Hide and Seek – Vernon Scannell: Poem Analysis

Theme: Childhood memory

Type: Narrative free verse with rhyming couplets

Background

• Written by Vernon Scannell
• About childhood from perspective of an adult
• Poem takes us inside the child’s head by use of sensory language
• Short sentences are used – to recreate the suspense and sensory experience of hide and seek
• The plot records the thoughts going through the child’s mind it is called a stream of consciousness writing

Language

• Straightforward narrative poem about an incident in a child’s life
• He is waiting to be found but remains undiscovered and the seekers have vanished – leaving a sense of mild threat
• Direct language and short sentences at the beginning of the poem to take us straight into the excitement
• Punctuation is used to create suspense and tension – short sentence convey tension
• Oxymoron “salty dark” – dark can’t be salty – creates strong sensory setting
• Onomatopoeia – “Stumbles”, “mutters” and “scuffle” – is used to convey the sense of the seekers bumbling around
• Alliteration – “Don’t breath. Don’t move” – conveys the sense of excitement
• Personification of the cold – “the cold bites through your coat”
• Contrast – the pleasant smell like the seaside turns to the damp dark – same imagery
• Echo – child holds his breath and at the end bushes hold their breath

Form

• Rhyming couplets are used in the poem giving us a sense of structure but the rhyming scheme isn’t too dominant
• Allows him to present the stream of consciousness more convincingly