“My Hero by Willis Hall”
Paraphrase of the Poem
My dad’s as brave as a dad can be,
Stanza 1
I rate him Number One,
He’s not afraid of the dead of night,
Or anything under the sun.
He’s not afraid of a late-night film,
Stanza 2
Full of horrors on the telly,
And is he afraid of skeletons?
Not dad, not on you Nelly!
He’s not afraid of meeting ghosts,
Stanza 3
He’s even smile and greet ‘em,
And things that scare most dads the
most,
My dad could just defeat ‘em.
He’s not afraid of vampires,
Stanza 4
Or a wolf-man come to get him,
If Frankenstein’s monster knocked on
our door,
He wouldn’t let that upset him.
My dad’s brave as a dad can be,
Stanza 5
And he’s always ready to prove it.
So why, when a spider’s in the bath,
Does Mum have to come and remove it?
“My Hero by Willis Hall”
The persona is very proud of his father
whom 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.
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.
The persona is positive his father is not
afraid of ghosts and would even smile
and acknowledge them. His father dares
to fight against things that most other
dads are afraid of.
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.
The persona says his father is as brave
as a father can be and he’s always keen
to show it. But, when his father sees a
spider, he will not touch it and mother
has to come to his aid. This is something
the persona cannot understand about
his brave father. Is he really afraid of a
mere spider?
 Literal Meaning
The persona has a very high regard for his
father and can be said to consider him his
hero. On a scale of one to ten, the persona
rates his father Number One. This rating
shows that he looks up to his father whom
he regards as his hero. The father does not
fear anything under the sun including the
dead of night. He is considered especially
brave with regards to ghosts, horror figures
and monsters. He watches and enjoys
horror movies late at night and this is the
reason the persona feels his father is
courageous. If any horror figures appear at
his door, the persona’s father will not be
intimidated. He will smile and even greet
them. The father is always ready to show
his bravery. In spite of this, the father has a
spot of weakness – he has a fear of spiders.
Figurative Meaning
In life, there are people whom we look up to
for some reason or other. It could be due to
their physical attributes, achievements,
abilities or emotional strength. The person
may be a family member, someone in the
entertainment world. Whoever it is, we tend
to regard the person as our hero or place
the person on a pedestal, especially if the
person has something or done something
we can relate to. However, we should
remember as humans we all have our
weaknesses. So, even heroes with all their
achievements have weak spots. There is
something they fear or are not able to do.
No one is invincible – even the brave ones
have phobia or two.
Write True or False for each of the statements below.

1. The persona like his father has a liking for ghoulish movies. F
2. The persona feels his father is not as brave as other fathers. F
3. The main theme in the poem is that of parent-child relationships. T
4. Most people shy away from ghostly figures but not the persona’s father. T
5. The father is not likely to encourage the persona to watch horror movies. T
6. Vampires, wolf-man and Frankenstein monsters are figments of the
T
imagination.
7. The persona’s family has a phobia of spiders. F
8. Only heroes can deal with unexpected horrors but they have weaknesses too. T
9. All fathers are brave enough to greet ghostly figures that come knocking on
F
their door.
10. The persona takes pride in his father and hero-worships him. T