"We Remember Your Childhood Well" is a poem by British poet Carol Ann Duffy, published in her 1990 collection "The Other Country." Told from the perspective of parents responding to the accusations of their presumably grown child, it deals with the vastly different ways in which parents and children may remember the same events. The parents' authoritative tone suggests the harm parents may inflict on their children by refusing to acknowledge their children's point of view, while the poem's ambiguity allows readers to focus less on whose interpretation of events is right and more on the family's inability to communicate successfully.
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The Full Text of “We Remember Your Childhood Well”
The Full Text of “We Remember Your Childhood Well”
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“We Remember Your Childhood Well” Summary
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“We Remember Your Childhood Well” Themes
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Unquestioned Parental Authority
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-18
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Denial and Self-Delusion
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-18
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Perception and Memory
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-18
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “We Remember Your Childhood Well”
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Lines 1-2
Nobody hurt you. ...
... else all night. -
Lines 2-3
The bad man ...
... locked the door. -
Lines 4-6
Your questions were ...
... fire. Anyone's guess. -
Lines 7-9
Nobody forced you. ...
... inside your head. -
Line 10
What you recall ... have the facts.
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Lines 10-12
We called the ...
... Boom. Boom. Boom. -
Lines 13-15
Nobody sent you ...
... ended in tears. -
Line 16
What does it matter now?
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Lines 16-17
No, no, nobody ...
... open for Hell. -
Lines 17-18
You were loved. ...
... your childhood well.
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“We Remember Your Childhood Well” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Anaphora
Where anaphora appears in the poem:- Line 1: “Nobody,” “Nobody”
- Line 3: “Nobody”
- Line 7: “Nobody”
- Line 10: “we,” “We”
- Line 13: “Nobody”
- Line 16: “No, no, nobody”
- Line 18: “We,” “We”
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Juxtaposition
Where juxtaposition appears in the poem:- Line 6: “laughing itself to death”
- Line 7: “Nobody forced you. You wanted to go that day. Begged. ”
- Line 10: “What you recall are impressions; we have the facts.”
- Lines 16-17: “No, no, nobody left the skidmarks of sin / on your soul and laid you wide open for Hell. You were loved.”
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Allusion
Where allusion appears in the poem:- Line 2: “The bad man on the moors”
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Parallelism
Where parallelism appears in the poem:- Line 1: “Nobody hurt you. Nobody turned off the light”
- Line 3: “Nobody locked the door.”
- Line 7: “Nobody forced you”
- Line 8: “look at you. Look at us all”
- Line 10: “we have the facts. We called the tune.”
- Lines 11-12: “wiser than you, bigger / than you”
- Line 13: “Nobody sent you away.”
- Lines 14-15: “there was nothing to fear. / There was none but yourself”
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Epizeuxis
Where epizeuxis appears in the poem:- Line 12: “Boom. Boom. Boom.”
- Line 16: “No, no”
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Alliteration
Where alliteration appears in the poem:- Line 2: “man,” “moors”
- Line 3: “movie”
- Line 4: “questions,” “fully”
- Line 5: “couldn't,” “cared,” “Film Fun”
- Line 6: “coal,” “fire”
- Line 12: “back,” “Boom. Boom. Boom.”
- Line 14: “firm,” “fear”
- Line 16: “now,” “No, no, nobody,” “skidmarks,” “sin”
- Line 17: “soul”
- Line 18: “We,” “what was,” “We,” “well”
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Assonance
Where assonance appears in the poem:- Line 1: “hurt,” “turned,” “light”
- Line 2: “night,” “moors”
- Line 3: “door”
- Line 4: “occur”
- Line 5: “less,” “blur”
- Line 6: “itself,” “death,” “guess”
- Line 7: “Begged”
- Line 8: “dress”
- Line 9: “thing is inside”
- Line 10: “have,” “facts”
- Line 11: “secret police”
- Line 13: “away,” “holiday,” “people”
- Line 14: “seemed,” “fear”
- Line 15: “tears”
- Line 16: “No,” “no,” “nobody,” “skidmarks,” “sin”
- Line 17: “soul,” “open,” “Hell”
- Line 18: “best,” “remember,” “well”
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Metaphor
Where metaphor appears in the poem:- Lines 5-6: “The moment's a blur, a Film Fun / laughing itself to death in the coal fire.”
- Line 11: “The secret police of your childhood”
- Lines 16-17: “nobody left the skidmarks of sin / on your soul and laid you wide open for Hell.”
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Imagery
Where imagery appears in the poem:- Lines 1-2: “Nobody turned off the light and argued / with somebody else all night.”
- Line 3: “Nobody locked the door.”
- Lines 5-6: “ The moment's a blur, a Film Fun / laughing itself to death in the coal fire. ”
- Lines 8-9: “Here are the pictures, look at you. Look at us all, / smiling and waving, younger. ”
- Line 12: “the sound of their voices. Boom. Boom. Boom.”
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Enjambment
Where enjambment appears in the poem:- Lines 1-2: “argued / with”
- Lines 2-3: “moors / was”
- Lines 5-6: “Fun / laughing”
- Lines 7-8: “chose / the ”
- Lines 11-12: “bigger / than”
- Lines 13-14: “people / you”
- Lines 16-17: “sin / on”
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Rhetorical Question
Where rhetorical question appears in the poem:- Line 16: “What does it matter now?”
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“We Remember Your Childhood Well” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- The bad man on the moors
- Film Fun
- Secret police
- Skidmarks
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(Location in poem: Lines 2-3: “The bad man on the moors / was only a movie you saw.”)
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “We Remember Your Childhood Well”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“We Remember Your Childhood Well” Speaker
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“We Remember Your Childhood Well” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “We Remember Your Childhood Well”
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More “We Remember Your Childhood Well” Resources
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External Resources
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Carol Ann Duffy's Biography — Learn more about Carol Ann Duffy's life and work courtesy of the Poetry Foundation.
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A Profile of the Poet — Take a look at Carol Ann Duffy and her work in this profile by The Guardian.
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The Dramatic Monologue — A collection of other poems that, like "We Remember Your Childhood Well," utilize the form of the dramatic monologue.
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The Bad Man on the Moors — A biography of Ian Brady, the "bad man on the moors."
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Carol Ann Duffy
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