The Malham Bird

Analysis of The Malham Bird by Dannie Abse

Postcard to his Wife

Analysis of Postcard to his Wife by Dannie Abse

Terrible Angels

Analysis of Terrible Angels by Dannie Abse

The Death of Aunt Alice

Analysis of The Death of Aunt Alice by Dannie Abse

A Wall

Analysis of A Wall by Dannie Abse

Red Balloon

Analysis of Red Balloon by Dannie Abse

Figure of 8

Analysis of Figure of 8 by Dannie Abse

The Game

Analysis of The Game by Dannie Abse

Two Photographs

Analysis of Two Photographs by Dannie Abse

I'm really glad my camera is so good that you can read my notes. It really does help.

Sons

Analysis of Sons by Dannie Abse

Imitations

Analysis of Imitations by Dannie Abse

Welsh Valley Cinema

Analysis of Welsh Valley Cinema by Dannie Abse

In The Theatre

Analysis of In The Theatre by Dannie Abse

The Mistake

Analysis of The Mistake by Dannie Abse

The Boasts of Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd

Analysis of The Boasts of Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd by Dannie Abse

Return to Cardiff

Analysis of Return to Cardiff by Dannie Abse

I don't know if I'm just not very good at finding good stuff to analyse, or if there's actually not as much to write about these poems, compared to the Larkin poems.

Down the M4

Analysis of Down the M4 by Dannie Abse

Leaving Cardiff

Analysis of Leaving Cardiff by Dannie Abse

I was going to type out some notes, but they would be exactly the same as the ones shown on the picture of my written notes.

Self's the Man

Analysis of Self's the Man by Philip Larkin

- Appears to show a negative view of women. "He married a woman to stop her getting away/ Now she's there all day". Arnold is stuck with this woman whom he regrets marrying, he didn't know what he was getting himself in to. His money "She takes as her perk", making her sound like a prostitute. When he's not "wasting his life on work", she commands him to "Put a screw in the wall", making her seem controlling.

- Actually, the money goes towards "the kiddies' clobber and drier/ And the electric fire", which he would surely miss if she didn't pay for them.

- "And if it was such a mistake/ He still did it for his own sake" - Arnold married the woman because he didn't want to be alone without her, so would probably be in a worse position without her around.

- Persona compares himself to Arnold: "So he and I are the same,/ Only I'm a better hand/ At knowing what I can stand" - knows the deal breakers that would stop him getting married.

Ignorance

Analysis of Ignorance by Philip Larkin

"Strange to know nothing, never to be sure"

- Uncertainty towards beliefs and what is believed to be true.

"Someone must know."

 - Questioning tone, doesn't like not understanding, almost desperate need to know.

"Strange to be ignorant of the way things work"

- People take things (life) for granted and don't try to understand any deeper meanings.

"Willingness to change"

 - People will change their lives to adjust to the world they know nothing about.

"Even to wear such knowledge - for our flesh/ Surrounds us with its decisions"

- We're not in control of what we do and believe.

"And yet spend all our life on imprecisions"

 - Everything we think - like our explanations for life - aren't correct.

"When we start to die/ Have no idea why"

- We die still ignorant of life and the truth is never revealed to us.

Broadcast

Analysis of Broadcast by Philip Larkin

- Larkin is listening to radio broadcast of a concert which Maeve Brennan is at.

- 'I think of your face among all those faces' - picks her out from the crowd.

- 'One of your gloves unnoticed on the floor/ Beside those new, slightly out-moded shoes.' Inside jokes about her clumsiness and her clothing choices.

- Onomatopoeia: 'whispering' 'coughing' 'scuttle' 'snivelling' - helps us picture the scene.

- 'Here it goes quickly dark. I lose/ All but the outline of the still withering' - loses her in the darkness and becomes desperate to her 'hands, tiny in all that air, applauding'.

Send No Money

Analysis of Send No Money by Philip Larkin

- Talking to personified 'Time', asking to 'Teach me the way things go' - tell him about life.

- 'Sit here and watch the hail/ Of occurence clobber life out' - sit and let life pass you by.

- 'Oh thank you' 'Oh yes please' - gullible, naive.

- 'I spent youth,/ Tracing the trite untransferable/ Truss-advertisment, truth' - wasted his life not doing anything, like someone gullible watching an advert.

