Poetry – Catchtraps

we knew the words before we knew their meaning
who asked so many whys while still in weaning

how many pitfalls marked with skull and crossbones
to outwit those who lay beneath the moss stones

then set about to verify the answers
seeking in us the cause of others’ cancers

so found ourselves new victims of time’s catchtraps
and now must moan and curse until the latch snaps

— Elizabeth Bartlet

Meaning of the Poem

This poem is about how we grow up and try to understand the world, only to end up feeling trapped by what we learn. At first, we learn words and ideas without knowing what they really mean. We ask lots of questions, especially when we’re young. But the older we get, the more we see that the answers aren’t always helpful or kind.

The poem talks about danger—hidden problems that aren’t easy to see. Even though we try to figure out the truth, we still fall into the same problems that others did before us. The traps are already there, waiting.

The last part of the poem feels heavy. It says once we fall into these traps, we’re stuck. We don’t really get out until something breaks or ends. That might mean understanding, or just giving up. It could even mean death. The poem doesn’t say for sure—it just leaves us sitting in that stuck feeling.

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Literary Interpretation

Style and Tone
The poem is written in short, four-line stanzas. There’s no punctuation, so the words flow without much pause. That gives it a feeling of moving forward without stopping. The tone is quiet and serious. It doesn’t try to comfort you.

Words and Pictures
It starts with childhood—learning to speak and ask questions. Then it shifts to danger, like “skull and crossbones” or things hidden under mossy rocks. These are warnings. But even with the warnings, people still fall into trouble.

In the third stanza, the speaker talks about trying to understand why people hurt. There’s a line about “the cause / of others’ cancers.” That probably isn’t just about disease. It might mean hurt passed down from others—like trauma or blame.

Ideas in the Poem

• Growing up means losing your innocence. Kids ask questions. Adults live with the hard answers.
• Trying to understand life can hurt. You want to make sense of things, but that can backfire.
• Pain keeps repeating. We try to stop it, but often we’re part of the same pattern.
• We feel trapped by time and truth. Once we understand too much, we can’t go back.

What the Trap Means
The “catchtrap” is the main image in the poem. It stands for the things that hold us down—like time, truth, or the hard parts of life. It’s not easy to escape. And when we try, we often make things worse.