To My Nine-Year-Old Self Quizzes

To My Nine-Year-Old Self Quiz

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

A nine-year-old addressing her older self

An adult woman addressing the memory of her younger self
2 What perspective does the poem use?
first-person

second-person

both first- and second-person

third-person omniscient
3 Describe the construction of the poem's stanzas.
Six quintains

Six stanzas of varying length

Six tercets

Seven stanzas of varying length
4 What collection was this poem originally published in?
Glad of These Times, published in 2006

Out of the Blue, published in 2001

Glad of These Times, published in 2007

The Malarkey, published in 2012
5 Which best describes the significance of the change in number of lines per stanza?
All the stanzas have the same amount of lines. The poem is composed of quatrains.

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

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.

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.
6 Which best describes why the speaker can't be friends with her nine-year-old self?
They have nothing in common beyond a few shared years.

The girl dislikes adults.

The speaker hates children, particularly the child she was.

The girl only exists in the speaker's memory.
7 Which of the following is a simile?
“careful of a bad back or a bruised foot” (Line 7)

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

"You must forgive me" (Line 1)

"time to hide down scared lanes / from men in cars after girl-children" (Lines 23-24)
8 Which best describes the tone of the poem?
Melancholy, Ironic, and Bitter

Nostalgic, Reflective, and Conversational

Accepting, Dreamy, and Loving

Nostalgic, Hypercritical, and Abrasive
9 What quality most differentiates the nine-year-old from her future self?
Abrasiveness

Fearlessness

Her bookishness

Her ability to focus on things
10 What does "perplexed" mean?
surprised

flabbergasted

baffled, uncertain

amazed, astonished
11 What is a vole?
a small, typically burrowing, mouse-like rodent

a green-brown reptile

a musical instrument

an apparatus used in gymnastics
12 What is symbolic about cesspits?
It is a place where snakes nest

Sewage exposure is harmful to human health

It is a place where society dumps waste

Sewage can damage the environment
13 Which of the following is an example of metonymy?
scared lanes

tuppence

spoiled

girl-children
14 Which of the following is a transferred epithet?
scared lanes

ice-lolly factory

girl-children

leap from a height
15 What is the climax of the poem?
When the speaker departs from her nine-year-old self as the child picks a scab and tastes it

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

Unhealed wounds

Lessons learned from past physical mistakes

Pride
17 What does summer symbolize?
a time of hope, renewal, and rebirth

a time of struggle because of drought

a time of lushness, freedom, and prime of life

a period of intense cold, as the poem takes place in the Southern Hemisphere
18 What is the nine-year-old girl's favorite activity?
Picking rosehips

Leaping from a height

Balancing on her hands

Writing
19 What does leaping represent in the poem?
Clumsiness. Childhood wonder.

Fearing the unknown. Childhood naivety.

Taking risks. Childhood naivety.

The ability to have fun and enjoy life.
20 What does the speaker mean when she says, "I have spoiled this body we once shared?"
The speaker lost her fearlessness as she aged. She now has scars and moves carefully.

The speaker ate too many sherbet lemons.

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

Age has inevitably changed the speaker's body.
21 Which line has a more defined rhythm?
"I have spoiled this body we once shared" (Line 6)

"Time to pick rosehips for tuppence a pound" (Line 22)

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

"created an ice-lolly factory, a wasp trap" (Line 17)
22 What is significant about the final image of the poem?
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 contrasts the scars the speaker has as an adult.

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 about children eating their scabs.

Dunmore herself is the speaker addressing her nine-year-old self.

Dunmore's work is environmentally concerned.

Dunmore often writes sensuous details about eating.
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.

It is not specified. It could be the maturity that comes with age, or perhaps something traumatic occurred.

The speaker did not lose her fearlessness. She is still agile and carefree as an adult.
25 How do clouds appear in the poem?
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.

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

Clouds do not appear in the poem.

To My Nine-Year-Old Self Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for To My Nine-Year-Old Self is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Ask Your Own Question

Study Guide for To My Nine-Year-Old Self

To My Nine-Year-Old Self study guide contains a biography of Helen Dunmore, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

Read the Study Guide for To My Nine-Year-Old Self…