Naturally The Foundation Will Bear Your Expenses

Analysis of Naturally The Foundation Will Bear Your Expenses by Philip Larkin

- Self-centered persona; possesive 'my Comet' 'made my taxi late' - doesn't care about the memorial, just annoyed it's made him late to catch his plane.

- 'I pondered pages Brekley/ Not three weeks since had heard' - plagiarism; recylcing essay.

- 'Queen and Minister/ And Band of Guards' - people reminiscing are the ones who made the decision for soldiers to go over the top.

- 'When will England grow up?' - stop wasting time thinking about the dead and get on with your own life.

- Most Larkin poems: mundane before serious. This: Serious, then forgets about it and moves on to something mundane.

A Study of Reading Habits

Analysis of A Study of Reading Habits by Philip Larkin

"When getting my nose in a book/ Cured most things short of school"

- Reading is his escapism, lets him have fantasies about himself where he is this strong, powerful heroic character.

"Evil was just my lark:/ Me and my coat and fangs/ Had ripping times in the dark."

- Thinks everyone fancies him, some kind of sex machine.

"I broke them up like meringues." 

- Thinks he awesome, but it doesn't take much effort to break a meringue.

"the dude/ Who lets the girl down before/ The hero arrives"

- More realistic view of himself, likes he's playing the supporting role in his own life story.

 

 

 

The Large Cool Store

Analysis of The Large Cool Store by Philip Larkin

"The large cool store selling cheap clothes/ Set out in simple sizes plainly"

- Could be a positive or negative view of the shop. 'Cool' - could mean trendy, or literally cold, unpleasant. 'Cheap' - would be an advantage to shoppers, but could mean tacky. 'Set out in simple sizes plainly' - could mean it's easier to find what you're looking for, but could be degrading to the shoppers, saying they are simple natured and can't handle complexity. 

"In browns and greys, maroon and navy"

- Boring, bland colours for the working class during the day.

"Lemon, sapphire, moss-green, rose"

- Feminine colours for nightwear - not just yellow, blue, green, and pink. Different sides to personality?

"To suppose/ They share that world"

- Incredulous; can't believe someone can wear such different clothing.

- Commoners have no taste, the clothes they wear are man-made and of poor quality, and it's weird that they can wear different types of clothes.

 

Home Is So Sad

Analysis of Home Is So Sad by Philip Larkin

"It stays as it was left" "As if to win them back" "bereft of anyone to please, it withers so"

- House is personified; adds sympathy. 'withers' - like the house is dying.

"Having no heart to put aside the theft"

- House has been robbed of its family.

"And turn again to what it started as,/ A joyous shot at how things ought to be"

 - House is supposed to have people in it, but the time has passed and it has to move on.

 

 

Reference Back

Analysis of Reference Back by Philip Larkin

- Get the feeling he doesn't want to be with his mother; in separate rooms, shouting to each other across the house, wasting his time.

"Three decades later made this sudden bridge/ From your unsatisfactory age/ To my unsatisfactory prime."

- Bridge - musical term - literally made a reference. He's in the prime time of life but is still no happier than his old mother. Can we ever be truly satisfied?

"They link us to our losses: worse,/ They show us what we have as it once was,/ Blindingly undiminished, just as though/ By acting differently we could have kept it so"

- Music - reminds you of what you've lost and what could have been, we shouldn't have long memories because remembering is too painful.

- Similar to 'Love Songs In Age' - unsatisfied with life.

As Bad As A Mile

Analysis of As Bad As A Mile by Philip Larkin

'Watching the shield core

Striking the basket, skidding across the floor

Shows less and less of luck, and more and more

Of failure spreading back up the arm

Earlier and earlier, the unraised hand calm,

The apple unbitten in the palm.'

- Presents the idea of human greed; the satisfaction of eating the apple wasn't enough, the persona wanted even more. Disappointment in life is inevitable because we always want too much.

- Such a simple task that when it's failed, it feels even worse - even if the apple core was only an inch away from the bin, it feels like a mile.

The Importance of Elsewhere

Analysis of The Importance of Elsewhere by Philip Larkin

"Lonely in Ireland, since it was not home,/ Strangeness made sense"

It makes sense to be an outsider in a new place because it's obvious to everyone that you're a tourist.

"Living in England has no such excuse"

 "Here no elsewhere underwrites my existence"

It's okay that he's different in Ireland because it's not his home, not where he belongs, but when he's at home there's no excuse, he should fit in but he doesn't.

Sunny Prestatyn

Analysis of Sunny Prestatyn by Philip Larkin

- Sexuality used to promote the place - mainly breasts and thighs.

