IGCSE English Lit Poem - Half-Past Two

What is 'half-past two' about

it is a poem about a young child who has been punished by a teacher for 'something' and is told to stay in a room until 'half past two', unfortunately the child does not know how to tell the time. The poem expresses the innocence of a child by portraying their perception and experience of time

what themes are in 'half past two'

childhood, innocence, time, authoritative figures, naivety

what is the form and structure within 'half past two', and what effect does this have

-11 short 3 line stanzas (11 tercets) which emulates the child's short attention span but could also represent the rigid form of time

-the poem has a major theme around time but by having 11 stanzas, instead of 12, it provokes us to question really what 'time' is

-it is written in free verse which could represent how because he cannot read time, his day is unstructured and irregular

what is the effect on the reader

-the poem has a humorous tone so should be comedic to the reader

-it should make them question what time is

what is the effect of joining words together (portmanteau)

The use of portmanteau creates a playful and childish tone to the poem to convey the childlike perceptive we gain from the story

analyse - 'Once upon a schooltime / He did Something Very Wrong'

-the beginning is like the beginning of a childhood story or fairy tale so this foregrounds the childish tone

-turning 'something very wrong' into proper nouns suggests how the concept of doing something wrong is major to them

-it becomes a title that doesn't correlate to his understanding

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analyse - '(Being cross, she'd forgotten She hadn't taught him the Time. He was too scared at being wicked to remind her.)

-the use of brackets makes the poem more comedic and conversational by adding subtext to the plot

-turning 'she' into a proper noun shows how children have little understanding of names, so she becomes her name

-time is also turned into a proper noun which emphasises how it is an important concept in the poem

-the adjective wicked again alludes to the theme of child hood and fairytales. It also conveys the far end on the spectrum of wrong-doing showing how children perceive things

analyse - 'He knew a lot of time: he knew Gettinguptime, timeyouwereofftime, Timetogohomenowtime, TVtime

-the assertive foregrounding shows the childlike innocence for you can only tell time, not know time

-this gives the reader insight to how a child perceives time with the use of portmanteau

-shows simplicity of a childs day

analyse - 'He knew the clockface, the little eyes and two long legs for walking, but he couldn't click its language'

-the personification of the clock shows a child like imagination, the unfamiliarity of the clocks enables him to just picture it as an unknown creature instead

-'couldn't click' the alliteration mimics the sound of a ticking clock

-the metaphor of time being a language shows the difficultly felt by the child in reading the time

analyse - 'Into the smell of old chrysanthemums on Her desk / Into the silent noise his hangnail made'

-the use anaphora at the beginning of each line shows how the child like ability to entirely disassociate himself from the world and disappear into his imagination

-could suggest how adults are too busy that they don't appreciate life's simplicity because they are restricted by time

-oxymoron of 'silent noise' further emphasises this

analyse - 'And then, my goodness, she said, scuttling in, i forgot all about you. Run along or you'll be late

-the use of italics when describing the teacher's words and movement enhances her business and rushed nature

-'i forgot all about you' could again allude to the idea that teachers get too caught up with time

analyse -'But he never forgot how once by not knowing time, he escaped into the clockless land for ever, where time hides tick-less waiting to be born'

-the absolute language of never shows how experiences stay with children

-the metaphor of 'escaping' shows child-like imagination

-it provokes the reader to contemplate what time actually is