Both 'Half-past Two' and 'Hide and Seek' portray the theme of being left alone through the use of language, form, and structure of each of the two poems.
In 'Half-past Two', a child is put into detention for doing “Something Very Wrong” until half-past two; he doesn't know how to tell the time. As a result, doesn't know when to leave, he stays there daydreaming until the teacher remembers him, and she sends him away. 'Hide and Seek' is also about a child who is left alone. The poem is a story of a child who is left alone by his friends as they are playing hide-and-seek.
Both 'Half-past Two' and 'Hide and Seek' illustrate the theme of being left alone through their form. Both poems are free verse and without extensive use of rhymes and rhythm. …show more content…
In ‘Half-past Two’, the child reflects in the beginning, ‘ He did Something Very Wrong.’, ‘He knew a lot of time: he knew…’, the voice that is looking back reflects on his childhood self as a memoir. Everything is very childish, ‘Once upon a schooltime..’, a fairytale opening and the compound words make the reader laugh at the innocence of this child, ‘gettinguptime’, ‘timeyouwereofftime’, etc. However as the poem progresses, we realize that there is more to the poem. That it isn’t just about a child in detention who doesn’t know how to tell time, but also, shows and highlights the significance of time in the lives of a child and an …show more content…
At first, he is excited and absolutely thrilled to be alone, ‘they’re moving closer, someone stumbles, mutters;’, ‘But don’t come out just yet…’, ‘The must be thinking that you’re very clever,’ he wants to win, he is glad that he is alone as it is what ensures his victory in this game. The mood changes in line 18, ‘It seems a long time since they went away,’ he is now not so happy that he is alone; he wants to be found at this point. The discomfort he ignores in the first few lines, ‘The floor is cold,’ is more prominent and harder to ignore, ‘Your legs are stiff, the cold bites through your coat;’ because of which he decides to some out of the shed, only to find ‘the darkening garden’ watching him and the bushes hold their breath. He is so alone at this point that he has to personify things to compensate for the lack of
In 'Half-past Two', a child is put into detention for doing “Something Very Wrong” until half-past two; he doesn't know how to tell the time. As a result, doesn't know when to leave, he stays there daydreaming until the teacher remembers him, and she sends him away. 'Hide and Seek' is also about a child who is left alone. The poem is a story of a child who is left alone by his friends as they are playing hide-and-seek.
Both 'Half-past Two' and 'Hide and Seek' illustrate the theme of being left alone through their form. Both poems are free verse and without extensive use of rhymes and rhythm. …show more content…
In ‘Half-past Two’, the child reflects in the beginning, ‘ He did Something Very Wrong.’, ‘He knew a lot of time: he knew…’, the voice that is looking back reflects on his childhood self as a memoir. Everything is very childish, ‘Once upon a schooltime..’, a fairytale opening and the compound words make the reader laugh at the innocence of this child, ‘gettinguptime’, ‘timeyouwereofftime’, etc. However as the poem progresses, we realize that there is more to the poem. That it isn’t just about a child in detention who doesn’t know how to tell time, but also, shows and highlights the significance of time in the lives of a child and an …show more content…
At first, he is excited and absolutely thrilled to be alone, ‘they’re moving closer, someone stumbles, mutters;’, ‘But don’t come out just yet…’, ‘The must be thinking that you’re very clever,’ he wants to win, he is glad that he is alone as it is what ensures his victory in this game. The mood changes in line 18, ‘It seems a long time since they went away,’ he is now not so happy that he is alone; he wants to be found at this point. The discomfort he ignores in the first few lines, ‘The floor is cold,’ is more prominent and harder to ignore, ‘Your legs are stiff, the cold bites through your coat;’ because of which he decides to some out of the shed, only to find ‘the darkening garden’ watching him and the bushes hold their breath. He is so alone at this point that he has to personify things to compensate for the lack of