Warning and Half Past Two

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Warning and Half Past Two

When looking at the poems 'Warning' by Jenny Joseph and the poem 'Half past Two' by U.A Fanthorpe they seem very different. When you look closely at the two poems you start to see many similarities. The little boy in 'Half past Two' escapes into his own fantasy world where there is no time no limitations and no restrictions. The women in 'Warning' goes off into a sort of fantasy where there are no constraints or restrictions. 'Half-past Two' is told by someone else about the little boy whereas 'Warning' is told by the women in the poem telling people what she is going to do when she is old. Both poems use language that allows the reader to capture more of an image of what the poet is saying.

The Structure and language of the poems is similar. 'Warning' has four stanzas, the first one is long the second and the third one are the same and the fourth one is the shortest. 'Half past Two' has eleven stanzas that are all three lines long. Every new line in both poems starts with a capital letter, which makes each line just as important as the one before it. In 'Warning' the poet uses words like 'gobble' which are imagery words, you can imagine a child gobbling up something when she says it. 'Half past Two' also has words that provoke your mind to imagine the kind of thoughts inside the little boys head.
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'He knew the clockface, the little eyes

And two long legs for walking.'

U.A Fanthorpe used that as a child's description of a clock face as it presents an image in your mind, which really makes you feel close to the little boy. U.A Fanthorpe has also used childlike language throughout the poem 'notimeforthatnowtime,' she joined the words together to make the words seem as if a child really is saying it. Presenting the words like that makes the reader feel slightly childish when reading them.

'Warning' danger I am telling you this now ...

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