When did my childhood go?
Was it the day i ceased to be eleven,
Was it the time i realised that hell & heaven
Could not be found in geography
And therefore could not be.
Was it the day!

(a) when did the poet lost his childhood?
(b) what did he stop believing?

Dear student,
  • The poet refers to several situations and changes in his understanding while attempting to find out when he moved out of childhood. He says that maybe it was when he ceased to be within the innocent age limit of 11, when he was able to understand that hell and heaven can't be found on the map and therefore, didn't exist, when he realised that adults only preached of love and never really exercised it or maybe when he figured out that he could make his own decisions and have his own opinions. The poet talks about disillusionment and settling in of rationality as the elements that made him come out of childhood. The poet is not able to pin-point the phase when the transition happened. The change came quite unknowingly with the gradual development of his understanding.  
  • The poet stopped believing in the existence of heaven and hell.
Regards

  • -2
cgj
  • -2
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