To My Nine-Year-Old Self Quizzes

To My Nine-Year-Old Self Quiz

1 Who is the speaker in the poem?
A nine-year-old addressing her older self

An adult woman talking to a friend

An adult woman addressing the memory of her younger self

An adult woman talking to her nine-year-old daughter
2 What perspective does the poem use?
third-person omniscient

first-person

second-person

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

Six tercets

Seven stanzas of varying length

Six 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

The Malarkey, published in 2012

Glad of These Times, published in 2007
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 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.

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 quatrains.
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 girl only exists in the speaker's memory.

The speaker hates children, particularly the child she was.
7 Which of the following is a simile?
"time to hide down scared lanes / from men in cars after girl-children" (Lines 23-24)

“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)

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

Nostalgic, Hypercritical, and Abrasive

Nostalgic, Reflective, and Conversational

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

Fearlessness

Her ability to focus on things

Her bookishness
10 What does "perplexed" mean?
flabbergasted

amazed, astonished

baffled, uncertain

surprised
11 What is a vole?
a musical instrument

an apparatus used in gymnastics

a green-brown reptile

a small, typically burrowing, mouse-like rodent
12 What is symbolic about cesspits?
Sewage exposure is harmful to human health

It is a place where snakes nest

It is a place where society dumps waste

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

scared lanes

girl-children

spoiled
14 Which of the following is a transferred epithet?
leap from a height

scared lanes

ice-lolly factory

girl-children
15 What is the climax of the poem?
When the child builds a den beside a cesspit

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

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

When the speaker departs from her nine-year-old self as the child picks a scab and tastes it
16 What do scars symbolize to the speaker?
Unhealed wounds

Resilience

Pride

Lessons learned from past physical mistakes
17 What does summer symbolize?
a time of struggle because of drought

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

a time of hope, renewal, and rebirth

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

Picking rosehips

Writing

Balancing on her hands
19 What does leaping represent in the poem?
Fearing the unknown. Childhood naivety.

Clumsiness. Childhood wonder.

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?"
Age has inevitably changed the speaker's body.

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

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

The speaker ate too many sherbet lemons.
21 Which line has a more defined rhythm?
"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)

"I have spoiled this body we once shared" (Line 6)
22 What is significant about the final image of the poem?
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 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 her spoiling her body as an adult
23 How does the final image fit in the grand scheme of Dunmore's writing?
Dunmore herself is the speaker addressing her nine-year-old self.

Dunmore often writes about children eating their scabs.

Dunmore's work is environmentally concerned.

Dunmore often writes sensuous details about eating.
24 Why did the speaker lose her fearlessness?
The speaker did not lose her fearlessness. She is still agile and carefree as an adult.

The speaker had a traumatic encounter with a man.

The speaker broke her leg falling from a height.

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.

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.

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…