Published in the collection Union Street (1957), "Timothy Winters" describes a young boy who is so poor and neglected that he's almost feral. The Timothy of the poem's title is ragged, starving, unable to learn at school, and ignored or abused at home. Despite its playful rhythms and seemingly hyperbolic details, the poem was apparently based on a real boy, and it offers a compassionate account of childhood poverty during the post-WWII "austerity" years in the UK.

• Read the full text of “Timothy Winters”

• “Timothy Winters” Summary

• “Timothy Winters” Themes

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    Child Poverty and Neglect

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-33

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Timothy Winters”

  • Lines 1-4

    Timothy Winters comes ...
    ... is Timothy Winters.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-8

    His belly is ...
    ... blue winds blow.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-12

    When teacher talks ...
    ... the Welfare State.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-16

    Timothy Winters has ...
    ... like him anymore.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-20

    Old Man Winters ...
    ... with an aspirin.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 21-24

    The Welfare Worker ...
    ... on growing up.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 25-28

    At Morning Prayers ...
    ... Winters roars "Amen!"

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 29-33

    So come one ...
    ... Amen.

    

    

    

    

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• “Timothy Winters” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “A blitz of a boy is Timothy Winters.”
    • Line 6: “And his hair is an exclamation mark.”
    • Line 10: “And he shoots down dead the arithmetic-bird,”
    • Line 25: “At Morning Prayers the Master helves”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-3: “With eyes as wide as a football pool, / Ears like bombs and teeth like splinters:”
    • Line 7: “His clothes are enough to scare a crow”
    • Line 22: “But the law's as tricky as a ten-foot snake,”

  • Hyperbole

    

    

    

    

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    Where hyperbole appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-4: “Timothy Winters comes to school / With eyes as wide as a football pool, / Ears like bombs and teeth like splinters: / A blitz of a boy is Timothy Winters.”
    • Lines 6-7: “And his hair is an exclamation mark. / His clothes are enough to scare a crow”
    • Line 10: “And he shoots down dead the arithmetic-bird,”
    • Line 11: “He licks the pattern off his plate”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “blitz,” “boy”
    • Line 6: “his hair”
    • Line 7: “clothes,” “crow”
    • Line 8: “britches,” “blue,” “blow”
    • Line 9: “teacher talks,” “won't,” “word”
    • Line 10: “down dead”
    • Line 11: “pattern,” “plate”
    • Line 14: “Suez Street”
    • Line 15: “sleeps,” “sack”
    • Line 19: “Grandma,” “grate”
    • Line 21: “Welfare Worker,” “awake”
    • Line 22: “tricky,” “ten”
    • Line 24: “goes,” “growing”
    • Line 25: “Morning,” “Master”
    • Line 27: “response,” “room”
    • Line 29: “ten”
    • Line 30: “Timothy”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Timothy Winters”
    • Line 2: “eyes,” “wide”
    • Line 4: “Timothy Winters”
    • Line 5: “belly,” “neck”
    • Line 7: “clothes,” “crow”
    • Line 8: “through,” “his britches,” “blue,” “winds”
    • Line 13: “Timothy Winters”
    • Line 19: “sits in,” “with,” “gin”
    • Line 23: “Timothy Winters drinks his”
    • Line 24: “slowly goes,” “growing”
    • Line 28: “Timothy Winters”
    • Line 29: “come one,” “come”
    • Line 30: “Timothy Winters”
    • Line 32: “Timothy Winters”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Timothy Winters”
    • Line 3: “like,” “like”
    • Line 4: “Timothy Winters”
    • Line 5: “His,” “is,” “his,” “is”
    • Line 6: “his,” “is”
    • Line 7: “His”
    • Line 8: “his”
    • Line 9: “he”
    • Line 10: “he”
    • Line 11: “He”
    • Line 12: “he's”
    • Line 13: “Timothy Winters”
    • Line 14: “he,” “in a,” “on”
    • Line 15: “He,” “in a,” “on”
    • Line 18: “with a”
    • Line 19: “with a”
    • Line 20: “Timothy's,” “with an”
    • Line 23: “Timothy Winters”
    • Line 28: “Timothy Winters,” “Amen”
    • Line 29: “come,” “come”
    • Line 30: “Timothy Winters”
    • Lines 30-31: “Amen / Amen amen amen amen”
    • Line 32: “Timothy Winters”
    • Line 33: “Amen”

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Line 5: “His belly is white, his neck is dark,”
    • Line 8: “And through his britches the blue winds blow.”
    • Line 9: “When teacher talks he won't hear a word”
    • Line 11: “He licks the pattern off his plate”
    • Line 13: “Timothy Winters has bloody feet”
    • Line 14: “And he lives in a house on Suez Street,”
    • Line 15: “He sleeps in a sack on the kitchen floor”
    • Lines 19-20: “Grandma sits in the grate with a gin / And Timothy's dosed with an aspirin.”
    • Line 21: “The Welfare Worker lies awake”
    • Line 23: “So Timothy Winters drinks his cup”
    • Lines 25-28: “At Morning Prayers the Master helves / for children less fortunate than ourselves, / And the loudest response in the room is when / Timothy Winters roars "Amen!"”
    • Lines 30-31: “Timothy Winters says "Amen / Amen amen amen amen."”

  • Irony

    

    

    

    

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    Where irony appears in the poem:

    • Line 16: “And they say there aren't boys like him anymore.”
    • Lines 25-28: “At Morning Prayers the Master helves / for children less fortunate than ourselves, / And the loudest response in the room is when / Timothy Winters roars "Amen!"”

• “Timothy Winters” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Football pool
  • Blitz
  • Britches
  • Arithmetic-bird
  • Welfare State
  • Bombardier
  • Missus
  • Grate
  • Master
  • Helves
  • (Location in poem: Line 2: “With eyes as wide as a football pool,”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Timothy Winters”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Timothy Winters” Speaker

• “Timothy Winters” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Timothy Winters”

• More “Timothy Winters” Resources

  • External Resources

    • A Reading of the Poem — Listen to a reading of "Timothy Winters."

    • More on the Poet — A biography of Causley, plus readings of "Timothy Winters" and other poems, via The Poetry Archive.

    • Charles Causley Resources — A Causley biography, bibliography, and more via the Causley Trust.

    • The Poet, Remembered — Read Causley's 2003 obituary in The Guardian.

    • A Documentary on the Poet — Watch a BBC documentary on Causley, which includes a reading of "Timothy Winters."

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Charles Causley

    • Eden Rock

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