Look again at the poems "Half-past Two", "Reports" and "Dear Mr. Lee". How does UA Fanthorpe create a sense of character in each poem and what does the reader learn about her view of the education system as presented in these three poems?

Ann-Marie Ahola Look again at the poems "Half-past Two", "Reports" and "Dear Mr. Lee". How does UA Fanthorpe create a sense of character in each poem and what does the reader learn about her view of the education system as presented in these three poems? The three poems analysed in this essay are "Half-past Two", "Dear Mr Lee" and "Reports" all of which are written by UA Fanthorpe. The poems are linked to each other as they refer to the education system. The order of the poems are the least critical of the education system to the most critical. In the first poem I have selected to compare is "Half-past Two". The poem follows the thoughts of a small boy, waiting in a classroom for his teacher to arrive at half-past two. The only problem is that he is unable to tell the time and so is unable to judge at what time he must leave the classroom. The minutes he waits in the classroom for his teacher to arrive, feel like eternity to the boy as he's lost in time. The poem shows the young pupil's routine being broken, as he dreams of being lost in a world of confusion. The beginning of "Half-past Two" begins like a fairytale: "Once upon..." in a child-like tone. The main character in the poem is the little boy. The boy is left to stay behind in the classroom as he'd done "Something Very Wrong". The capitilisation and repetition of the line two lines later, indicates to the reader

  • Word count: 2682
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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An appraisal of the poetic techniques used by the poet U.A.Fanthorpe and what effect she was trying to achieve.

An appraisal of the poetic techniques used by the poet U.A.Fanthorpe and what effect she was trying to achieve. The poet U.A. Fanthorpe writes a lot of very unconventional, light-hearted poetry. In this essay, I am going to study what techniques she uses and what effects she tries to achieve. From her considerable and varied works I have chosen the following four poems:- Half-past Two Telling the tale of a young schoolboy who is temporarily excluded from the normal school day, with surprising consequences Dear Mr. Lee A young reader pouring out troubles to their favorite Author. You Will Be Hearing From Us Shortly One side of an extraordinary interview Not My Best Side A personal view of proceedings in Uccello's painting of St. George's slaying the Dragon as seen from the three parties involved. Although very different in their content and subject matter, all four poems use common techniques. Each technique is used to great effect. To create a Persona is to use words to convey a personality, feelings and reactions to another character or fictuous character situation. The examples where U. A. Fanthorpe uses this technique to good effect are You Will Be Hearing From Us Shortly. Without any descriptive introduction the reader easily gets the impression of an interviewer who is probably female, very confident, unfeeling and has taken an instant dislike to the

  • Word count: 1219
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Discussing the main theme and features of the poem 'Old Man, Old Man' written by U.A. Fanthorpe.

Old Man, Old Man I am going to be discussing the main theme and features of the poem 'Old Man, Old Man' written by U.A. Fanthorpe. The main theme of this poem is the relationship between and elderly man and his daughter. The relationship is exploited through memories that are brought up throughout the poem. The Old Man used to be a person who "did-it-himself" and didn't like to accept help from other people. However the father has become unable to deal with what life throws at him by himself and resents help from his daughter, who seems to be quite glad of his weaker state. I believe this to be because she had always wanted to help her father but he would refuse it and now she can make a difference and help him. The old man has a stereotypical view of women. This is shown during the poem as he doesn't accept help from a woman although it is clear he needs it, he seems to think that a man, or in this case a son is far more able to do things than a daughter, he thinks his daughter is incompetent. "Not good with daughters" (line 12) supports the idea that he would have preferred to have had a son, whether it is because he would find it easier to socialise with or believes they would have more things in common it is not evident, this also tells us that she must be the daughter of this old man hence why she knows so much about him. The old man makes no effort at all to try and

  • Word count: 959
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Compare and contrast ‘Hide and Seek’ by Vernon Scannell and ‘Half-past Two’ by U. A. Fanthorpe

