Depictions of Childhood Emotion in "Half-past Two" and "Piano" Anonymous 11th Grade

The following essay will explore how recollections of childhood are presented in “Half-past Two”, by U.A. Fanthorpe, a poem through which a child talks about their experience of getting a detention and not knowing why, and not quite being able to comprehend the time fully. The essay will also focus on “Piano”, by D.H. Lawrence, a poem through which a nostalgic man who misses his mother and longs for the sound of her playing the piano again. Both poems present childhood memories as unsettling, yet the clear negative tone assumed by Fanthorpe contrasts with the positive yearning expressed in Lawrence's composition.

Firstly, in “Half-past Two”, the boy’s experiences of not being able to read the time are stressed. He seems to know what happens at certain times of the day, for example “Gettinguptime” and “Timetogohomenowtime”, however he cannot quite understand the meaning of “half-past two”. This neologism implies that he knows these times well and fluently, as they are not something he ever had to work out for himself, so they just seem like one thing. Furthermore, although he seems to know what a clock looks like- “He knew the cock face”, he “couldn’t click its language”. This personification shows that he is immature and it...