Childhood Class 11th commerce

Childhood

Word meaning

1. Ceased – come to an end
2. Preached – talked or spoken
3. Infant – Newborn baby

Points:

1. Childhood has for centuries been considered by poets as a blissful period of one’s life. In this poem, the poet exhibits his curiosity to know, when an individual ceases to be a child. The process of growing up from a child to an adolescent and an adult is an inevitable one. There is no line of demarcation between the various stages of life. The poet begins the poem by putting forth this question to himself. He wonders when did his childhood leave him and where could it be found now? He wonders if it was the day he ceased to be eleven, or was it the time he realized that Heaven and Hell could not be located on the maps he was familiar with. As he matures he realizes that they do not exist in this world. They are only imaginary places.

2. In the second stanza, the poet reiterates the same question and wonders if it is the day when a child develops a new perception with which he is able to see through the hypocrisy of the adults. They talk of love and preached of love but in actuality they are double faced. Was that the day?

3. In the third stanza, the poet pondering over the same question wonders if it was the day when his perso
nality acquired certain individuality. When he realized that his mind was his own and he was capable of producing thoughts that were his own, devoid of any form of bias or influence. Now he is conscious of his own separate identity and feels himself different from others.

4. The poet concludes the poem by expressing his regret at the loss of his childhood which was a beautiful period of his life. He comes to the conclusion that it has gone to some forgotten place. The recollection of it has faded away with the passage of time. Perhaps it has gone to the innocent face of a child. Here the poet creates a lovely image of an infant’s face. He conveys the idea that innocence of the childhood remains only as long as one is infant. There is a tinge of optimism in this thought. At least innocence and purity of mind prevails in some form or the other on this earth.