- Uses crude language to describe how she has been defaced - makes a point of demonstrating the lack of maturity. The language becomes more degrading as the poster gets more defaced.

- We see something beautiful and want to make it more realistic so we give it flaws and things we can laugh about.

- Was the cancer poster there and being covered up by something nice? Or is it replacing a nice thing because the reality is life sucks and if you ruin one thing it leads to more bad things?

MCMXIV

Analysis of MCMXIV by Philip Larkin

"Those long uneven lines/ Standing as patiently/ As if they were stretched outside/ The Oval or Villa Park"

People lining up to go war - a lot of the time in the trenches was spent waiting around bored. Cricket - game ground were common places of recruitment.

"Grinning as if it were all/ An August Bank Holiday lark"

Happy - unaware of what they're signing up to - propaganda giving false reality.

"And the shut shops, the bleached/ Established names on the sunblinds,/ The farthings and sovereigns/ And dark-clothed children at play"

Everything that is being left behind, peaceful last image of life before going to war.

"And the countryside not caring"

Nature doesn't care for men, the war is so different to what they're used to - countryside is supposed to be a peaceful safe place.

"Never such innocence,/ Never before or since"

The war had a lasting effect on England due to what it brought with it - first time weapons etc - but did this innocence we long for actually exist before the fall? Or do the war memorials create the idea of something that never existed in the first place?

"Without a word-- the men/ Leaving the gardens tidy"

 Trying to leave things in a nice way because they probably won't be coming back

"The thousands of marriages,/ Lasting a little while longer"

Getting married in desperation before going to war - they can die together.

 

 

 

For Sidney Bechet

Faith Healing

Essential Beauty

Mr Bleaney

Talking In Bed

Analysis of Talking In Bed by Philip Larkin

Talking In Bed is about a couple finding it difficult to come up with something to say to each other whilst they are in bed, and realising that perhaps their relationship has come as far as it can. The setting of the bed suggests proximity, but in actuality the couple must feel lonely.

Larkin starts by saying 'Talking in bed should be easiest' - if you are sharing a bed you must have got to the stage where you are comfortable with each other, as it is supposed to be a close and intimate place. 'Lying there together goes back so far' shows that this is a long term relationship, which further shows that they should know how to deal with this situation.

However, 'time passes silently', with nothing being said by either of them. This is the first sign that the relationship is not going so well.

'And dark towns heap up on the horizon. None of this cares for us.' - They don't care if bad times are coming, it won't make a difference to how they are feeling now.
'This unique distance from isolation' - They are physically close to each other yet they have never felt further apart.
'It becomes still more difficult to find words at once true and kind, Or not untrue and not unkind.' - It's hard to be truthful and kind, but it's harder to act neutral, so they're veering close to being unkind and lying.

Toads Revisited

Analysis of 'Toads Revisited' by Philip Larkin

• Starts with a less aggressive tone than 'Toads', with the nicer image of the park.
• 'Should' makes us realise it's all an illusion, and reality is quite different to the nice playground he describes.
• Unpleasant images of the men you may encounter - creepy 'waxed-flashed out-patients' from hospitals, suspicious looking men in 'long coats'.
• Avoid work 'By being stupid or weak' - Larkin thinks their lives are pointless and passive.
• Content with work compared to these people. Secretary likely refers to Larkin's secretary lover Betty.
• 'Give me your arm, old toad'- friendly relationship withwork.
• 'Help me down Cemetery Road' - work helps him on the road to death - is he really any better off than everyone else?

Afternoons

Analysis of Afternoons by Philip Larkin

- The children are growing up and the mothers need to get over it

- 'Young mothers assemble' - every afternoon, part of the life cycle

- 'Setting free their children' - so they can grow up and be independent, but could also represent the mother feeling trapped since the child was born and wanting to be free of it

- 'husbands in skilled trades' - fairly well-off, not much to complain about except the 'estateful of washing' - daily chores of domestic life.

- 'the albums, lettered Our Wedding, lying near the television' - the TV is more important to the family than the wedding photos, not properly looked after, TV is main focus in the room.

- 'the wind is ruining their courting-places' - wind represents life; a destructive, unpredictable force that changes everything.

- 'Their beauty has thickened. Something is pushing them to the side of their own lives.' - children have taken away their beauty and their lives; giving birth affected the mother's physicaly and mental health, being the mother is the main priority now, as if they're are the supporting role in their own movie.

