English LiteratureICSE Class 9 · Chapter 10

I Remember, I Remember by Thomas Hood: ICSE Class 9 Explanation and Questions

Updated 15 October 2026 · Fact-checked

In Thomas Hood's I Remember, I Remember, an adult speaker recalls his childhood home: the window where the sun peeped in, the flowers, his brother's laburnum tree, the swing and the tall fir trees. Each happy memory ends with a sad contrast with the present, showing how innocence and joy have given way to weariness.

What I Remember, I Remember – Thomas Hood is about

I Remember, I Remember is a lyric by the English poet Thomas Hood (1799-1845), first published in the 1820s. It is one of the five Treasure Chest poems prescribed for ICSE Class IX in CISCE's 2028 syllabus.

The poem has four stanzas of eight lines, and each begins with the refrain 'I remember, I remember'. The pattern of every stanza is the same: a happy childhood memory, then a turn to the sad present. The house and the sun, the flowers and the laburnum, the swing, and the fir trees each lead the speaker to a reflection on what he has lost: lightness of spirit, hope and closeness to Heaven.

The ICSE syllabus says poetry questions focus on 'the content, understanding and the personal response of candidates to the entire poem as a whole'. Learn the four memories, the four contrasts, and the devices that create them. The text on this page is checked against two public-domain printings (Wikisource and Project Gutenberg, both from Mary E. Burt's *Poems That Every Child Should Know*, 1904).

Weightage: CISCE publishes no Class IX paper layout; the Class IX examination is set by schools on Acts I-II of Julius Caesar and five stories and five poems from Treasure Chest. In the board pattern, poetry supplies one-mark MCQs and 16-mark extract questions.Source: CISCE ICSE 2028 English syllabus (Paper 2, Class IX portion); CISCE ICSE 2027 Specimen Question Paper, Literature in English

I Remember, I Remember – Thomas Hood: explanation

In our own words, in the order of the text. Read the NCERT text itself too: the board quotes from it.

Stanza 1: the house and the morning sun. The speaker remembers the house where he was born and the little window through which the sun came 'peeping in at morn'. The sun, personified as a friendly visitor, never came too early and never made the day too long: childhood days were exactly right. The stanza ends with a shocking turn: now he often wishes that the night had taken his breath away, that he had died in his sleep. Adult life feels so heavy that he sometimes wishes he were dead.

Stanza 2: the flowers and the laburnum. He recalls the garden: red and white roses, violets, lily-cups, 'Those flowers made of light!', and the lilacs where the robin built its nest. His brother planted a laburnum tree on his birthday. The stanza ends, 'The tree is living yet!' The tree has survived, but the implied contrast is that the speaker's childhood, and perhaps his brother, has not. Nature continues while human happiness passes.

Stanza 3: the swing. He remembers swinging and imagining that the air rushed as freshly to him as to swallows in flight. Then his spirit was light as feathers; now it is 'so heavy'. Even summer pools could hardly cool the fever on his brow then, the feverish excitement of childhood play; the comparison now suggests the troubled, burning mind of the adult.

Stanza 4: the fir trees. As a child he thought the tops of the dark, high fir trees touched the sky. He admits this was 'a childish ignorance'. But it gives him little joy to know, as an adult, that he is 'farther off from Heaven / Than when I was a boy'. Knowledge has brought loss: he has lost not just a childish belief but the innocence, faith and nearness to God that childhood seemed to offer.

Themes and message

Nostalgia for childhood

The whole poem is a longing look back at childhood, built on the refrain 'I remember, I remember'. Small sensory details (sunlight, flowers, the swing, trees) make the memories vivid.

From the text: The refrain opening each stanza; 'Those flowers made of light!'

Loss of innocence and joy

Each stanza contrasts the child's happiness with the adult's sorrow: wishing for death, a heavy spirit, distance from Heaven. Growing up has brought knowledge but taken away lightness and hope.

From the text: 'My spirit flew in feathers then / That is so heavy now'.

Time and permanence

The laburnum planted by his brother still lives, while the speaker's childhood has gone. Nature endures; human happiness is brief.

From the text: 'The tree is living yet!'

