Child And Insect - Commentary

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The poem ‘Child and Insect’ details a child’s first encounter with the dualistic nature of life – both its fragility and its tenacity; and the child’s response to his experience. Through the poet’s diction, use of stylistic devices such as alliteration and enjambment, and his use of vivid sensory imagery, the poet contrasts the child’s attitude towards life before the incident, and his attitude after the incident. By following the boy’s emotional journey and growth – from ignorance to understanding, from incomprehension to epiphany, the reader is able to empathize with the magnitude of the process to the boy, and understand how such an encounter may irrevocably change a child’s view of the world, and of himself. The reader is drawn immediately into the boy’s world with the first line – ‘He cannot hold his hand huge enough’. From the onset we are able to empathize with the boy’s fascination with the magnitude of life: the insect he clutches between his hands is ‘huge’, and it flutters like a ‘clockwork fizz’. This refers to the fluttering sensation of the insect’s wings that the boy feels, as it struggles to escape from the ‘café’ of his hands. Such sensory imagery is both powerful and effective in conveying the magnified nature of a child’s perception. The insect must be ‘caged’; this allusion of the insect to a feral beast again conveys the magnitude of life to the boy and his excitement by it. The boy ‘races’ back to his mother, hoping to share with her the powerful vitality of life. The poet’s diction effectively conveys the boy’s sense of urgency. He ‘snatches’ the insect, and runs through a ‘shrieking’ meadow – such personification and combination of visual and aural imagery allows the reader to fully comprehend a child’s worldview – in which all experiences are magnified. However, the boy reaches his mother and opens his palm to find ‘silence

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