Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle Received from a Friend Called Felicity by

John Tobias is a poem discussing the themes of childhood, memory and nostalgia.
The poem focuses on the poet reminiscing on the summers of his childhood while
fostering an inherent regret for not cherishing or appreciating those past moments
enough. The poet uses imagery in the form of childlike imaginations, literary
devices, a complicated title and an unconventional title to address the themes of
childhood, nostalgia and memory.

The most pertinent and immediate device the poet uses is the title. The title clearly,
almost too clearly, conveys what the poem is about, Reflections on a gift of
Watermelon Pickle received from a Friend Called Felicity. The theme of memory is
brought out immediately by the word reflection which also creates a feeling of
nostalgia. The precision of the origin of the watermelon Pickle suggests that this gift
was special. We know that it is not of a high monetary value, because it is a pickle,
but it was a very important moment or memory for the poet. This recurring theme
of the watermelon pickle suggests that the pickle is a stimulus for the author to
have a flashback or for him to remember the moment he ate the watermelon and
when life was care-free. The watermelons may also be a metaphor for his childhood
innocence. This poem may or may not be true but the choice of having is friend
named Felicity, meaning incredible amount of happiness, may be a subtle way of
the author describing how important that summer was to him. Overall, all these
factor along with the unconventionalism of the title express a feeling of happiness
and childlike frankness which continues throughout the rest of the poem.
Imagery is used in the poem to effectively create images from the poets childhood.
This is mainly used to reinforce the theme of childhood and innocence and is seen in
many places in the poem but mainly in stanza 1. The line when unicorns were still
possible is particularly pertinent. The use of diction here saying that instead of
when we believed in unicorns makes it seem like when we grow old all the
wondrous mysteries in the world seemingly die and that everything becomes less
interesting. Yet a childlike simplicity is still maintained, where the purpose of knees,
was to be skinned. This gives the reader the sense of a childs innocence, which is
also scene in the lines Far above and away From the softening effects of
civilization; which describes childrens sense of simplicity of the world as well as
disconnection from all the supposedly important aspects. However, the poet
describes all these moments fondly, like he would prefer a childlike innocence to an
adult like wisdom and how vulnerable and ephemeral childhood innocence actually
is, how once you lose it, it will never return again and yet we will never truly
understand its value until it has left us permanently. The line far above and away
also reference how long ago childhood was for the author and again emphasizes the
nostalgia he is feeling.

The Watermelon is the vital part in this poem which plays the role of a beacon in
timeline of the poets memories as a symbol of childhood or innocence. It is a
recurring motif which is personified to be like a dictator or king. This is seen by the

use of diction with the word ruled which also gives them a presence or certain
importance that is seemingly greater to the poet than it appears to be to the
readers. The word imperial reinforces the previous statement that the watermelon
is like a dictator. This gives this interaction a childlike, imaginative effect which
readers can relate to. The guileless war that takes place with the watermelon
suggest that it is the poet who when he was younger, was trying to break free or
rebelling against the restraints of childhood without realizing that he never wanted
to in the first place. We can see this in the juxtaposition of melting frigidly which
suggests that he did lose his innocence but now that he has lost it he never wanted
to, thus his innocence disappeared frigidly or reluctantly. The sound of the hard s
and b in the words black bullet seeds and spit mimic the firing of artillery making
this small imaginary event more important to the childlike side of him. Just like how
descriptive the title was, the intricate descriptions in this stanza show how
important a moment this was for him and how it was imprinted in his memory
forever.

The theme of regret is major part of the second half of the poem which also
discusses the negative aspects of childhood innocence. The poet in part innocently
believes that childhood will last forever and thus he doesnt cherish the actual
experience while it was going on and only tried to rebel against it. The fifth stanza is
particularly ripe for this and the comparison of the consumption of the watermelon
between the 4th and 5th distinctly shows how much he misses childhood; we may
even consider this to be a form of Irony. The readers know how little time he has left
when the poet uses words like limitless or carefree and feel a great sense of pity
for him. The overindulgence of pure ecstasy has to end yet he realizes this but tries
to bury it by eating even more. The word quickly emphasizes the panic and
urgency he feels when he realizes that this will all be over so soon and it also
references how fast time passes by. When the time has passed we see that he
realizes what he will soon loose and chooses to remember the memories rather than
gorge down more watermelon. His desperation and hope that it doesnt end is
embodied by the way he consumes the watermelon in stanza 5. The reluctance to
let it go and the way he wants it to continue to linger and not pass is tear jerking
for the reader and emotionally connects to all of us. When compared with one
another (stanzas 5 and 5) the consumption of the watermelon can also be seen as
a metaphor for the loss of childhood innocence.
In terms of structure the poem is written in free verse with six stanzas of carrying
length without any discerning pattern between them. The beginning stanzas are
written with minimal amounts of punctuation and a fairly light, breezy and almost
lyrical rhythm. This creates a carefree, leisurely pace. However, it is still plagued by
enjambment that creates a sense of confusion and unreliability, like the poet is
hesitating while recounting a memory, figuring out what will happen next. There are
also minimal amounts of punctuation in the first half. This speeds up the pace of the
poem, all the tales of tree climbing and other sort of similar activities are either
skimmed or forgotten so that the poet can discuss the watermelon. However, the
amount of punctuation exponentially increases from there. The pace of the poem

slows down a lot due to this increase but this also increases the readers ability to
reflect on what the poet is saying. In stanza five there is a long pause or caesura at
the end of each line. This poems tempo may mimic life in the way we start out
fast, careless and erratic but we become slower as we grow older and start to think
more before we do anything, just like the poems tempo.

As you have seen the poem Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle Received
from a Friend Called Felicity effectively captures the theme of care-free childhood
and pure ecstasy while maintaining a sense of regret for not fully appreciating that
point in time. The use of a complex title, diction, literary devices and imager all
contribute to addressing these themes. The poet successfully allows the readers to
connect with what the poet is going through. But as said in the last lines of the
poem, And when we unscrew the lid And slice off a piece and let it linger on our
tongue: Unicorns become possible again. Childhood will always be a precious
memory for all of us, one that we will hopefully never forget. So in conclusion, even
though we have lost our childhood and possibly the best years of our life we cannot
forget those memories that brought us excruciating happiness we just have to
remember them by tasting the watermelon.