Distance from Heaven

The final stanza turns from physical to spiritual distance. The child believed the trees touched the sky; the adult knows better, but feels further from Heaven in a moral or spiritual sense.

From the text: 'To know I'm farther off from Heaven / Than when I was a boy.'

The speaker and the people in the poem

The speaker

An adult looking back at his childhood home.

Nostalgic and sensitive to small details.
Melancholy, even despairing: wishes the night had taken his breath.
Reflective and honest: admits his childish ignorance but values what it gave him.

The turn at the end of each stanza.

The brother

Mentioned in stanza 2.

Planted the laburnum on his birthday; the tree survives as a living memory.

'And where my brother set / The laburnum on his birthday'.

Poetic devices

Device	Example	Effect
Refrain and repetition	'I remember, I remember' opens every stanza.	Gives a song-like, wistful rhythm and stresses the act of remembering.
Personification	The sun 'Came peeping in at morn'; 'He never came a wink too soon'.	The sun becomes a gentle, playful friend of the child.
Contrast (antithesis)	'My spirit flew in feathers then / That is so heavy now'.	Sets the light past against the heavy present in every stanza.
Metaphor	'Those flowers made of light!'; 'My spirit flew in feathers'.	Conveys the brightness and lightness of childhood.
Exclamation and rhyme	'The tree is living yet!'; in each stanza only the even lines rhyme (born/morn, day/away), an ABCBDEFE pattern.	Strong feeling, and a simple ballad-like music that suits memories of childhood.

Key quotations

Short lines worth knowing by heart: who says them, when, and why they matter.

But now, I often wish the night / Had borne my breath away.
The speaker: End of stanza 1.
His present despair: he sometimes wishes he had died in childhood.
The tree is living yet!
The speaker: End of stanza 2.
Nature outlives human happiness.
My spirit flew in feathers then / That is so heavy now
The speaker: Stanza 3.
Lightness of childhood vs heaviness of adulthood.
To know I'm farther off from Heaven / Than when I was a boy.
The speaker: Final lines.
Spiritual loss that knowledge brings.

I Remember, I Remember – Thomas Hood in real life

Each concept, met in an everyday situation. Read the situation, answer the question in your own words, then compare with the model answer. The one-line hook is what to remember.

Nostalgia

Suppose you visit the house where you lived as a small child and see that the mango tree you climbed is still there.

What feelings might you have, and how do they match stanza 2?

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

Joy at the familiar tree.
Sadness that those days are over.

Answer: Like the speaker's 'The tree is living yet!', a surviving object brings both delight and a sense of loss: things last, but our childhood does not.

Memory hook: The tree stays; the child goes.

Growing up changes how we see the world

Imagine you once believed the moon followed your car, and now you know why it seems to.

What is gained and lost?

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

Gained: understanding.
Lost: wonder and magic.

Answer: Hood's fir trees work the same way: knowledge replaces a magical belief, and with it some joy is lost.

Memory hook: Know more, wonder less?

Holding on to joy

Suppose an exam-stressed older sibling says, 'I wish I were a kid again.'

How might the poem help her, and what could she do?

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

The poem shows the feeling is common.
Small childlike pleasures (play, nature) can lighten the spirit.

Answer: The poem names a universal feeling; remembering childhood joys can also remind us to make time for them.

Memory hook: Remember the swing; take a break.

Topics in this chapter

Four Memories, Four Contrasts and the Loss of Innocence (I Remember, I Remember)

How the school exam asks I Remember, I Remember – Thomas Hood

The question patterns to expect, and the method that works for each.

Question type	How it is asked	Method
MCQ (1 mark)	The meaning of a line ('borne my breath away'), a device (personification of the sun), or what a memory represents.	Read the whole line in context; remember the joy-then-sorrow pattern.
Extract question (16 marks)	A stanza, with parts on meaning, devices, the contrast, links to other stanzas and a personal response.	Explain both the memory and the turn to the present.
Theme and structure	'How does the poet contrast childhood and adulthood?' / 'Comment on the refrain.'	Use one example from each stanza.
Appreciation (assignment)	Literary qualities: imagery, rhyme, refrain, tone.	Device, example, effect.

