P1 Child and Insect

[CristinaV]

Hi everyone, I recently did this Paper 1, and the mark scheme says that satisfactory to good papers should "comment on how form and structure affect the meaning of the poem." Here's the poem:

Child and Insect

He cannot hold his hand huge enough.

How can he cage the sudden clockwork fizz

he has snatched from the grassblades?

He races back, how quick he is,

look! to his mother

through the shrieking meadow.

But kneeling at her side

finds only a silence in his fearful clutch.

Revealed, the grasshopper

lies broken on his palm.

It is

nothing now: its dead struts snapped

even the brittle lidless eyes

crushed into the tangle.

Sunlight

and the landscape flood away

in tears.

For horror he dare not

look at what is cradled in his fingers

and will not be comforted.

O,

will not.

Yet quick and now

as if by magic the undead insect

with a flick re-

assembles itself

throbs

and is latched to a leaf a yard away.

And once again incredibly it skirls unspoilt

its chirruping music.

He weeps, sick with relief and rage.

‘There now, my love. It wasn’t hurt at all.’

His mother laughs and puts an arm

around him.

Tearfully

he shakes her off.

He will not rejoice (in time he may

but that is not yet certain) after

such betrayal of his grief.

He must not

have tears torn from him

by petty trickery.

Before his mother’s eyes he would not care

to do it (and perhaps not ever)

but gladly in this instant he

could snatch the creature up and

shatter it

for leaving him so naked.

It is hard to tell by copying and pasting it, but many of the verses are meant to be indented. More specifically, verses 11, 15, 21, 27, 35, and 40 (line 1 being "He cannot hold his hand huge enough"). But those indented stanzas seem to still be part of the stanza, as the double spacing represents the separation of stanzas.

For this paper, in terms of the poem's structure, I commented on how it seemed like each part between the indented verses could be divided into what the author was focusing on. Some just described the child, others just the insect. I also talked about how there is no specific rhyme scheme, and how the very last verse has no punctuation except for the last full stop to give it an overall more spontaneous and sincere approach. But I do feel like I missed out on something about the structure. What else would you have mentioned? Anything more specific about how some verses are indented? Because that confused me. Maybe that's the effect the author was going for? Or is that just me being ignorant?

Any help would be appreciated. And soon, if possible. Thanks!

Edited May 2, 2011 by CristinaV

[Wide Eyed Wanderer]

1. The structure is very unpredictable - can be used to represent the playful nature of the child.

2. The poem uses run - on lines - sentences that run into 2 or more lines. This is usually reserved for love poems as it helps stretch the sound and make it sound smoother. However, it isn't used in the traditional way - there is a punctuation in the middle of the second line (He races back, how quick he is,

look! to his mother). This exclamation mark adds an extra jerk in the middle of an otherwise short line - again gives emphasis on the playful, unpredictable nature of the child.

3. Some lines have only one or 2 words - you may notice, most of these words in these one sentence lines deal with intense emotions - this is to provide emphasis.

[James Epps]

I found in this poem that yes as was earlier stated it has the mood of a child. But if you follow the thought process and the emotional progress of the poem, while viewing from the point of view of a child, it almost makes sense. For lines 1-6 there is much excitement as the small child has captured a magnificent prize, and he needs to show his mother. Following that on lines 7-14, the poem goes into great detail explaining the before beauty of the grasshopper, and it’s now crushed state. It changes the mood considerably by beginning these lines with the word "but", which immediately has the ability to alter mood, motion, and focus in a flash. Lines 15-22, are the summarization of the boys sorrow as he has destroyed the small, delicate, beautiful, intricate life that he held in his hands for the shortest of times. Lines 23-30 are the burst of relief that the boy feels when the grasshopper jumps away unscathed for all the damage that occurred to it. Line 31 is a major pivot point in the poem as its point of no return because the boy is crying, not just with relief but a rage that is interjected into the rest of the poem. Lines 32-36 are when the boy’s resentment for the grasshopper begins to appear. Lines 37-42 are when the boy’s frustrations are interjected into the poem, he is angry that he cried over nothing over some kind of tom foolery. In lines 43-47 are reserved expressly to show the pure anger and hatred that the boy is feeling towards a simple little innocent insect and now it demonstrates that to have the bug die would bring him pleasure. This poem expresses the utmost frustration that a small child can feel when they are defeated, especially by a mere insect.