Introduction: Amanda! - Class 10 PDF Download

By– Robin Klein
Robin Klein – A Short Biography

About the Author

Robin Mc Maugh Klein is an Australian author of books for children. She was born on 28th February 1936 in New South Wales and now resides near Melbourne. She had her first short story published at the age of sixteen. Several of her books have been listed for CBCA Children’s Book of the Year Award. Hating Alison Ashley”Halfway Across the Galaxy’, ‘turn left’ and ‘Boss of the Pool ‘are some of her famous writings. 

INTRODUCTION

Every child feels that he/she is controlled and instructed not to do one thing or another. The child feels that his/her freedom is being curtailed. In this poem, the poet Robin Klein expresses the views of a small girl, Amanda, about liberty in life. How does the girl react to the restrictions imposed upon her by her parents is very interesting.

Central Idea of the Poem

The greatest wealth that a child wants to possess is his/her freedom. And the thing that he or she never likes is the constant nagging, unwanted instructions and even overprotection of the parents. `Amanda’ is the story of a young girl who is constantly controlled and instructed to do one thing or the other by her parents. Every child wants to enjoy the dreamy and romantic world of his/her childhood. She doesn’t want to cut this romantic and fascinating world of hers short. Any kind of instruction or interference curtails her freedom. She doesn’t want to be denied chocolate and wants to sit and behave exactly as she wants. She would rather indulge in fantasies than clean her room or her shoes. She wants to postpone growing up. She wants to remain a child for just a little bit longer.

Style

In ‘Amanda’, each of the stanza spoken by her mother follows the rhyme scheme: as ba. The last word of the first, second and fourth lines are the same. On the other hand, the stanzas spoken by Amanda consists of the three rhyming lines each. The use of metaphor is used effectively as a poetic device in 2nd, 4th and 6th stanzas. Amanda imagines herself as first as a mermaid, then as an orphan and finally becomes Rapunzel.