Hide & seek – poem analysis

The poems first two lines are very childlike and give the impression of an innocent game of hide and seek.  The alliteration of the ‘s’ sound in line two sets a seaside scene.  Line three, however, plants a seed of doubt in my mind.  The phrase ‘salty dark’ is a little suspect and shady, it makes me think that something isn’t perhaps as it first seems.  The next line reads ‘ But be careful that your feet aren’t sticking out’, this line returns to a jovial and childlike tone once again.  It forms a perfect rhyming couplet with the next line ‘ Wiser not to make another shout’.

‘The floor is cold’, this touches once again on the more ominous feel of the verse, but again, the cheerful pitch of the poem returns with ‘Whatever happens you mustn’t sneeze’.  Then the line continues ‘When they come prowling in’ – prowling is a rather sombre choice of word and once again the doubt is back..

Join now!

‘And there they are, whispering at the door, You’ve never heard them so hushed before.  Don’t breathe.  Don’t move. Stay dumb. Hide in your blindness.  They’re moving closer, someone stutters, mutters.  Their words and laughter scuffle; and they’re gone.’  These few lines are very dramatic and assure us that there is definitely something foreboding with this seemingly usual game of hide and seek that opened the poem.  Vernon Scannett uses several short, punchy sentences for impact and they make the poem sound panicked and very tense.  It is now as though the person is desperately hiding from an enemy ...

This is a preview of the whole essay