What went wrong when the king rode under the arch?

It was too low and knocked off his crown

How does the chain of blame unfold in the poem?

Each accused person blames another, ending with the king's own changes

Who is the poet of "Childhood" and what question does the poem repeatedly ask?

Markus Natten; it repeatedly asks when and where the poet's childhood went.

Which stanza talks of rationalism?

The first, where the poet realises Hell and Heaven cannot be found in Geography and therefore doubts their existence.

Which stanza talks of hypocrisy?

The second, where the poet realises adults talked and preached of love but did not act lovingly.

Which stanza talks of individuality?

The third, where the poet finds his mind is truly his own, producing thoughts that are his alone.

According to the poem, what is involved in the process of growing up?

Losing innocence and faith through rationalism, awareness of adult hypocrisy, and the assertion of individual identity.

Why does the poet doubt that Hell and Heaven exist?

Because they could not be found in Geography, suggesting a child's literal, reason-based questioning of belief.

What did the poet realise about adults?

That they were not all they seemed — they spoke and preached of love but did not act lovingly.

What does the discovery that "my mind was really mine" signify?

The birth of individuality — the freedom to produce original thoughts that are the poet's own.

Where, according to the poem, has childhood gone?

To "some forgotten place" hidden in an infant's face, where innocence still survives.

What is the poet's feeling towards childhood?

A tender, regretful longing for the lost innocence and simple faith of his early years.

Childhood

Class 11 English · Hornbill – Poems · Chapter 4

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All 10 Hornbill texts: 5 prose, 5 poems

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The story in short

Markus Natten's introspective poem asks repeatedly when and where the poet's childhood went, exploring what is lost in the process of growing up. Each stanza considers a possible moment of transition. The first wonders whether childhood ended on the day the poet ceased to be eleven and realised that Hell and Heaven could not be found in Geography and therefore could not literally exist — a moment of rationalism replacing childlike faith. The second wonders whether it was the day the poet realised that adults were not all they seemed to be, that they talked and preached of love but did not act lovingly — a recognition of adult hypocrisy. The third wonders whether childhood went when the poet discovered that his mind was really his own, free to produce thoughts that were his alone and not borrowed from others — the dawning of individuality and independent thinking. In the final stanza the poet concludes that his lost childhood has gone to "some forgotten place," hidden in an infant's face — suggesting that innocence survives only in very young children. The poem treats growing up as the loss of innocence and faith, gained through rationalism, awareness of hypocrisy and the assertion of individual identity, and conveys the poet's tender, regretful longing for the lost world of childhood.

Childhood

Characters & key ideas

Rationalismreasoning that replaces childlike faith, as when Hell and Heaven are doubted.

Hypocrisythe gap between what adults preach about love and how they actually act.

Individualitythe discovery that one's mind and thoughts are truly one's own.

Innocencethe childlike purity that is lost in growing up and survives in an infant's face.

Refrainthe repeated question "When did my childhood go?" structuring the poem.

Growing upthe loss of innocence through reason, awareness and independent identity.

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Who wrote the poem "Childhood"?

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Childhood

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