"Half-Past Two," which appears in the English poet U. A. Fanthorpe's 1992 collection Neck Verse, contrasts the wonder and naivete of childhood with the rigid authority of the adult world. The poem tells the story of a young boy who, after getting into trouble at school, must wait alone in the classroom until half-past two (that is, 2:30 p.m.). Because the boy doesn't know how to tell time, the wait seems endless. Yet the boy also feels as though he's "escaped" the reach of the clock and drifted off into a world where time itself no longer exists. The experience ends when his flustered teacher, having forgotten all about the boy, finally returns and tells him to go home. Fanthorpe's speaker gently pokes fun at the boy's predicament but also describes a profound experience that will stay with the boy for the rest of his life.

• Read the full text of “Half-Past Two”

• “Half-Past Two” Summary

• “Half-Past Two” Themes

  • 

    Childlike Wonder and Understanding

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 10-24
    • Lines 28-33
  • 

    Authority and Adulthood

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-9
    • Lines 25-28

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Half-Past Two”

  • Lines 1-3

    Once upon a ...
    ... what it was).

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 4-9

    And She said he'd done ...
    ... wicked to remind her.)

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 10-15

    He knew a ...
    ... not half-past two.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 16-18

    He knew the ...
    ... click its language,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 19-24

    So he waited, beyond ...
    ... window, into ever.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 25-30

    And then,  ...
    ... Nexttime, notimeforthatnowtime,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 31-33

    But he never ...
    ... to be born.

    

    

    

    

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• “Half-Past Two” Symbols

  • 

    The Clock

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 16-18: “He knew the clockface, the little eyes / And two long legs for walking, / But he couldn't click its language,”
    • Line 32: “He escaped into the clockless land for ever,”

• “Half-Past Two” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Anaphora

    

    

    

    

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    Where anaphora appears in the poem:

    • Lines 10-11: “He knew a lot of time: he knew / Gettinguptime”
    • Lines 22-24: “Into the smell of old chrysanthemums on Her desk, / Into the silent noise his hangnail made, / Into the air outside the window, into ever.”

  • Colloquialism

    

    

    

    

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    Where colloquialism appears in the poem:

    • Lines 11-13: “Gettinguptime, timeyouwereofftime, / Timetogohomenowtime, TVtime, / Timeformykisstime (that was Grantime).”
    • Line 19: “onceupona”
    • Line 20: “timefors”
    • Line 28: “schooltime”
    • Line 29: “teatime”
    • Line 30: “Nexttime, notimeforthatnowtime,”

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 22-24: “Into the smell of old chrysanthemums on Her desk, / Into the silent noise his hangnail made, / Into the air outside the window, into ever.”

  • Personification

    

    

    

    

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    Where personification appears in the poem:

    • Lines 16-18: “He knew the clockface, the little eyes / And two long legs for walking, / But he couldn't click its language,”
    • Line 20: “Out of reach of all the timefors,”
    • Line 33: “Where time hides tick-less waiting to be born.”

  • Hyperbole

    

    

    

    

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    Where hyperbole appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “He did Something Very Wrong”
    • Lines 4-5: “And She said he'd done / Something Very Wrong”
    • Line 9: “He was too scared at being wicked to remind her.”
    • Line 21: “And knew he'd escaped for ever”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Once,” “schooltime”
    • Lines 5-6: “must / Stay”
    • Line 6: “school,” “till half-past two”
    • Line 7: “forgotten”
    • Line 8: “taught,” “Time”
    • Line 9: “scared,” “wicked”
    • Lines 11-12: “Gettinguptime, timeyouwereofftime, / Timetogohomenowtime, TVtime”
    • Line 13: “Timeformykisstime,” “Grantime”
    • Line 14: “important times”
    • Line 15: “half-past two”
    • Line 16: “clockface,” “little”
    • Line 17: “long legs,” “walking”
    • Line 18: “couldn't click,” “language”
    • Line 22: “smell,” “chrysanthemums,” “desk”
    • Line 28: “slotted,” “schooltime”
    • Line 29: “time,” “teatime”
    • Line 30: “Nexttime, notimeforthatnowtime”
    • Line 31: “never,” “once,” “not knowing”
    • Line 32: “escaped,” “clockless land”
    • Line 33: “time,” “tick-less”

• “Half-Past Two” 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.

  • Cross
  • Click
  • Chrysanthemum
  • Hangnail
  • Scuttling
  • (Location in poem: Lines 7-8: “Being cross, she'd forgotten / She hadn't taught him Time”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Half-Past Two”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Half-Past Two” Speaker

• “Half-Past Two” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Half-Past Two”

• More “Half-Past Two” Resources

  • External Resources

    • What Do Kids Know About Time? — An article from Psychology Today exploring how young children conceive of time.

    • U. A. Fanthorpe's Life and Work — A short biography of Fanthorpe via the Poetry Foundation.

    • U. A. Fanthorpe's Obituary — The Guardian recounts U. A. Fanthorpe's life and major influences after the writer's death in 2009.

    • A Short Interview With Fanthorpe — U. A. Fanthorpe shares why she started writing poetry.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by U. A. Fanthorpe

    • A Minor Role

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