A Comparison of Half-past Two by UA Fanthorpe and Leaving School by Hugo Williams.

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Twentieth Century Poetry

Title: A Comparison of Half-past Two by UA Fanthorpe and Leaving School by Hugo Williams.

        Half-past Two and Leaving School are both poems based around school and yet they both show two completely different experiences of school. U A Fanthorpe’s Half-past Two is a light-hearted and slightly comical poem whereas Hugo William’s Leaving School, shows a more serious and negative view of school.

        The titles of these poems suggest that they have something in common. The title Half-past Two brings to mind the time that the school day ends, and the title Leaving School brings to mind the end of the school day also. However, after further examination it is clear that the title Leaving School gives false expectations of the poem. This is because it begins with someone starting school and looks at school over a longer period of time whereas Half-past Two only looks at one day.        

The first line Half-past Two; ‘Once upon a schooltime’ has an interesting effect because the phrase ‘once upon a..’ is usually associated with fairy tales and other childish sentiments. This line makes the poem seem childish and we can tell by this line that the little boy is not telling the story, but someone else (perhaps another child) is telling the story. Leaving School’s first line: ‘I was eight when I set out into the world’, creates a completely different atmosphere because it is not entirely clear what the narrator is referring to and it seems more significant than school. The line also makes it clear that the boy in the story is also the narrator.

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Throughout Half-past Two, the narrator repeats phrases that appear to be the words of someone that the narrator is quoting indirectly. For example, ‘He did Something Very Wrong’ appears to be the words of the teacher and phrases such as    ‘ timeyouwereofftime ’ and ‘notimeforthatnowtime ’ appear to be the words of the little boy’s parents. There are also direct quotes; ‘my goodness’ and ‘I forgot all about you’ which are the words of the teacher. All of the indirect quotes of the teacher seem sarcastic and humorous, Leaving School does not really use any direct or indirect quotes of anyone ...

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