To My Nine-Year-Old Self Quizzes

1 Who is the speaker in the poem?

An adult woman talking to her nine-year-old daughter

An adult woman talking to a friend

An adult woman addressing the memory of her younger self

A nine-year-old addressing her older self
2 What perspective does the poem use?

third-person omniscient

second-person

first-person

both first- and second-person
3 Describe the construction of the poem's stanzas.

Seven stanzas of varying length

Six stanzas of varying length

Six quintains

Six tercets
4 What collection was this poem originally published in?

Glad of These Times, published in 2006

The Malarkey, published in 2012

Out of the Blue, published in 2001

Glad of These Times, published in 2007
5 Which best describes the significance of the change in number of lines per stanza?

The number of lines increase as the adult speaker reminisces about the past and attempts to connect with her younger self. When she realizes she cannot change anything, the number of lines per stanza decrease.

All the stanzas have the same amount of lines. The poem is composed of tercets.

The number of lines decrease as the adult speaker reminisces about the past and attempts to connect with her younger self. When she realizes she cannot change anything, the number of lines per stanza increase.

All the stanzas have the same amount of lines. The poem is composed of quatrains.
6 Which best describes why the speaker can't be friends with her nine-year-old self?

The speaker hates children, particularly the child she was.

The girl dislikes adults.

They have nothing in common beyond a few shared years.

The girl only exists in the speaker's memory.
7 Which of the following is a simile?

“That dream we had, no doubt it's as fresh in your mind / as the white paper to write it on” (Lines 12-13)

"time to hide down scared lanes / from men in cars after girl-children" (Lines 23-24)

"You must forgive me" (Line 1)

“careful of a bad back or a bruised foot” (Line 7)
8 Which best describes the tone of the poem?

Nostalgic, Reflective, and Conversational

Accepting, Dreamy, and Loving

Nostalgic, Hypercritical, and Abrasive

Melancholy, Ironic, and Bitter
9 What quality most differentiates the nine-year-old from her future self?

Her ability to focus on things

Fearlessness

Abrasiveness

Her bookishness
10 What does "perplexed" mean?

flabbergasted

surprised

amazed, astonished

baffled, uncertain
11 What is a vole?

a green-brown reptile

a small, typically burrowing, mouse-like rodent

a musical instrument

an apparatus used in gymnastics
12 What is symbolic about cesspits?

It is a place where society dumps waste

Sewage can damage the environment

It is a place where snakes nest

Sewage exposure is harmful to human health
13 Which of the following is an example of metonymy?

girl-children

spoiled

scared lanes

tuppence
14 Which of the following is a transferred epithet?

girl-children

scared lanes

ice-lolly factory

leap from a height
15 What is the climax of the poem?

When the speaker's younger self hides down scared lanes from men in cars after girl-children

When the speaker states that she cannot be friends with her nine-year-old self

When the speaker departs from her nine-year-old self as the child picks a scab and tastes it

When the child builds a den beside a cesspit
16 What do scars symbolize to the speaker?

Resilience

Pride

Lessons learned from past physical mistakes

Unhealed wounds
17 What does summer symbolize?

a time of struggle because of drought

a time of hope, renewal, and rebirth

a period of intense cold, as the poem takes place in the Southern Hemisphere

a time of lushness, freedom, and prime of life
18 What is the nine-year-old girl's favorite activity?

Picking rosehips

Balancing on her hands

Leaping from a height

Writing
19 What does leaping represent in the poem?

Fearing the unknown. Childhood naivety.

The ability to have fun and enjoy life.

Taking risks. Childhood naivety.

Clumsiness. Childhood wonder.
20 What does the speaker mean when she says, "I have spoiled this body we once shared?"

The speaker ate too many sherbet lemons.

The speaker treated herself too nicely and now she it spoiled.

The speaker lost her fearlessness as she aged. She now has scars and moves carefully.

Age has inevitably changed the speaker's body.
21 Which line has a more defined rhythm?

"created an ice-lolly factory, a wasp trap" (Line 17)

"I'd like to say we could be friends" (Line 19)

"I have spoiled this body we once shared" (Line 6)

"Time to pick rosehips for tuppence a pound" (Line 22)
22 What is significant about the final image of the poem?

The speaker's younger self peels a scab and eats it. This contrasts the scars the speaker has as an adult.

The speaker's younger self peels a scab and eats it. She cries and the speaker comforts her.

The speaker's younger self peels a scab and eats it. This contributes to the scars she will later have.

The speaker's younger self peels a scab and eats it. This contributes to her spoiling her body as an adult
23 How does the final image fit in the grand scheme of Dunmore's writing?

Dunmore often writes sensuous details about eating.

Dunmore's work is environmentally concerned.

Dunmore often writes about children eating their scabs.

Dunmore herself is the speaker addressing her nine-year-old self.
24 Why did the speaker lose her fearlessness?

The speaker broke her leg falling from a height.

The speaker had a traumatic encounter with a man.

The speaker did not lose her fearlessness. She is still agile and carefree as an adult.

It is not specified. It could be the maturity that comes with age, or perhaps something traumatic occurred.
25 How do clouds appear in the poem?

Clouds do not appear in the poem.

The speaker does not want to "cloud" her younger self's summer morning.

It is often cloudy in Britain, where the poem takes place.

The speaker is worried clouds will appear in her younger self's summer morning.

To My Nine-Year-Old Self

by Helen Dunmore

To My Nine-Year-Old Self Quiz

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