“Piano” and “Half-past Two”

Discuss how the theme of childhood is presented in the poems “Piano” and “Half-past Two” The theme of childhood is presented in the poem “Piano” and “Half-past two”. The poem Half-past two, written by U.A Fanthorpe, is all about how vulnerable children and their childish innocence. In both poems the poets present childhood in different and exceptional way. In “Piano”, childhood is presented in a very idealistic way. The poet is remembering the good old times when he was sitting under the piano and listening to his mother tenderly singing a powerful song. He remembers his loving mother, and all the factors surrounding her, only having a positive atmosphere. In the poem Half past two, the poet is telling the audience about how he has done something wrong at school, is now getting punished. However the child’s teacher has forgotten about them but the child is too scared to tell them and also is unable to tell the time. This poem is written in the child’s perspective. Though both poems present childhood in different ways, innocence is the main point in both of them. Firstly, in Half past two, the poem is told to the audience in narrative, this immediately gives the poem a childlike tone.

The poem begins with ‘Once upon a school time’, this gives the impression that it is a fairy-tale and that the child is telling a story. Throughout the poem the poet uses neologism. This is when the poet uses long and made up words, this gives it a more childlike tone. In Half past two, there are many onomatopoeic words, such as ‘click’ and ‘tick-less’, this highlights that this poem is from the child’s viewpoint, as these are words that children are not familiar with. In contrast to this, D.H Lawrence uses long and difficult words to remind the reader that is was written by an adult. This emphasises that he is reminiscing about his childhood, when he was sitting underneath the piano, listening to his mother play. He is nostalgic about the warmth and happiness of his childhood days. Both poems use a range of techniques, such as onomatopoeia and alliteration, personification and oxymoron’s. In both poems, the layout of the poem is in stanzas, in the poem Half past two, there is no rhyme scheme. However in the poem Piano, the rhyme scheme is AABB, the stanzas are in rhyming couplets.