In her poems, Gwen Harwood suggests loss of innocence is the bridge between childhood and adulthood, and is necessary as part of the human growth process. The violets shows loss of innocence can occur due to loss of time exposed the personification of time “thing I could not grasp or name”, highlighting the persona has come to the realisation that time does not stop for anyone. The poem effectively explores the relationship between childhood and adulthood through the strong motif of time. The loss of time is recurring and shown by the rhetorical question “Where is morning gone?” and also shown in word choice “hours of unreturning light”, this shows the importance of time and allows Harwood to emphasise the lesson learned in childhood, that the ‘morning’ did in fact slip away each day, described by the personification of time ‘the thing I cannot grasp or name”. By exploring a central issue of loss of time, Harwood highlights the loss of innocence endured by the persona essential for her growth and transition from childhood to adulthood. At Mornington agrees loss of innocence is needed for human growth. The repetition of “the next wave” in “As a child I could walk on water the next wave, the next wave” highlights the naivety of belief. The repetition shows the adamant, juvenile behaviour that walking on water is possible. The realisation that she can’t walk on water is exposed by the aposiopesis. It displays the interrupted and ultimately futile nature of this enterprise, the sudden realisation gives the persona maturity elucidated by the rhetorical question “on what flood they were borne”, showing personal pondering and embarrassing innocence of childhood. The new gained awareness shapes her life as is shown in the poem by the recurring motif of water. Water in the start was a naive concept “walking on water” and later is shown to be complex, showing ongoing life “water left over”. By the changin