Half-Past Two

By U. A. Fanthorpe

U.A.FanthorpeUrsula Askham Fanthrope was born on 22nd July, in 1929, in Surrey, England. She was educated in St. Catherine’s School and at St. Anne’s College, Oxford., where she received a first-class degree in English language and literature. Ursula taught English in Cheltenham Ladies’ College. She then abandoned teaching jobs to secretary, receptionist and hospital clerk. She died on 28th of April, 2009.

Once upon a schooltimeHe did Something Very Wrong(I forget what it was). And She said he’d doneSomething Very Wrong, and mustStay in the school-room till half-past two. (Being cross, she’d forgottenShe hadn’t taught him Time.He was too scared at being wicked to remind her.) He knew a lot of time: he knewGettinguptime, timeyouwereofftime,Timetogohomenowtime, TVtime, Timeformykisstime (that was Grantime). All the important times he knew,But not half-past two.  He knew the clockface, the little eyesAnd two long legs for walking,But he couldn’t click its language,

So he waited, beyond onceupona,Out of reach of all the timefors,And knew he’d escaped for ever Into the smell of old chrysanthemums on Her desk,Into the silent noise his hangnail made,Into the air outside the window, into ever. And then, My goodness, she said,Scuttling in, I forgot all about you.Run along or you’ll be late. So she slotted him back into schooltime,And he got home in time for teatime,Nexttime, notimeforthatnowtime, 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.

Half-Past Two

Summary: Stanza 1In this stanza Fanthorpe includes the boy’s memories of the day. The narrator tells us that he goes to school. This is shown as a compound word: “schooltime”. Fanthorpe uses capital letters at the start of the words “Something Truly Wrong”, she 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 divagation (brackets) show that it wasn’t all that important to the boy.

Summary: Stanza 2

Again in this stanza, Fanthorpe uses the capital letters to give the teacher a God-like status “She”, in the boy’s eyes. Also the use of repetition, “Something Very Wrong” shows the serious nature of his mistake. Fanthorpe mentions till what time the boy has his detention - “half-past two”.

Summary: Stanza 3

The narrator explains us that the teacher hasn’t taught time to the boy. This shows how careless and irresponsible she is. “He was too scared at being wicked to remind her” - shows that she was also very strict and the boy did’t dare to remind her that she didn’t teach him time.

Summary: Stanzas 4-5

In stanzas 4 and 5, the boy explains what he knows about time and how he uses it. He has broken up his day into recognisable units that he understands: “gettinguptime” - neologism. In stanza 5, he tells us that “half-past two is not one of the times he knows, thus he doesn’t know when his detention ends.

Summary: Stanza 6

In this stanza, the boy explains how he interprets the clock. The author uses personification “long legs” and “little eyes” to give us a feeling of childishness and innocence. “But he couldn’t click its language” - shows that understanding the time for the boy was as hard as studying a new language.

Summary: Stanzas 7-8In these stanzas, the boy falls into the deep silence of the world around him. He starts admiring nature and some parts of the classroom. This could imply that adults are so obsessed with time and work, that they don’t notice the beautiful things around them. This could also be interpreted as childhood being the only time without any worries, where a person could relax and enjoy the world without having to think of time or work.

Summary: Stanza 9In this stanza, the teacher finally comes back into the classroom and finds the little boy waiting for her. She emphasises that she “forgot” about him and tells him to run home. The fact that she didn’t even say ´sorry` implies that she doesn’t feel any guilt or emotions for the poor boy waiting in that classroom for her.

Summary: Stanzas 10-11

In stanza 10, the boy emphasises how long he has been waiting in that classroom in school by saying that “he got home in time for teatime” - shows that the boy came home when everyone was already drinking tea before sleep. Stanza 11 summarises the boy’s day and his journey into the “clockless” land. This suggests that the time when the boy was waiting for the teacher without knowing time, he felt like in a different reality, a reality without responsibilities or duties.

Themes:

Memory

Childhood

Isolation

Innocence

Realities

ToneFrustrating/Annoying

Ignorance

Mysterious

Unfair

Nostalgic

TechniquesEnjabnment - most of the sentences are very long whereas the stanzas are very small - this could emphasise the long, infinite, clock ticking.

Neulogism words are used by the author to show the made up words by the boy.

Omniscience - the narrator seems to know everything about the boy.

Diction - the words in the poem are mostly childish or made up.

Divagation - the frequent use of bracket, shows that the words he says have different meanings for him.

Interpretations

Points