Childhood Eduaction Essay

How Poets Describe the Ending of Childhood Innocence


Firstly Seamus Heaney is a poet I have studied. He was from a rural
catholic background in Castledawson, County Derry, however he did live
in a mainly protestant area. He addresses issues such as childhood,
familial relationships, particularly his relationship with his father
and also the identity crisis of becoming a poet. For example in his
poem, “Death of a Naturalist” he draws largely on his experience and
the experience of his community in an attempt to represent the
troubles in a new and analytical manner.

In contrast to this, another poet I focused on, Carol Ann Duffy, grew
up in an urban environment. She was born in Glasgow, Scotland in
1955, however grew up in Staffordshire, England and attended
university in Liverpool before moving to London. She also addresses
issues involving childhood memories in such poems as Litany and In Mrs
Tilscher’s class.

Another poet studied was Ronald Stuart Thomas. He was born in Cardiff
but moved from place to place after his father got a job in the Navy.
He finally settled in Holyhead in 1918. He began to seriously learn
the Welsh language, as he wanted a sense of Welsh identity. It showed
importance of being Welsh. Many years later R. S. Thomas was
alienated from much of Welsh country life by his status as a priest in
the Church of Wales. He felt the exclusion keenly, saying once that
an anglicised upbringing like his prevents one from ever feeling one
hundred percent at home in Welsh Wales’. He is similar to Heaney due
to his rural and religious backgrounds and is also a nationalist.

All three of these poets frequently write about a personal experience
they had when growing up and how it affected them, or about the
experience of the child or children and how they think it affected
them. Seamus Heaney wrote Mid-term break, which describes a personal
experience for him when his brother died in a car...