The verb - writing childhood

[JasonPalmer]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001hg8j

What do we remember about childhood? And how do we write about it, without feeling trapped in the past? Ian McMillan talks to poet Don Paterson about music as a mnemonic tool, his youthful attraction to the art of origami, and the perils of confectionary. He talks to writer Sally Bayley about her sequence of books that capture the language fragments and stories from a childhood where facts were 'thin on the ground' - and about the part Shakespeare and his characters play in her latest book 'No Boys Play Here'. And Donovan McAbee, professor and poet, also joins Ian to explore the influence of childhood experiences on the work of Serbian-born poet Charles Simic - who became Poet Laureate of the US (writing in his fourth language), and died earlier this year. We also hear a poem from the BBC archive - Sylvia Plath's 'Purdah'.

Interesting stuff, I usually try catch the verb.

[Serial_Apologist]

What do we remember about childhood?

My first memory - being in my pram, and being upset about the pillow not being thick enough to prevent discomfort to my neck from the transverse metal bar beneath it, and the fact of not having the vocab to voice any complaint. There must be some element of false memory there, as how would I have known I didn't have the verbal wherewithal without having it? There's a gap then of about 3 years, although I do recall three episodes which were caught on camera. A still existing physical reminder could be important to have as an aide mémoire - photographs, that little white pillow with black ribbon ties at each corner. Being possessed of an anomalous personality type seems to favour objets d'association of a kind others might overlook: different milk bottle types; the shapes of different concrete street lights; how many holes down the leather strap holding the railway carriage window open there are; how many paving slabs to jump to reach the side junction before the air compressor starts up again; etc etc.

[JasonPalmer]

Wow, that's some memory !

[Serial_Apologist]

Wow, that's some memory !

Certain personality types (such as mine) do I think help to sustain childhood memories, along with with present-day understandings of the little lad's experiences and his ways of dealing with them, although I have to admit that some aspects of the me that used to be remain baffling to me now, particularly me in my teenage years.

[JasonPalmer]

Yes, I often think back to situations and consider what I would have done differently with what I now know. Think that is part of my Aspergers, navigating social situations.

[Serial_Apologist]

Yes, I often think back to situations and consider what I would have done differently with what I now know. Think that is part of my Aspergers, navigating social situations.

That's it!

[Old Grumpy]

Very interesting, both. I certainly don't have any memory from my pram. I once thought I had childhood memories, but realised some (but not all) of them were from having repeated slide shows of a previous time from my Dad's Kodachromes! My first real memories are probably not until age 4 or thereabouts.

[smittims]

One of the best novels about childhood is 'There is a Happy Land' by Keith Waterhouse, his first , I believe, before Billly Liar. Like others, it is for adults to read, as it presents adult situations as perceived by a child.

As someone blessed with a vast store of childhood memories, I've been intrigued by other people's attitude to it. Of course, those with unhappy memories of those years can be expected not to want to revisit them, but I have been struck by those to whom their childhood is a forgotten irrelevance, some even expressing strongly the view that it is somehow shameful or harmful to value memories of those years.

[Old Grumpy]

I have been struck by those to whom their childhood is a forgotten irrelevance, some even expressing strongly the view that it is somehow shameful or harmful to value memories of those years.

How strange, and very sad in some ways.

I have patchy, but generally good childhood memories. I guess I am probably very lucky.

[JasonPalmer]

Is nice to give my four year old good memories of seaside visits, butlins etc. In some ways all you can leave them is good memories, everything else seems to fade away.

[Serial_Apologist]

Is nice to give my four year old good memories of seaside visits, butlins etc. In some ways all you can leave them is good memories, everything else seems to fade away.

One literally can have nothing other that one's self to go on - it can be the best possible baseline to start from, providing happy memories, distinguished from the rest of it, that others more fortunate would not need to safeguard. I would certainly not say that childhood is automatically the best part of one's life. There are distinct, amazingly happy moments neither of one's parents would have known about, but which other people might wonder as to why they gave (and, when recalled, still give) such joy.