Tricks to remember I Remember, I Remember – Thomas Hood

Short memory aids. Say each one aloud once, then use it on a question the same day.

H-F-S-T
House, Flowers, Swing, Trees: one per stanza.
Use it when: Stanza order.
Four losses
Wish for death, the tree outlives, heavy spirit, far from Heaven.
Use it when: The contrast at the end of each stanza.
Sun as a guest
The sun 'peeps' like a polite visitor.
Use it when: Personification questions.

I Remember, I Remember – Thomas Hood: extract-based questions

Read the extract, answer every part on paper, then open the answers.

Extract 1: Stanza 1

I remember, I remember
The house where I was born,
The little window where the sun
Came peeping in at morn;
He never came a wink too soon
Nor brought too long a day;
But now, I often wish the night
Had borne my breath away.

(1) · 3 marks · Short answer
(i) What does the speaker remember in these lines? What figure of speech is used for the sun? Explain it.
(2) · 3 marks · Short answer
(ii) Explain 'He never came a wink too soon / Nor brought too long a day'.
(3) · 3 marks · Short answer
(iii) What does the speaker wish now? What does this reveal about his present life?
(4) · 3 marks · Short answer
(iv) How is the pattern of this stanza repeated in the rest of the poem? Give one example.
(5) · 4 marks · Long answer
(v) Do you think adulthood is always sadder than childhood, as the speaker suggests? Give your view with reasons.

Show the answersAnswers

He remembers the house where he was born and the little window through which the morning sun came in. The sun is personified: it 'peeps in' like a curious, friendly visitor, showing how gentle and welcoming mornings seemed in childhood.
The sun never rose even a moment too early and never made the day seem too long: as a child he was always happy to wake and never bored. Childhood days felt exactly right, unlike the long, weary days of adult life.
He often wishes that the night had taken his breath away, i.e. that he had died in his sleep. It reveals that his adult life is full of sorrow and weariness, in sharp contrast with the joy of childhood.
Each stanza begins with a happy memory introduced by 'I remember, I remember' and ends with a sad contrast with the present. E.g. stanza 3: his spirit 'flew in feathers then / That is so heavy now'; or stanza 4: he is 'farther off from Heaven / Than when I was a boy'.
Open answer. E.g. not always: adulthood brings independence, understanding and the power to help others, and childhood has its own fears; but the poem is true that adults lose the carefree trust and wonder of children, and responsibilities can make life feel heavy. A balanced view with two reasons earns credit.

Extract 2: Stanza 4

I remember, I remember
The fir trees dark and high;
I used to think their slender tops
Were close against the sky:
It was a childish ignorance,
But now 'tis little joy
To know I'm farther off from Heaven
Than when I was a boy.

(1) · 3 marks · Short answer
(i) What did the speaker believe about the fir trees as a child?
(2) · 3 marks · Short answer
(ii) Why does he call it 'a childish ignorance'?
(3) · 3 marks · Short answer
(iii) Explain 'farther off from Heaven / Than when I was a boy'. Is the distance only physical?
(4) · 3 marks · Short answer
(iv) Name two other memories in the poem and the contrast attached to each.
(5) · 4 marks · Long answer
(v) Why do you think the poet ends with this stanza? What is your personal response to the ending?

Show the answersAnswers

He thought that the slender tops of the dark, tall fir trees were close against (touching) the sky, so that Heaven seemed within reach.
As an adult he knows the trees are nowhere near the sky; the belief came from a child's limited knowledge and perspective.
Literally, he now knows the sky is far above the trees. But the distance is chiefly spiritual: he feels he has lost the innocence, purity and faith of childhood, which kept him close to God.
Any two: the house and the morning sun / he wishes he had died in his sleep; the flowers and his brother's laburnum / the tree is still living (unlike his childhood); the swing and his feather-light spirit / it is so heavy now.
It moves from physical memories to the deepest loss, spiritual distance from Heaven, so the poem builds to its climax. It also gives the poem its central irony: knowledge, which should bring us closer to truth, has taken him further from happiness and faith. Personal response: e.g. moved by its honesty, or a view that growing knowledge need not mean losing faith, with reasons.

