Thomas Hood

I Remember, I Remember

I Remember, I Remember.
I remember, I remember
The house where I was born,

Nostalgic Childhood Window

Metaphorical framing of sunlight as a gentle visitor. Notice how childhood memory transforms a simple window into a magical threshold.

The little window where the sun
Came peeping in at morn;

Nostalgic Childhood Window

Metaphorical framing of sunlight as a gentle visitor. Notice how childhood memory transforms a simple window into a magical threshold.

He never came a wink too soon
Nor brought too long a day;

Emotional Weight Shift

Dramatic turn from childhood joy to adult despair. The sudden wish for death reveals deep emotional contrast.

But now, I often wish the night
Had borne my breath away.

Emotional Weight Shift

Dramatic turn from childhood joy to adult despair. The sudden wish for death reveals deep emotional contrast.

I remember, I remember
The roses, red and white,
The violets, and the lily-cups—
Those flowers made of light!
The lilacs where the robin built,
And where my brother set
The laburnum on his birthday,—
The tree is living yet!
I remember, I remember
Where I was used to swing,
And thought the air must rush as fresh
To swallows on the wing;
My spirit flew in feathers then
That is so heavy now,
And summer pools could hardly cool
The fever on my brow.
I remember, I remember
The fir trees dark and high;

Childhood Spatial Perception

Reveals how children experience space differently—tree tops seemingly touching the sky represent innocent perspective.

I used to think their slender tops
Were close against the sky:

Childhood Spatial Perception

Reveals how children experience space differently—tree tops seemingly touching the sky represent innocent perspective.

It was a childish ignorance,
But now 'tis little joy
To know I'm farther off from Heaven
Than when I was a boy.
Thomas Hood.
Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

Memory as Psychological Landscape

Thomas Hood's poem tracks the psychological distance between childhood innocence and adult disillusionment. Each stanza moves from vivid, sensory memories to a progressively darker emotional terrain.

The recurring 'I remember' creates a ritualistic quality, suggesting memory itself is both a comfort and a form of mourning. Hood uses childhood landscape as a metaphor for lost potential and diminishing hope.

Victorian Poetics of Nostalgia

[CONTEXT: Written in mid-19th century, when childhood was increasingly sentimentalized] The poem exemplifies a Romantic approach to memory, where childhood represents a state of pure perception and connection with the world.

Notice how physical details—fir trees, summer pools, flowers—become emotional symbols of lost vitality. The final stanza's reference to being 'farther from Heaven' suggests not just physical aging, but spiritual distancing.