|
When I was a child I bought the beach, I blessed the boats and tamed the sand. Toy castles tried spires for my hand. I owned the creatures, two of each: When I was a child I bought the beach. I caught the gulls and guessed their speech, Legs planted tall as spars I spanned The space and flash of waves; a band Of boys and beasts was mine to teach, I caught the gulls and guessed their speech. The blown boats rock now out of reach, Children are hard to understand, castles grew prouder than I planned, The gulls' small words swelled to a screech, The blown boats rock now out of reach. I blessed the boats and tamed the sand, I owned the creatures, two of each, The space and flash of waves, a band Of boys and beasts, all mine to teach: Children are slow to understand. -- Carol Hall |
|
When I Was a Child I Bought the Beach |
|
1. "When I was a child," this poem begins, "I bought the beach." Obviously children don't actually "buy" beaches. What does the word bought really mean here? And what does "When I was a child" suggest about the subject of the poem? 2. The first two stanzas tell what the speaker was like as a child, what she felt about the beach and herself. What do these ten lines tell you of her childhood notions about the way things were? 3. What change comes at the beginning of the third stanza? What does that stanza tell us? 4. What happens in the last stanza? What is the meaning of the concluding line? 5. Summarize the theme. Does the poem remind you of others you have read? What can you say about the poem's attitude (mood)? 6. In what way does the form seem interesting in itself? |
|
READING / LITERATURE LITERATURE ON LINE |