Answer: simile

It compares the shop to a held breath using 'as', so it is a simile.

Answer: a metaphor

The lamp is called a 'sun' without 'like' or 'as': a metaphor. It suggests the lamp is the centre of his small world.

Answer: personification

Buses cannot sigh; the human action suggests weariness (and imitates the hiss of air brakes).

Answer: alliteration

The repeated 'f' sound is alliteration; the quick, sharp sounds suit the restless city.

Answer: It emphasises how tiny and delicate the parts are, and therefore how skilful, careful and patient the repairer must be.

Answer: It makes the clocks seem alive, so a broken clock is like a sick creature and the repairer is like a doctor or healer who brings it back to life ('remembers how to beat'). It shows how much care and tenderness he brings to his work.

Answer: admiring and tender

The poet presents his patience as 'the gift that no one else will spare' and gives him a calm, dignified exit; the tone is quietly admiring.

Answer: Stanza 3 is restless and hurried, while stanzas 2 and 4 are calm and focused. The difference comes from short, clipped sentences, verbs of rapid movement and light ('hurries', 'flash and flare') and the blunt repetition of 'Nobody', compared with the slow, careful verbs ('bends', 'lifting', 'gives') used for the repairer.

Answer: The poet seems gently critical of the city's rush and impatience. For example, the street is 'late for something' (it hurries without knowing why), and 'Nobody has a minute. Nobody stops.'

Answer: Seven three-line stanzas (tercets) with no regular rhyme scheme

There are seven stanzas of three lines. A few words rhyme (hair, flare, spare) but there is no regular pattern.

Answer: It sets up a clear contrast between the hurried world outside and the patient world inside the shop. Placing the two side by side makes the repairer's calm seem even more unusual and valuable.

Answer: Enjambment (here across a stanza break). The sentence carries on past the end of the stanza, so the reader experiences time stretching on, just as the repairer keeps working hour after hour until the clock is fixed.

Answer: It shows that the repairer stays calm even when he steps out into the rushing street. 'Does not run' sets him apart from the city that is 'late for something' and shows that patience is part of who he is, not just how he works.

Answer: a HUN-dred MEND-ed HEARTS tick ON: four regular beats, each an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one (iambic). The steady, even beat imitates the ticking of clocks and a calm heartbeat, matching the idea of patience and steadiness.

Answer: 'until the stubborn wheels agree' has a smooth, regular da-DUM rhythm, like a clock working properly. 'Nobody has a minute. Nobody stops.' is irregular and broken by a full stop, so it sounds jerky and rushed, matching the hurried city.

Answer: The commas force the reader to pause and the long line takes time to read, so the poem itself slows down at the end. The sound matches the meaning: the poem finishes in the same unhurried way the repairer lives.

Answer: tercet → a stanza of three lines; enjambment → a sentence or phrase that runs on past the end of a line or stanza; tone → the poet's attitude towards the subject; imagery → language that creates pictures or sensations in the reader's mind; rhythm → the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables

Model answer: The poet uses contrast between the shop and the city to present patience as rare and valuable. The repairer is introduced through calm, delicate imagery: he bends 'beneath a lamp's small sun', lifting 'springs as fine as hair', which shows the care his work requires. In stanza 3 the poem abruptly turns 'Outside', where 'Buses sigh' and 'Phones flash and flare'; the alliteration and short, clipped sentences create a restless, broken rhythm. The repetition 'Nobody has a minute. Nobody stops.' suggests the city has lost something important. Stanza 4 turns back 'Inside', and the enjambment of 'an hour, and then another hour' across the stanza break makes the reader feel his patient, unhurried time. The metaphor of the 'tiny heart' that 'remembers how to beat' shows that his patience literally brings things back to life. The final line, slowed by commas, 'patient, steady, in no hurry at all', echoes the steady ticking of the clocks. Through this contrast, the poet suggests that patience is a gift worth more than the speed the city values.

Model answer: He hums to the cogs as if they were shy, coaxing each tooth to its neighbour, slow as a tide coming in.