Edexcel AS Literature - To My Nine-year Old Self analysis

1. To My Nine-Year Old Self
Helen Dunmore

2. • She was born 1952 in Yorkshire.
• She has been writing poetry since she was a
child.
• She has a big family- so she has many stories.
• She studied English in the University of York.
• She taught English in Finland.
• She now lives in Bristol.
Poet

3. Initial Thoughts
• It’s nostalgic- it seems like she wants to go
back to the care-free life she had when she
was 9.
• She seems to be jealous and envious of
childhood in general because of how care-free
children’s lives are.
• It gives the impression that she is ruined and
unhappy now.

4. Speaker
• The speaker is Helen Dunmore talking to her 9
year old self.
• She is regressing.
• She is damaged physically, emotionally and
seems to be unhappy with her life now.
• Seems like she’s talking about a completely
different person- she seems so different to her
past self.
• We interpreted that she had a happy childhood
unlike her life now.

5. •“To My Nine Year-Old-Self”- seems like a letter to
herself in the past. Seems like a farewell letter “I won’t
keep you then” as said later on in the poem
•“Surprised, perplexed and eager to be gone”- small
children often run away from scary looking people so
this shows how the speaker feels about herself and her
image.
•“Balancing on your hands or on the tightrope”- upside
down and unstable- foreshadows her future life.
•“Rather run than walk…”- emphasisng the care-free
nature of the child and wishes she has that now
(nostalgic & envious).

6. • “Spoiled this body we once shared”- she
damaged her body so much that its not the
same body anymore. Past tense (“we once”).
• “Look at the scars”- physical or emotional. She
isn’t comfortable with her scars.
• “…careful of a bad back or a bruised foot”-
really strong juxtaposition to line 4 and 5.
Gives the impression that it is physical scars
that she is talking about.
• “Summer morning”- fresh, happy and new.
This is contrasting how she feels now.

7. • “A dream we had”-past tense- she no longer
has the dream or goals.
• “As fresh in your mind as the white paper to
write on”- a simile. White could signify
blankness- the plan failed.
• “We made a start”- representing her life now.
She makes a plan but doesn’t finish it.
• “A baby vole…cesspit”- her life was fun and
eventful.

8. • “We have nothing in common”- she isn’t as
happy as she described her past self- feels
apart from her old self.
• “A few shared years”- that’s all it was- she
doesn’t feel that she can connect to herself
anymore.
• “Time to”- repetition. Her life is always the
same thing now- it is not as eventful when she
was 9.
• Your interpretation?

9. • “I shan’t cloud your morning”- she feels
she can block the sun and summer. She is
the cloudy, dull weather.
• “fears enough for both of us”- fears the
child’s future because she knows what
happens- fears her own future because
she doesn’t know what is going to
happen.

10. • “I’ll leave you in an ecstasy…”- wants her 9
year old self happily.
• “peeling a ripe scab”- as she gets older she
will turn the scab into a wound which now has
scarred the speaker. Contrast to the worries
the speaker has now- its so simple and minor.
• “taste it on your tongue”- taste of the future
she’s going to get.