he is not aware that he had lost his childhood, he knows that it has gone to a forgotten place, that is, on the face of an infant.
The poet believes that although his childhood has become a memory for him, it has become a reality for another child. Childhood is a cyclical process, where it leaves one person and moves to another.