Compare and contrast 'Hide and Seek' by Vernon Scannell and 'Half-past Two' by U. A. Fanthorpe 'Hide and Seek' concerns a boy hiding cautiously whilst playing hide and seek with his peers. Gradually, he realises he has been abandoned, and fear overcomes him due to being isolated in the dark surroundings. The tone is incredibly certain and positive at the beginning. However, his confidence gradually fades away as the realisation of his abandonment occurs. The mood is analogous to the tone. At first, we can sense the excitement. This modifies to anxiety and nervousness towards the end. The poet uses language methods to portray the tone. On the first line, exclamation marks are used to show the enthusiasm of the boy. Scannell uses personification and the senses to describe the surrounding atmosphere in a vivid way. Therefore, the reader gets a clearer image. Occasional rhyme is used to add a sense of rhythm to the poem. The poem is one continuous stanza. The dramatic monologue emphasises the unbearable length of waiting time. The child's character speaks directly to you, explaining feeling and thoughts. There are short sentences to build up tension and create stillness. The themes explored in 'Hide and Seek' are childhood experiences, reflection, isolation and abandonment. These themes are also explored in 'Half- past Two'. This poem also explores various other themes such as

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Compare And Contrast "Telephone Conversation" And "You Will Be Hearing From Us Shortly"

Compare And Contrast "Telephone Conversation" And "You Will Be Hearing From Us Shortly" The two poems "Telephone Conversion" by Wole Soyinka and the poem "You Will Be Hearing From Us Shortly" by U A Fanthorpe are both about people being interviewed. In the poem, "You Will Be Hearing From Us Shortly" there is a candidate edgily sitting in the interviewing room being humiliated and slowly being pushed into the ground and gradually rejected by the interviewer. The candidate is being humiliated in a private room whilst, in the poem, "Telephone Conversation" there is a student, who has come from Africa and he wants to rent a flat from a landlady. He is talking on a public telephone to the landlady; the landlady is humiliating him even on the phone because of his colour. The student does not like to waste his time so he confesses he is African. He thinks the public are watching his degradation in the street so he is getting embarrassed; all he could see is red, "Red booth. Red pillar - box. Red double tiered Omnibus squelching tar." The poet also uses a metaphor to show he wants to hide in the public phone box although it is in the full view of the public. "Public hide and speak" In the poem, "Telephone Conversation" we can also hear the student's point of view as well as the landlady's but we sympathise with the student. Most times we take the narrators side and we feel

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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I will attempt to analyse and compare two different poems which are called 'dear Mr Lee' and 'leaving school'.

POEM ESSAY (Dear Mr Lee, Leaving School) I will attempt to analyse and compare two different poems which are called 'dear Mr Lee' and 'leaving school'. Dear Mr lee is about who is writing to his/her favourite writer. This is about the impact the student experienced from reading the book written by Laurie Lee (Mr Lee) at school. Dear Mr Lee is about a fan of the book 'cider with Rosie' (his/her favourite book). She/he had read it so many times that they can imagine living with the writer. The student has a romantic lifestyle because s/he wants to play the fiddle, the student also wants to follow in Mr Lee's footsteps and become a poet. Leaving school is about an eight year old boy who arrives at boarding school, very excited but starts to fell like he doesn't fit in properly 'I was eight when I set into the world', I thought it was going to be fun'. The little boy cannot adjust to the way of life at boarding school for example the timetables, rules and router. The student in 'dear Mr lee' says that s/he didn't want to write about the book and talk about how a book can be ruined by analysing it to much make's u see it in a different viewpoint which u may not like 'I didn't want to write a character sketch of your mother under headings, it seemed wrong somehow, when you had made her so lovely' the fan also thinks that s/he would know what sort of person Laurie Lee is and what

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Write a detailed analysis of the poem Last House especially concentrating on style.

