2. U.A.Fanthorpe
Ursula 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.
3. Half-Past Two
Once upon a schooltime
He did Something Very Wrong
(I forget what it was).
And She said he’d done
Something Very Wrong, and must
Stay in the school-room till half-past two.
(Being cross, she’d forgotten
She hadn’t taught him Time.
He was too scared at being wicked to remind her.)
He knew a lot of time: he knew
Gettinguptime, timeyouwereofftime,
Timetogohomenowtime, TVtime,
Timeformykisstime (that was Grantime).
All the important times he knew,
But not half-past two.
He knew the clockface, the little eyes
And 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.
4. Summary: Stanza 1
In 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.
5. 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”.
6. 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.
7. 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 “halfpast two is not one of the times he knows,
thus he doesn’t know when his detention
ends.
8. 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.
9. Summary: Stanzas 7-8
In 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.
10. Summary: Stanza 9
In 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.
11. 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.
14. Techniques
Enjabnment - 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.
