Analysis of Poems. Half Past Two
Half Past Two
'Half Past Two' is a poem in which Fanthorpe describes how a young child is given a detention for an unspecified misdemeanor and is forgotten by his teacher. Fanthorpe draws on her experience as a teacher to describe the scene as seen through the child's eyes. The Title of the poem tells me a lot of information even before I read the poem. The information it puts across is that: A boy is told to stay behind until 'Half Past Two' but this has no-meaning to him because he has no concept of 'time'. The boy can’t tell the time but yet he divides the day up into familiar, recognizable units, as in 'schooltime', 'lunchtime', 'hometime'.
: "Half Past Two" uses a lot of different tones, tones such as: Nostalgic, Innocent, Dream Like!
Stanza One: In this stanza Fanthorpe includes the first of his markers of the day which the boy recognizes as a time in the day. This is set out as a 'compound word': 'Schooltime'. Fanthorpe uses capital letters at the beginning of the words "Something Very Wrong", he does this to show us how significant and important the incident was to the teacher, Whereas the words "(I forgot what it was)" and the use of parenthesis (brackets) show that it wasn't all that important to the boy.
Stanza Two: Again in this stanza, Fanthorpe uses the use of capital letters to give the teacher a God- Like status "She" in the boys eyes. Also the use of repetition, of 'Something Very Wrong' shows the 'serious' nature of his wrongdoing. In this stanza the words 'Half Past Two' shall come across to us for the first time (except for the title). These words are used to tell the boy, what time he has to stay in the school- room till.
Stanza Three: Human nature; She's cross, He's scared...... Result? .... He is abandoned! Note the use of again of a capital for "Time" to show the importance of this mysterious entity.
Stanza Four: In this stanza the boy describes his version and understanding of a 'clock', the boy tells the time of
'Half Past Two' is a poem in which Fanthorpe describes how a young child is given a detention for an unspecified misdemeanor and is forgotten by his teacher. Fanthorpe draws on her experience as a teacher to describe the scene as seen through the child's eyes. The Title of the poem tells me a lot of information even before I read the poem. The information it puts across is that: A boy is told to stay behind until 'Half Past Two' but this has no-meaning to him because he has no concept of 'time'. The boy can’t tell the time but yet he divides the day up into familiar, recognizable units, as in 'schooltime', 'lunchtime', 'hometime'.
: "Half Past Two" uses a lot of different tones, tones such as: Nostalgic, Innocent, Dream Like!
Stanza One: In this stanza Fanthorpe includes the first of his markers of the day which the boy recognizes as a time in the day. This is set out as a 'compound word': 'Schooltime'. Fanthorpe uses capital letters at the beginning of the words "Something Very Wrong", he does this to show us how significant and important the incident was to the teacher, Whereas the words "(I forgot what it was)" and the use of parenthesis (brackets) show that it wasn't all that important to the boy.
Stanza Two: Again in this stanza, Fanthorpe uses the use of capital letters to give the teacher a God- Like status "She" in the boys eyes. Also the use of repetition, of 'Something Very Wrong' shows the 'serious' nature of his wrongdoing. In this stanza the words 'Half Past Two' shall come across to us for the first time (except for the title). These words are used to tell the boy, what time he has to stay in the school- room till.
Stanza Three: Human nature; She's cross, He's scared...... Result? .... He is abandoned! Note the use of again of a capital for "Time" to show the importance of this mysterious entity.
Stanza Four: In this stanza the boy describes his version and understanding of a 'clock', the boy tells the time of