I Remember, I Remember – Thomas Hood: exam-level solved questions

Ordered from exam level to HOTS. Cover the solution, write your own, then compare step by step.

Example 1: MCQ: 'borne my breath away' · 1 mark · MCQExam level

'I often wish the night / Had borne my breath away' means the speaker:
(a) wishes he could sleep longer (b) wishes he had died in his sleep (c) enjoys the cool night air (d) is afraid of the dark

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

'Breath' = life; 'borne away' = carried off.

Answer: (b) wishes he had died in his sleep.

Example 2: MCQ: the laburnum · 1 mark · MCQExam level

Who planted the laburnum tree?
(a) the speaker (b) his father (c) his brother (d) the gardener

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

'where my brother set / The laburnum on his birthday'.

Answer: (c) his brother.

Example 3: Stanza 2's contrast · 3 marks · Short answerHarder exam level

Stanza 2 has no direct statement about the present. How does 'The tree is living yet!' still create a contrast?

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

The tree has lasted.
What has not lasted is implied.

Answer: By saying the tree is still alive, the speaker implies that other things are not: his childhood, its joy, and possibly his brother. The exclamation mixes wonder with grief, showing that nature endures while human happiness passes.

Example 4: Explaining stanza 3 · 3 marks · Short answerHarder exam level

Explain 'And summer pools could hardly cool / The fever on my brow.'

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

Childhood: heat of excited play.
Contrast: the adult's troubled mind.

Answer: As a child he played so energetically that even cool summer pools could hardly cool his flushed, feverish forehead: the 'fever' is the glow of excitement and life. Placed after 'so heavy now', it also hints at the restless, burning troubles of adult life.

Example 5: Refrain · 3 marks · Short answerHOTS / competency

Why does Hood repeat 'I remember, I remember' at the start of every stanza?

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

Structure, rhythm, emotion.

Answer: The refrain gives the poem a clear four-part structure, each part a new memory; it creates a gentle, musical, song-like rhythm; and the doubling suggests how memories crowd in and how the speaker lingers over them with longing.

Example 6: Comparing the poem with life · 4 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency

The speaker finds knowledge a burden. Do you agree that 'ignorance is bliss'? Answer with reference to the poem.

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

What the poem says.
Your reasoned view.

Answer: The poem suggests that childish ignorance (believing the trees touched the sky) brought joy, while adult knowledge brings distance from Heaven. A balanced view: knowledge itself is not the problem; it is losing wonder and faith that hurts. Adults can keep curiosity and hope while knowing more. (Any view with reasons.)

Where the marks are

How a typical answer is marked: the value points the examiner looks for and the marks each earns.

Extract part (v), 4 marks: 'Why do you think the poet ends with this stanza? What is your personal response to the ending?' Indicative split (Class IX papers are marked by schools). (4 marks)

Step	Marks
Climax: from physical memories to spiritual loss	1
Irony: knowledge brings distance, not joy	1
Clear personal response	1
Reason supporting the response	1

Where students lose marks in I Remember, I Remember – Thomas Hood

The slips examiners see most often, and what to write instead.

Mistake: Explaining only the happy memory
Pupils miss the turn to the present.
Do this: In every stanza, explain both the memory and the contrast.
Usually costs: Half the marks on explanation parts.
Mistake: Taking 'farther off from Heaven' only literally
Pupils explain the height of trees.
Do this: Add the spiritual meaning: loss of innocence and faith.
Usually costs: Interpretation marks.
Mistake: Misreading 'borne my breath away'
Pupils think it means a cool breeze or being breathless with joy.
Do this: It means death in sleep.
Usually costs: MCQ and explanation marks.
Mistake: Naming devices without effects
Pupils list 'personification' and stop.
Do this: Device + example + effect on meaning or mood.
Usually costs: Appreciation marks.

Practice questions on I Remember, I Remember – Thomas Hood

Write each answer on paper first. Open the hint only if you are stuck, and the answer only when you have finished.

