Fifth Grade Autobiography

“Fifth Grade Autobiography,” as the title indicates, represents the speaker’s childhood recollection of an event that occurred when they were young. The speaker’s youthful naivete is evident in Stanza One, where they note how “My brother squats in poison ivy” (Line 3), drawing attention to a lack of awareness that often typifies the experience of many young children. It is possible that the children, both the speaker and their brother, do not know what is safe and what isn’t safe in the outdoors and that they are unfamiliar with the natural environment of the lake that is so comfortable for their grandparents. The speaker emphasizes their brother’s age with a mention of “his Davy Crockett cap” (line 4), especially because “the raccoon tail / flounces down the back of his sailor suit” (Lines 5-6). Sailor suits, though out of fashion now, were a common outfit for generations of young, preschool-aged children.

After establishing the relative ages of the children, in Stanza 2, the speaker turns their attention to the adults: “My grandfather sits to the far right / in a folding chair” (Lines 7-8). This mundane description leads to another memory, this time of their grandfather’s tobacco. The speaker “used to wrap it for him / every Christmas” (Lines 11-12).