 Hello and welcome to this summary of everything you need to know and understand about the poem I Remember, I Remember by Thomas Hood. This poem is featured as part of Edexcel's Belonging Anthology. Now before we go into details when it comes to analyzing all the different techniques that he uses in the different stanzas within this poem, it's really important to have a good grasp of contextual factors that affected what has been included within this poem. So as you can see behind me, I've prepared a mind map of the relevant contextual information that you should be aware of if you are studying and writing about this poem. So firstly, remember that Thomas Hood himself was the son of a bookseller, actually his family is Scottish in origin, however he was born and initially raised in London before he then went to Dundee for a period when he was quite unwell, so Dundee is in Scotland and then he later returned to London and that's where he lived the majority of his life. However, bear in mind that he was the son of a bookseller and his dad died really early on so he had a fairly difficult life working in a counting house and as an engraver and this obviously negatively affected his health and later on he ended up dying and initially becoming disabled, very profoundly disabled at the age of 41 before he passed away at the age of 45. So the other thing to bear in mind is the poem itself I remember is written in 1914 and do remember also that 1914 was the starting year of the First World War. So this poem, which of course presents a very nostalgic memory of a period in childhood, this poem was written in 1914. As I've mentioned, Thomas Hood himself had actually a very fragile disposition. He often got really ill. He was very fragile in terms of his health. So bear in mind that he had a fragile health and he often suffered bouts of illnesses as well as very troubled finances. So sometimes he would fall in and out of a troubled financial position. Now the other thing to remember is once he became a bit more stable he actually did become a member of the London Literary scene. The London Literary scene included some really, really famous poets including William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Colleridge and so on. OK, so it was a really kind of influential scene of writers in London at the time. And the reason why he became and he was fortunate enough to be recognized as part of the London Literary scene is because he became a sub editor of The London Magazine in 1821. And the final contextual factor to bear in mind, as I've mentioned is that his health was gravely affected early on in his life when he worked in an accounting house initially and then later worked on as an engraver. OK, and all both these factors really contributed to his very poor health. OK, and he ended up dying at the age of 45. So now you understand these contextual factors and this is really important because when you're writing about a poem, you first need to show an understanding of the poem itself, what the poet is writing about, what is the message of the poem. But the other side is you need to also combine that with illustrating an understanding of these contextual factors. So now that we have a knowledge of this, let's analyze. I remember, I remember in more detail. So let's read through the poem. I remember, I remember. I remember, I remember the house where I was born. The little window where the sun kept peeping in at dawn. He never came a wink too soon, nor brought too long a day. But now, I often wish the night had borne my breath away. I remember, I remember the roses red and white, the violets and the lily cups, those flowers made of light, the lilacs where the robin built, where my brother set the labyrinth on his birthday, the trees living yet. I remember, I remember where I was used to swing and thought the air must rush as fresh to swallows on the wing. My spirit flew in feathers then, that is so heavy now. And some appalls could hardly call the fever on my brow. I remember, I remember the fir trees dark and high. I used to think this slender tops were close against the sky. It was a childish ignorance, but now it is a little joy to know I'm further off from heaven than when I was a boy. So this poem is quite melancholic because essentially we have the speaker who is reflecting on this almost perfect past where they remember all of these things in the childhood. And this is a contrast to now how they're feeling, which is illustrated as they seem to be feeling quite sick. They have a fever and they just feel as if they are really hopeless. So now that we've read this poem, let's analyze it in depth. Firstly, pay attention to the title of this poem. I remember, I remember it is focusing our attention on the fact that this poem is about nostalgia. It's a reminiscence and specifically reminiscing on the past, which as a child, they remember this past state of perfection. And this is contrasted to the speaker's present state of illness and feeling as if they are forlorn of hope. So the first thing to bear in mind is the rhyme scheme that this poem is written in. Remember that it is written in A, B, C, B, D, E, F, E, rhyme scheme, which stays consistent in the first verse and even the second, third and fourth verse, the poems title. I remember, I remember is used as a refrain. OK, so there's a lot of emphora that's used here. And this refrain at the start of each stanza shows that this is a significant memory that the speaker is recording. They talk about the house where I was born. So what the narrator is showing here is they are reflecting on a very intimate and nostalgic memory, taking us back to their childhood, which seems to have been really idyllic and perfect. They mentioned the sun came peeping in at morn. So the sun is personified as peeping in, really gently filtering in through