Section B · Anthology PoetryU.A. Fanthorpe · Contemporary
Half-past Two
U.A. Fanthorpe · Edexcel IGCSE anthology poem · 30-mark comparison question · Poems provided in the exam.
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Watch first — Mrs Rumsey
Mrs Rumsey · Edexcel IGCSE AnthologyAnalysis of Half-past Two
Key analysis
⚡ Section B — 30-mark comparison: AO2 (analyse language, form, structure) + AO3 (compare two poems throughout — not one then the other). Both poems are given in the exam. Quote precisely and explain the effect of specific word choices.
Themes
Childhood and the experience of time
Imagination and creativity
The adult world vs the child's world
Innocence and the sense of wonder
Language acquisition and childhood
Form & Structure
Irregular stanzas — mirroring the child's irregular, non-linear experience of time
The child's perspective maintained throughout — creating dramatic irony (reader knows more than the child)
Portmanteau words: "half-past kisstime", "schooltime", "bedtime" — the child's invented vocabulary for time
The shift in tense at the end signals a difference between the child's timeless state and the adult present
The poem ends mid-sentence, unresolved — like the child's experience
Key quotes to memorise
"Something Very Wrong" — capitalisation for a child's inflated sense of transgression
"He had a clock-face, no time of day was there" — the child cannot read a clock
"He escaped into the timeless land of ever" — the child's timeless imagination
"Where time hides tick-less, deep in silences" — silence as a place outside adult-measured time
"He came home with his past never-quite-forgotten" — the lasting trace of the experience
Exam questions — 2 questions · 17 marks
1 markInvented words
Why does Fanthorpe use invented words like "schooltime", "bedtime", and "half-past kisstime"?
A She is showing that the child has not yet learned to tell the time
B The invented vocabulary represents how children categorise time by meaningful events rather than by numbers — the child's relationship to time is fundamentally different from the adult clock-based world
C The poet is mocking the child's inability to use language correctly
D The invented words are errors that Fanthorpe deliberately included to seem childlike
15 marksComparison paragraphSection B style
Write two comparative paragraphs exploring how Half-past Two and Poem at Thirty-Nine both use memory and childhood to explore identity and loss.
Hint: Compare throughout. Cover: what childhood memory each poem explores + tone (nostalgia, grief, wonder) + formal approach (point of view) + key difference.