![]() This childish person throws caution to the wind and expects others to come “find” him to pick up his slack. This energy is an easy parallel to the energy of an individual who decides he is ready to conceal his sense of duty for all his responsibilities in order to “play” the “game” of life. The poem begins with the child’s obvious energy as he calls out to the other children to come and find him. This theme fits perfectly, with the narrative of the poem being that of a child playing the childish game of hide and seek. This negligence can essentially be related to anything, but to be specific, we will discuss the negligence of responsibility/maturity in relation to opportunities that life presents to an individual. A closer look at the poem exposes the prominent theme of negligence. The title itself announces that the reader is about to indulge in an account of concealment and pursuit. You’ve never heard them sound so hushed before.ĭon’t breathe. They’ll never find you in this salty dark, The sacks in the toolshed smell like the seaside. Call loud: ‘I’m ready! Come and find me!’ ![]() Parataxis: seen through the use of sentences that are of equal importance.For example, “sacks” and “seaside” and “Come” and “Call” in the first lines. Alliteration: the use of the same consonant sounds at the beginning of lines.For example, “The bushes hold their breath the sun is gone.” Caesura: occurs when a pause is used in a line.Scannell makes use of several literary devices in ‘Hide and Seek.’ These include but are not limited to: But, close readers should be able to take note of the use of consonance and assonance in the text. The poet chose to write this piece in free verse, meaning that it does not use any specific pattern of rhyme or rhythm. ‘Hide and Seek’ by Vernon Scannell is twenty-seven lines long and written in just one stanza, with a first and second-person point of view. None of the other children were there looking for him. The last three lines: twenty-four to twenty-six, conclude the poem by revealing that “nothing stirs as he realizes he has been left behind. Lines twenty through twenty-three show the child declaring himself the “winner” and deciding it was time the others recognized him for it. He can also now feel “the smell of sand” moving to his throat. Nonetheless, he starts to notice that they’ve been gone a “long time,” and he himself is getting tired of hiding as he realizes how cold and “stiff” he is. Lines thirteen through nineteen describe the child’s wait, as he decides that the other children must be searching for him “puzzled” and declaring that he is quite “clever” for being able to find such a good hiding spot. Here, the child then instructs himself to be still and “hide” in his “blindness” to ensure the other children do not realize that his whereabouts are so close.įinally, they decide to leave the area outside the tool shed. They linger there for a bit while the hidden child can hear their hushed voices laughing and muttering to each other. ![]() He can hear their voices “whispering at the door” of the tool shed. Lines nine through twelve discuss his state when the other children are so close to finding him. He also reminds himself to be quiet and still, so he is not found easily. He figures he will never be found in this “salty dark” and makes sure to hide properly. We learn that he is calling out to his friends to come to find him. Lines one through eight display the excitement of the child as well as a detailed account of his surroundings (the tool shed that smells of the seaside). It seems as though perhaps the child is now much older and wiser, looking back at the memory of this game and speaking to himself, advising himself. The poem starts off in the voice of the child. ‘Hide and Seek’ by Vernon Scannell uses the game as an extended metaphor to depict apprehension and desires of growing up and seizing opportunities.
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