the speaker's window. So nature seemed to be in harmony with this person when they were younger. The sun never came a wink too soon. So here we can see that the sun is painted as a force for good as it gently nurtures the speaker as the wake up. It never ever arrives too early. Comes in just at the right time to wake them up. Now, the repetition of the intensifier to so too soon, too long. This shows that as a child, the day always began at this perfect time and never dragged on. And this is obviously in contrast to adulthood. And then the speaker then states, but now and this is you are here after the word now shifts the tone back to the speaker as an adult. So the illusion of childhood has been shattered and now everything just seems to drag on life is no longer perfect as it was as a child. Then the speaker states, I often wish the night had borne my breath away. So this exclamatory sentence shows the speaker, wishes they could have died as a child to preserve this perfect life in the memory forever, never having to learn about the difficulties of adulthood. In the following verse, they talk about roses red and the alliteration of our hair reveals their memory of the beautiful flowers that they saw, showing just how idyllic childhood was and how beautiful nature seemed to them as children. Also, the semantic field of color, red, white, violets, lilacs is used to create a really vivid, nostalgic memory of the beauty of nature, presumably what this child saw in their childhood garden. Then the exclamatory sentence, those flowers made of light. It highlights how the flowers, like his memory, are really delicate, delicate, fleeting, they're really beautiful to recall, but quite fleeting in their existence and they easily forgotten. Then the speaker states, the tree is living yet. And this exclamatory sentence shows the jubilation when the speaker realizes that the lebanum tree that the brother planted is still around. OK, so it's still alive and they're so happy to find this out. In the next verse, the speaker talks about how they remember where was when I used to swing and the alliteration of W and where and was reveals the suddenly recalling where they used to enjoy swinging as a child. Again, this is another innocent pleasure that they really miss having. Then the air it rushed as fresh. OK, so the words rush and fresh conveyed the feelings of freedom that they felt as they were swinging and feeling this air. OK, and obviously this contrast, perhaps this present state of being restricted. Remember, when you're sick, you're also quite restricted in how you can move. You have to sit or lie in bed. And this is in contrast to how they were used to swing around as kids and just for all of this freedom. Also, the enjoyment after fresh extends this feeling of childhood and this feeling of, you know, feeling this boundless freedom as we're swinging back and forth in this air. Furthermore, they talk about swallows on the wings. And here he's likening his freedom, feeling of freedom as a kid rushing through the air when he was in a swing to how birds, the swallows must fill when they saw. Then this state, my spirit flew in feathers then and the metaphor and also the literation of F in flew and feathers show how liberating it was being a child and the speaker really misses this liberating feeling of freedom as a child now that they're an adult. Also, the reference to feathers, which is contrasted with heavy. OK, so this is oxymoron and a joltzus back to his present state. He feels really restricted, really heavy and very sad and melancholic. Also, they talk about how the summer pools could hardly call the fever on my brows. So thinking about the pools of water, which now the fever that he's feeling, this pool could never call it down. And so this is sandwiched in shows he's having this terrible fever and he feels really sad melancholic. The nature can't even kill his illness presently as an adult. In the next verse to talk about the fir trees dark and high and the adjectives here are really gloomy. So nature seems really out of reach for him now that he's become an adult. Then they state, I used to think there's tender tops and this is showing so the alliteration of tea in to think and there emphasises that how as a kid, when they looked at the same fir trees, they used to have this childish, innocent imagination that these trees used to reach up into heaven again, showing this freedom they felt as a child. However, the reference to high tops and sky, the semantic field of height here, which represents hopes and boundless streaming. It shows that this is restricted to just how they used to think as a child. But now as an adult, they feel really limited. Then they mention a childish ignorance. Now the adjective childish, especially, mocks the speaker as they think about how they were really childlike and they're mocking how innocent childlike they used to be in their imagination. So the speaker seems really dejected and really forlorn to realise that there's limits to how far nature grows and by extension, there's limits to how far his imagination stretches. So we can we we're getting a really sad sense of darkness here. Also, they state to know on father from heaven, OK, and the iteration in father and from creates a really mournful tone. Now as an adult, they feel almost like they can never reach heaven. They're so far away from this hope. Also, the reference to joy and boy, the rhyming couplet in this stanza creates an overwhelming feeling of doom. The speaker seems hopeless. They feel almost the promise of freedom, the promise of happiness that childhood had is now banned to them as an adult. So that's it when it comes to understand this poem. Thank you so much for listening and I hope that the explanation of context and also the analysis has been useful in understanding this poem.