(Student’s Full Name)
Introduction
As a child, the mind is easily in awe and wonder about the simplest or most basic experiences. Experts argue that this may be the case because children’s brains are wired differently compared to when they grow up as adults. When children grow up, their brain physiology and chemistry change so as to accommodate other sections of the brain that are necessary for adulthood. Consequently, individual loses her child-like wonder when experiencing ordinary events as an adult. Therefore, childhood is a time when the brain focuses on allowing the child to develop by becoming exposed to experiences and hands-on training.
Section One: Writers on their Childhood
Throughout history, writers have used their works to highlight the awe-struck nature with which persons as children view the world around them. For instance, E.B. White’s “Once More to the Lake,” describes his time growing up when he visited Belgrade Lakes in Maine. White’s description of his childhood experiences in his essay shows how a child’s mental processing can transform a simple lake into something unusual and other worldly. Similarly, while reading this essay, I recalled while growing up that simple places that other persons took for granted and saw it as an opportunity to use our imagination to see it in a different perspective.
Another writer, Dylan Thomas, writes a poem about the time he spent as a child at Fern Hill. Thomas writes about how his brain allowed him to make the most mundane activities, such as sitting under an apple tree, into a spectacular event. While reading this poem, I could not help but remember when I used to use my imagination to recreate an ordinary world into an extraordinary one.
In the song, “Angels Collide,” the lyricist Amy Correia points out that children saw something as simple has the tide coming in as an extraordinary event. While reading the lyrics of this song, I am reminded of the days I spent on the beach and how I envisioned the waves of the sea hugging and kissing as they crash against my body on the shore.
Neil Young in his song, “Sugar Mountain,” expresses the feeling of nostalgia that a person gets when she remembers how she saw the world as a child. Everything around her is as sweet as candy, and she appears to have no worry or concern about the dangers of the world around her. This is because she is too busy enjoying the world around her. However, the lyricist points out that when she grows up she no longer views the world with the wide-eyed wonder that she did as a child. When she grows to be an adult, she’s too busy trying to deal with life as it is or reality to use her imagination to experience the world around her. While reading this song’s lyrics, I could relate to how, as a child, I would view with a wide-eyed wonder, but when faced with reality as an adult I don’t find the time to experience the world around me in that way anymore.
The song, “Strawberry Fields Forever,” (which was written by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison of The Beatles) is based on John Lennon’s childhood. Strawberry Field was a wooded area that was nearby Lennon’s childhood home, where he used to play with his friends as a child. The song describes how, as a child, everything appears to have a dream-like quality, especially when he is playing. In addition, the song highlights the point that a child does not always think too much about things because he is too busy enjoying life around him. While making a mental note of the lyrics of the song, I recalled my life as a child when I did not think too much of what was happening around me because I was too preoccupied with enjoying the world around me, especially while playing by myself and with others. It was easy for me to be lost in a dream or fantasy.
Van Morrison’s “On Hyndford Street” shows how a child gets a lot of pleasure from the most mundane and simple tasks. The persona of the poem mentions the picking of the apples, playing around somebody’s lamp, and getting ice cream at a local store while growing up on Hyndford Street. The poem also indicates how a child perceives the world around him as a dream or fantasy while experiencing events that adults would call mundane, simple, or commonplace. While reading this poem, I remember how I grew up in my neighborhood as a child, doing simple things in my community was an enjoyable experience. I enjoyed going to the neighborhood park, flying a kite and also buying ice cream from the ice cream truck travelling around my neighborhood.
William Wordsworth’s “Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood,” reveals how everything that he saw in nature as a fantasy when he was a child. Wordsworth indicates that he was able to enjoy everything in nature as a child because his brain was wired to perceive everything around him in fantastic manner. I could relate to the persona while reading the poem because I had similar experiences where nature was perceived grand, fantastic, and other worldly. I was able to enjoy nature as a child better than I do as an adult because my brain’s chemistry was different as a child. My brain was programmed to allow the experiential sections of the brain to be more dominant than other sections. This is because, as a child, I was learning about the world around me, and my brain had to be programmed in a manner that will allow me to enjoy this learning experience.
Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” is a short poem, which is packed with much meaning as it pertains to how an adult loses the ability to view the world around him with a wide-eyed wonder. The poem suggests that when the child is first exposed to the world, his experience is valuable as gold. Additionally, the poem’s persona appears to imply that when a child grows up then he loses the ability to see the value of everyday or commonplace experiences, such a walk through the woods or walking on the beach. In some ways I agree with the persona because, as an adult, one has the tendency to take simple experiences, such as enjoying nature, for granted.
Section Two: My Childhood Experiences
My List of Sensory Memories of My Childhood
While growing up, I would love to play with Play-Do. I loved the way it felt against my hands as I used it to create different shapes and designs.
When I was a child, I loved to collect sea shells when I went to the beach. I remember taking up a large shell and placing it to my ear while imagining that I was hearing the sound of the ocean.
As a child, I would love to watch the rainbow after it rained and a sunset. I remember that, one day, I had seen a line of green go through the sunset. I later found out that some persons called this an emerald drop. I also loved to draw and color in my coloring books.
I loved to eat many fruits while growing up. I loved tangerines, strawberries, and apples. I was not too fond of vegetables.
When I was a child, I would play dress up and would spray perfume on myself so that I would smell like my mother.
My Experience Sharing these Memories with another Student
When I shared these memories with another student, he was able to relate to some of them. He told me that while growing up, we would also love to play with a modeling clay or Play-Do. He also loved the feel of the clay against his hands. He told me that he used his father’s cologne because he wanted to smell like him. The student mentioned that he liked to play with Lego building blocks as a child. He enjoyed creating buildings and vehicles with his Lego building blocks. The student loved the bright colors of the building blocks.
My List Poem about My Childhood Experiences
As a child, I could
play with my Play-Do and mold shapes all day.
collect a large shell and place to my ear and imagine that it was the
ocean’s roar I did hear.
play in the rain until the rainbow with its brilliant colors I could see again.
eat fruits that were ripe and sweet, with tangerines, strawberries, and
apples being my favorite treats.
spray myself with perfume as I tried out my mother’s clothes that were in
her room.
My Story Poem of a Single Childhood Incident
I carried Teddy everywhere I went.
I didn’t care if it looked worn, dirty, and spent.
He was my companion as I went on my many adventures through the yard.
I could always see what was beyond the simple—it wasn’t very hard.
The fountain in the backyard turned into a massive waterfall.
The rock became a huge mountain that was huge and tall.
What looked like an innocent cat lying beside a gate made of iron,
was really a good disguise for a dangerous lion.
My teddy and I were a team,
when entering a world created by my dreams.
It was difficult to traverse these worlds, you see,
if I didn’t have my teddy with me.
Conclusion
It can be said that the fall from Grace happens when a person grows up to be an adult because of two reasons. Firstly, childhood is considered the best time of a person’s life because his brain is wired to enjoy very simple experiences while he is looking to engage with or interact with the world around him. Hence, when a person enters adulthood then he is unable to enjoy the most mundane events like he did when he was a child. However, childhood is a stage where the person is ignorant certain truths and realities about life. Therefore, it can be argued that when one enters adulthood it is a time that one can progress into exciting opportunities for maturity and personal growth.
