Poem : My Hero by Willis Hall

Paraphrase

Stanza Meaning
1 The persona is very proud of his father who he feels is as brave as any other
father or even braver. In his eyes, his father is Number One as his father is
fearless and not afraid of the dead of night and anything under the sun.
2 The persona says his father is not afraid to watch horror movies late in the
night. Horror scenes of skeletons do not scare him or put him off watching
them.
3 According to the persona, his father will not be afraid if he encounters
ghosts. He is of the opinion that his father would even smile and
acknowledge them. In his eyes, his father dares to fight against things that
most other dads are afraid of.
4 The persona's father will not be intimidated by horror figures like
vampires, wolf-man or Frankenstein's monster even if they appear at the
door.
5 The persona says his father is as brave as a father can be and he's always
keen to show it. However, he is curious about something. Whenever his
father sees a spider, he will not touch it and mother has to come to help
him.

Synopsis

The personas admires his father a lot. He describes his father as very brave and not afraid of anything. Due to
this, he rates him as Number One. His father who watches horror movies late at night will not be terrified by
any scary scenes or skeletons. If any ghost appears in front of him, he will either greet them fearlessly or fight
them off. Horror figures, ugly or scary looking creatures do not give him the creeps even if they appear at his
door. However, his only weakness is - fear of spiders.

Setting Point of View

Place : House – the child is talking about the father  First person point of view
being around the house - watching  The persona is an intelligent and observant
television and a spider in the bath. young child
Time : No specific time frame

Morals Values
Themes
 We should acknowledge other people's
 Parent-child relationship abilities and strengths.
 Hero worship and admiration  We have to learn to accept other people's
 People have their own skills and strengths weaknesses.
 Admit that everyone has weaknesses and  We must respect each other.
flaws  We have to value and treasure family
relationships.
Structure, Style, and Language Tone and Mood

 The language is simple and descriptive  Innocence and purehearted

 Four stanza, no fixed rhyme scheme  Pride
 There are four lines per stanza  Serious
 Rhyme scheme : Stanza 1 – abcb
Stanza 2 – abcb
Stanza 3 – abab
Stanza 4 – abcb
Stanza 5 – abcb

Literary Devices

 Symbol : – ‘dead of night’- symbolise the quietest and darkest part of the night
– ‘anything under the sun’ - anything that can be seen during the day
 Repetition : – ‘My dad's as brave as a dad can be’ – (line 1, stanza 1) ; (line 1, stanza 5)
– ‘He's not afraid of...’ – (line 3, stanza 1); (line 1, stanza 2); (line 1, stanza 3); (line 1, stanza 4)
 Assonance : – ‘If Frankenstein's monster knocked on our door’
 Alliteration : – ‘And things that scare most dads the most’