Shibdeep Kaur Sekhon 8th January 2003 Write a detailed analysis of the poem "Last House especially concentrating on STYLE. The poem begins with a dramatic opening. "Like the dead march." The use of a simile is effective here because it evokes the notion of finality of death and destruction even before you have finished reading the whole line. The slow beat of destruction is evident throughout the whole of the first stanza. "A hum; a waver; a trickle of mortar; a pause;" This is reinforced by the poet's use of punctuation. The tone created in this stanza is of a melancholy nature and we can sense Fanthorpe's regret that the cinema is been torn down. The idea of finality is continued in the second stanza with the phrase "This is the last performance". This is emphasised by Fanthorpe's use of half-rhyme" doubtfully" / "fall" which enacts the disharmony of the destruction of The Regal cinema by hinting at a rhyme which the reader does not get. The tone changes in stanza three to one of nostalgia when Fanthorpe evokes the memories that the crowd has of going to the cinema in the past. She uses onomatopoeic words "whistling" and "yodelling" to recreate the excitement of the audience waiting fro the film to begin. The nostalgic tone continues in the fourth stanza as she reminds the reader of the range of cinematic experiences. She uses alliteration, "men in

  • Word count: 450
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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How does Half Past Two and Leaving School communicate their different views on education?

How does Half Past Two and Leaving School communicate their different views on education? Karel Kumar 11s11^th March 2003. The two poems I will compare have been written by two different poets, who have very different views and experiences on the education system. Throughout this essay I shall try to bring across their different ideas and how these ideas are shown in two poems, "Half-Past Two" by U A Fanthorpe and "Leaving School" by Hugo Williams. Leaving school is about an eight year old boy, who has been sent off to boarding school, he finds it hard to re adjust to a military like environment where children are obedient, smart and have a timetable to adhere to. He comes from a small primary school; he is not particularly smart and finds the work he is set very hard. Later on in the poem he feels rather homesick, he misses his family and friends, he begins to forget to "put on the right shoes" for example and "I forgot how to get undressed"; when someone, especially a young boy, is left without the comfort of his family, he can begin to forget simple things, such as how to tie his shoe laces. At the end of the poem our young scholar finds himself running away from school, this however is only in his mind, not in reality. This poem could be a reflection of Hugo William's life, the boy in this story could be him, going to a boarding school is a scary

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Ursula Askham Fanthorpe

Neil Chambers U.A FANTHORPE COURSEWORK Ursula Askham Fanthorpe is a modern poet; she was born in 1929 in London. Many of U.A Fanthorpe's poems are based on school life as this is the area where she had experienced most of her life being a university graduate and an English teacher, this would make it easier for her to use this topic to write about. She was not impressed by the British school system, and found the job too demanding so she resigned and went on to write poems about things she had picked up from schools. She expresses her disgust for the British school system in three of her poems that I have studied, Half Past Two, Reports and Dear Mr Lee. In these poems she criticises the teachers of Britain. The first of U.A Fanthorpe's poems that I studied was Half Past Two. This poem is based in a primary school with the main characters being a young female teacher and a young boy aged at five or six. The little boy has done something wrong which we are not told and he is not quite sure either and he seems too scared to ask. U.A Fanthorpe also shows the incompetence of the teacher as she writes about the teacher also knowing the little boy has done something wrong but even she is not quite sure what. The young boy is told to stay in the classroom till half past two, the title of the poem. Still U.A Fanthorpe wants to show more incompetence in teachers as the young teacher

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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U A Fanthorpe writes powerfully about those who are most disempowered. Do you agree? And how does she manage to do this?

U A Fanthorpe writes powerfully about those who are most disempowered. Do you agree? And how does she manage to do this? I think U A Fanthorpe does write powerfully about people who she thinks are disempowered. She does this very subtly and cleverly. She always looks at things in two perspectives one is from a dominating person and the other from a weak person who she supports. She, like Shakespeare uses various techniques to convey sympathy towards the weak people and her ideas to the reader. She uses very emotive and powerful language. I don't think that powerful writing just means strong language or words; the structure of the poem and the things she compares to could also reflect powerful writing. I think if people have confidence in themselves and who know what is right, would empower them. I think she is sympathetic towards the disempowered people. Writing about them shows this. In every poem she writes she uses italics to introduce new voices or characters. In 'Old Man, Old Man' the old man is the disempowered person and the narrator is powerful. This is poem is based on the theme of old age, "he left for himself when he saw better...". In the beginning the old man was in control of everything, didn't need help but by the end he lost control and he felt helpless. "...and small things distress: I've lost the hammer". It was also hinted that he was stubborn,

  • Word count: 1243
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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