Q1 · 1 mark · MCQExam level
Which flowers are named in stanza 2?
(a) roses, violets, lily-cups, lilacs (b) tulips, roses, daisies (c) lotus, marigold, jasmine (d) sunflowers and poppies
Hint
Red and white ...
Answer
(a) roses, violets, lily-cups, lilacs.
Q2 · 2 marks · Short answerExam level
What did the child imagine while swinging?
Hint
Birds.
Answer
That the air rushed as freshly to him as to swallows on the wing: he felt as free as a flying bird.
Q3 · 1 mark · Very short answerHarder exam level
What is the rhyme scheme of each stanza?
Hint
Look at the ends of lines 2 and 4, and 6 and 8 (born/morn, day/away).
Answer
Only the even-numbered lines rhyme: ABCBDEFE (e.g. born/morn and day/away in stanza 1; white/light and set/yet in stanza 2).
Q4 · 2 marks · Short answerHarder exam level
Give two examples of contrast between past and present from the poem.
Hint
Feathers and Heaven.
Answer
'My spirit flew in feathers then / That is so heavy now'; 'To know I'm farther off from Heaven / Than when I was a boy' (also the wish for death after the happy morning memory).
Q5 · 3 marks · Short answerHarder exam level
What is the tone of the poem? Give two words and evidence.
Hint
Feelings about past and present.
Answer
Nostalgic (fond, detailed memories of the house and garden) and melancholy (the wish that the night had taken his breath; the heavy spirit).
Q6 · 4 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency
Write a stanza of your own in Hood's pattern about a childhood memory, ending with a contrast with the present.
Hint
Begin 'I remember, I remember'.
Answer
Creative answer. It should open with the refrain, give a concrete happy memory with sense details, and end with a turn to a present feeling, ideally in alternate rhyme.
Q7 · 3 marks · Short answerHOTS / competency
Is the poem only sad? Find one moment of pure joy and explain its effect.
Hint
Flowers.
Answer
'Those flowers made of light!' expresses pure delight in the garden's beauty. It makes the sorrow sharper by showing how bright the past was, and shows that the memories themselves still bring joy.

Test your recall

Answer in your head or on paper first, then open the card. Pulling an answer out of memory makes it stick far better than re-reading.

1.Who wrote I Remember, I Remember?Show answer
Thomas Hood.
2.How many stanzas does the poem have?Show answer
Four, of eight lines each.
3.What came peeping in at the window?Show answer
The morning sun.
4.Where did the robin build?Show answer
In the lilacs.
5.What did the child think about the fir trees?Show answer
That their slender tops were close against the sky.
6.What is the poem's central contrast?Show answer
Joyful childhood versus sorrowful adulthood.

Quick revision checklist

The night before the exam: can you do each of these without looking?

Can you list the four memories in order?
Can you state the contrast at the end of each stanza?
Can you explain the personification of the sun?
Can you explain the literal and spiritual meaning of 'farther off from Heaven'?
Can you comment on the refrain and rhyme scheme?

I Remember, I Remember – Thomas Hood: frequently asked questions

Why does the speaker wish he had died?

Adult life has become so heavy with sorrow that he feels it would have been better to die in the happy innocence of childhood. It is an expression of deep melancholy, not a literal plan.

Is the poem autobiographical?

It is written in the first person and is often read as reflecting Hood's own feelings; Hood's life was troubled by ill health and money worries. In the exam, refer to 'the speaker'.

What are 'lily-cups'?

Cup-shaped lily flowers; the speaker calls the flowers 'made of light' because of their brightness.

Might the Treasure Chest text differ?

Punctuation varies slightly between printings (dashes, apostrophes); the words are the same in the public-domain texts checked.

Based on: CISCE ICSE 2028 English (01) syllabus (Classes IX and X); CISCE ICSE 2028 Appendix I: List of Prescribed Textbooks; CISCE Regulations for ICSE Examination Year 2028; CISCE ICSE 2028 Appendix I: List of Prescribed Textbooks; Thomas Hood, I Remember, I Remember, in Poems That Every Child Should Know, ed. Mary E. Burt (Wikisource, public domain); Poems Every Child Should Know (Project Gutenberg eBook #16436, public domain)