Childhood and Innocence

Where it surfaces

• Babies in Hospital

  Childhood is depicted as both precociously sexualized (the boy's gallantry, Elena's coquetry) and marked by suffering, challenging conventional notions of innocence.

• I

  Elena is only two and a half years old, yet she is described with sexualized and morbid imagery, subverting conventional innocence and presenting a corrupted or premature awareness.

• II

  The chapter presents a child who is both innocent and precociously coquettish, blurring the lines between childhood and adult desire.

• III

  The line 'I cannot be your mother' and the rejection of 'ignorances' suggest a rupture in maternal care and the loss of childhood innocence.

• The Black Virginity

  The 'truncated juvenility' and 'subjugated adolescence' of the young priests highlight the suppression of natural childhood in religious training.

• IV

  The presence of a baby in a porte-enfant and the speaker's desire to uncover secrets suggest a tension between innocence and hidden knowledge.

• VIII

  The 'candle-ends that lit your adolescent learning' evoke a nostalgic, formative period of youth and education.

• X

  The shuttlecock and battledore game, along with the 'little pink-love' and feathers, suggests a nostalgic or fragile moment of childhood play and innocence.

• XVI

  Imagery of apple stealing and hide and seek evokes a childlike innocence and simplicity in the imagined shared life.

• XIX

  The reference to 'a green-lit glow-worm' suggests a past state of innocent luminescence now lost.

• XXIII

  References to 'pubescent consummations' and 'irredeemable pledges' evoke the loss of innocence and the weight of youthful commitments.

• Prenatal Plagiarism

  The poem explores prenatal and foetal states, evoking a pre-conscious, archetypal innocence before the imposition of social and ethical structures.

• O Hell

  The chapter celebrates 'the sanctity of Adolescence' as a pure, divine state, contrasting with the 'tatters of tradition' that choke the entrance to infinity.

• Perlun

  Perlun's 'pert blonde spirit' and 'adolescent oval ostrich egg' head evoke a youthful, almost naive quality, yet he is exposed to harsh realities like syphilis and poverty.

• Anglo-Mongrels and the Rose

  The chapter contrasts multiple childhoods: Ova's oppressive, loveless upbringing; Colossus's violent freedom; and Esau's artificial, aestheticized childhood. It critiques the English idealization of childhood as a 'hot-house purity' that masks adult guilt.

• Mongrel Rose

  The chapter contrasts the artificial, aestheticized childhood of Esau with Ova's grim, neglected upbringing, and critiques the English idealization of childhood innocence.

• Enter Esau Penfold

  Esau is presented as a manufactured innocent, performing adult sophistication, while Exodus's child is silenced and constrained, revealing the constructed and oppressive nature of childhood.

• I

  Esau's portrayal as a child aesthete contrasts with the adult guests' 'garish innocence of adult guilt,' highlighting the tension between genuine childhood and adult projections of innocence.

• II

  The child is silenced and constrained, highlighting the suppression of childhood innocence.

• Ova Begins to Take Notice

  The chapter explores the infant Ova's raw perceptual experience and her struggle to make sense of the world, highlighting the fragility and mystery of early childhood.

• Psychic Larva

  Ova's childhood is depicted as a site of psychic invasion and loss of innocence, overshadowed by her mother's unresolved sin and anger.

• Christ's Regrettable Reticence

  Ova's naive and credulous imagination shapes her understanding of Jesus, highlighting the innocence and vulnerability of childhood belief.

• Enter Colossus

  Colossus's early childhood is depicted as a time of rebellion and criminal tendencies, subverting traditional notions of innocence.

• Ova. Among. The. Neighbours.

  A central focus: the artificial construction of English childhood as a 'hot-house purity' that extends into adulthood, with nursery culture and 'coloured imbecilities' shaping a perpetual, naive state.

• Ova Has Governesses

  Ova's childhood is portrayed as joyless and deprived of the playful vitality typical of happy nurseries.

• Jews and Ragamuffins of Kilburn

  Ova's innocent perspective is contrasted with the harsh realities of prejudice and the trapped child's suffering.

• The Surprise

  Ova's innocence is shattered by her father's false accusation, highlighting the vulnerability and oppression of childhood.

• Contraction

  The garden as a place of purity is defiled by the smashed egg, marking a loss of innocence.

• The Gift

  Ova's innocent belief in the sovereign's power is contrasted with the harsh reality of the farthing, highlighting the fragility of childhood wonder.