Analysis of Childhood Memories



Back in the day of skivvies
sandles and stubbie shorts
The radio was playing ABBA
And frogs would give you warts

Sunday school was still around
The salvation army had a band
Religion was still quite prominent
and Holden's ruled the land

Everyone's Dad was a fisherman
Mums were still quite homely
Kids back then we're disciplined
and not many people were lonely

Family drives up in the hills
Catching yabbies in the rain
Leaches up and down your legs
Tadpoles in every drain

Fish n chips with a bottle of coke
We drank without a cup
Fighting over the very last chip
and Dad would yell shut up

Christmas came to every school
Carols by candle light
We had to sing for Mum and dad
We must have been a sight

It was always a time of not enough
We always wanted more
The schools P,A played sing along
A mormans foot held open your door

Butchers walked on sawdust
Milk bottle lids had cream
Bread was rapped in paper
and spiders made Mum scream

Asleep when we got to the movies
Awake when it was on
That drive inn trick worked every time
It was the all time con

Aunties and uncles everywhere
Nan and Pop weren't very far
We had a billy goat in our yard
and we only had one car

Girls had plates and pony tails
Tunics red green or blue
Teachers had a metre ruler
Chalk and a duster too

These are my childhood memories
and now they start to wain
The bush went all the way to the hills
You won't see that again

I hope my children read this
Things are so different now
Maybe they will just be amused
But hopefully they will say wow


Scheme AAXA XBXB XCXC ADAD XEXE XFXF XGXG XHIH AJXJ XKXK ALIL ADAX AMXM
Poetic Form Quatrain  (85%)
Metre 100111 1011 01011010 011111 111101 001010101 010111100 010101 1011010 101110 1111100 011010010 10011001 101001 1010111 101001 111101011 110101 101001011 011111 10111001 101101 11111101 111101 111011101 11101 0111101 01111011 10111 110111 111010 010111 011111010 011111 111111001 110111 101010 10110101 1101010101 0110111 111011 11111 10101010 100101 1111100 011111 011101101 111101 1111011 1111001 10111101 11001111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,489
Words 297
Sentences 1
Stanzas 13
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 52
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 94
Words per stanza (avg) 23

About this poem

ABBA has been on the tele a lot lately with their comeback album. It reminded me of my childhood in the early 70s so I wrote about it

Font size:
 

Written on January 09, 2021

Submitted by Stevelister on September 06, 2021

Modified on March 20, 2023

1:30 min read
8

Discuss this Steven lister poem analysis with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Childhood Memories" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/108734/childhood-memories>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    March 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    2
    days
    19
    hours
    41
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    The haiku is originally from ______.
    A China
    B Indonesia
    C Japan
    D Ireland