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    It Was Long Ago by Eleanor Farjeon

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    Syahrun Nurul'Ain
    The poem describes the poet's earliest memory from around age three, when an old lady sitting under a tree invited her over and shared bilberries and cream with her. Though initially appearing to simply record a pleasant childhood memory, the last lines suggest the memory has additional significance, as growing up is not always pleasant and adulthood can dull one's ability to appreciate life's simple pleasures. The poem aims to recreate the scene and feelings of goodness from the child's perspective through its simple language, structure, rhyme and sensory details.

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    It Was Long Ago by Eleanor Farjeon

    Uploaded by

    Syahrun Nurul'Ain
    7K views10 pages
    The poem describes the poet's earliest memory from around age three, when an old lady sitting under a tree invited her over and shared bilberries and cream with her. Though initially appearing to simply record a pleasant childhood memory, the last lines suggest the memory has additional significance, as growing up is not always pleasant and adulthood can dull one's ability to appreciate life's simple pleasures. The poem aims to recreate the scene and feelings of goodness from the child's perspective through its simple language, structure, rhyme and sensory details.

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    The poem describes the poet's earliest memory from around age three, when an old lady sitting under a tree invited her over and shared bilberries and cream with her. Though initially appearing to simply record a pleasant childhood memory, the last lines suggest the memory has additional significance, as growing up is not always pleasant and adulthood can dull one's ability to appreciate life's simple pleasures. The poem aims to recreate the scene and feelings of goodness from the child's perspective through its simple language, structure, rhyme and sensory details.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    7K views10 pages

    It Was Long Ago by Eleanor Farjeon

    Uploaded by

    Syahrun Nurul'Ain
    The poem describes the poet's earliest memory from around age three, when an old lady sitting under a tree invited her over and shared bilberries and cream with her. Though initially appearing to simply record a pleasant childhood memory, the last lines suggest the memory has additional significance, as growing up is not always pleasant and adulthood can dull one's ability to appreciate life's simple pleasures. The poem aims to recreate the scene and feelings of goodness from the child's perspective through its simple language, structure, rhyme and sensory details.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
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    IT WAS LONG AGO BY ELEANOR FARJEON

    Poet's earliest memory, an incident that occurred when she was around three years old. While she was walking along a dusty road, she saw an old lady sitting under a tree. The lady invited her over and gave her bilberries and cream to eat, a 'feast' that the poet recalls with pleasure.

    SUBJECT-MATTER
    At first glance the poem may appear to have no serious purpose other than the, recording of an early memory, but the last lines suggest some additional significance. The poet shows that this simple, pleasant memory means much to her because, 'then I grew up, you see'. We are reminded that 'growing up' is not always so pleasant. Sadly, being an adult can sometimes dull us so that we no longer appreciate the simple pleasures of life.

    THEME
    The poem is gentle and nostalgic. It seeks not only to recreate the scene for the reader, but to have him or her feel the child world goodness of the incident.

    The poet begins by asking our permission: 'I shall tell you, shall I, something I remember?' In the manner of a small child, she regularly checks to see that we are attending, that we understand: 'You know'; 'You see'. Thus the poem has a confiding, warm feel to it.

    MOOD
    The poem has an interesting, simple structure built around three line stanzas. Has the poet deliberately used three line stanzas as the most appropriate for a three year old? At any rate, the simple structure is certainly appropriate for the situation.

    Similarly the language and rhyming scheme are deliberately simple. Words are uncomplicated, tending to be single syllables, with considerable repetition of words. The first line in every stanza ends with the word 'remember', and there are only two other thyme sounds 'ee' and 'oh', used absolutely regularly throughout the poem.

    The rhythm is gentle and slow, appropriate to the subject matter. Such structural economy and simplicity form a very appropriate vehicle with which to recreate a childhood memory.

    Throughout the recreation, the poet seeks to involve our senses. She introduces concrete objects ('a mountain, an old house, and a tree'), and simple colours ('in a red shawl with a grey cat'), to help us visualise the scene. She invites us to hear the memory ('and while she hummed, and the cat purred'), to taste it ('...the taste of berries'), and feel it ('the feel of the sun I remember') as she draws upon her own sense memories. Thus, the memory is evoked for us in a much clearer way.

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