In both 'Lullaby' and 'Children's Song' the speakers describe attitudes towards
childhood.
What are the similarities and/or differences between the ways the poets present
these attitudes ?
[8 marks]
Children's Song
5
We live in our own world,
A world that is too small
For you to stoop and enter
Even on hands and knees,
The adult subterfuge".
And though you probe and pry
With analytic eye,
And eavesdrop all our talk
With an amused look,
You cannot find the centre
Where we dance, where we play,
Where life is still asleep
Under the closed flower,
Under the smooth shell
Of eggs in the cupped nest
That mock the faded blue
Of your remoter heaven.
10
15
RS Thomas
*subterfuge - deception
Lullaby
Sleep little baby, clean as a nut,
Your fingers uncurl and your eyes are shut.
Your life was ours, which is with you.
Go on your journey. We go too.
5
The bat is flying round the house
Like an umbrella turned into a mouse.
The moon is astonished and so are the sheep.
Their bells have come to send you to sleep.
10
Oh be our rest, our hopeful start.
Turn your head to my beating heart.
Sleep little baby, clean as a nut,
Your fingers uncurl and your eyes are shut.
John Fuller