Dockery and Son

Analysis of Dockery and Son by Philip Larkin

- 'Dockery and Son' - a status symbol that Larkin will never have, envious

- Changes the subject in the first stanza to avoid talking about Dockery - talks about his own memories of the crazy nights they would have here

- 'I try the door where I used to live: Locked' - he can't reclaim his youth, he's been locked out of his past.

- 'I catch my train, ignored' - emphasises his lack of family to miss him if he's gone

- 'But Dockery, good Lord' - shock suddenly hits him of how different his life is to Dockery's, how much he has achieved in the time that has passed

- 'Well, it just shows how much... How little... Yawning' - even while thinking about how much time he has lost, he is wasting more time sleeping

- 'To have no son, no wife, no house or land' - has nothing to show for twenty years, hasn't accomplished anything

- 'a numbness registered the shock of finding out how much had gone of life' - hadn't realised how quickly life was passing, how much time he had wasted

- 'how convinced he was he should be added to! Why did he think adding meant increase? To me it meant dilution' - makes Dockery sound bigheaded, thinking the world needs another one of him. You're really spreading yourself out across your children, there'll be none of you left if you keep doing it.

- 'They're more a style our lives bring with them: habit for a while, Suddenly they harden into all we've got' - people don't really want kids at first, they just follow the system/ routine, then when you get older they're all you care about and all that matters in life (which is kinda sad)

- 'They rear like sand clouds' - fast, uncontrollable, unpredictable

- 'Whether or not we use it, it goes' - life is going by at the same speed no matter if you're not doing anything, so you might as well make the most of it and get everything you can out of it.

Love Poems

Analysis of An Arundel Tomb, Love Songs in Age, and Wild Oats by Philip Larkin

(Put together in one posts because I don't have many notes on them)

You know, I'm really glad you can read those notes. Very helpful.

An Arundel Tomb

- What I mainly got from this was lying and love.

- 'Their proper habits vaguely shown' - superficial, what you see on the statues is only a representation of the couple, it doesn't show what they were really like.

- 'One sees, with a sharp tender shock, His hand withdrawn, holding her hand' - why is it such a surprise to see him holding her hand? Is it because they never held hands in life because they weren't that close?

- 'Rigidly, they persisted, through engths and breadths of time.' - always together, nothing can stop them, even if they didn't want to be together they still kept up appearance.

'Time had transfigured them into untruth.' They are lying to excuse their behaviour as time goes on.

Love Songs in Age

- 'She kept her songs, they kept so little space' - very tidy person, only kept them because they wouldn't make much difference.

- 'One bleached... One marked... One mended' - songs could represent her, how she's trying to make herself look younger - bleached her hair, had surgery etc.

- 'She found them, looking for something else' - Serendipity - happy mistake.

- When you get old, you realise everything you haven't done in life that you wanted to. When you're young you thing you have all the time in the world.

- 'Love... still promising to solve and satisfy... It had not done so then, and could not now'. Love is supposed to make your life interesting and fun, but it hasn't for her, and now it never can because her husband has died.

Wild Oats

- Man likes girl, gets with her friend, pines over what could have been.

- Very degrading towards the girls - fact that he actually calls them 'girls' when they are women, 'bosomy English rose and her friend in specs' - defined by their most noticeable feature.

- Man is self-conscious of his looks - took out the less attractive friend because the 'bosomy rose' was too good for him, thought she was trying not to laugh.

- Keeps pictures of other girl in his wallet - unsatisfied with specs girl.

Water, First Sight, Days, and Nothing To Be Said

Analysis of Water, First Sight, Days, and Nothing To Be Said by Philip Larkin

Water

- Aims to challenge religion and its followers

- Larkin is not religious but understands that for some people it's their escapism, church is their comforting safe place.

- 'contruct a religion' - fabrication, manmade concept, not real, not worth the time.

- Lazy rhythm - flows irregularly like water

- Alliteration - 'dry, different' 'devout drench' - sounds like a dripping tap.

First Sight

- First step into the world on your own without your mother.

- Lambs born in winter, first sight is cold snow, think the world is cold and cruel.

- 'Earth's immeasurable surprise' - that it will be sunny and warm eventually.

- Represents life - you'll have bad days when everything sucks, but good things will be just around the corner, you just aren't aware of it yet.

Days

- Doesn't seem too concerned about the fact that he's dead.

- Doctor will visit when you die, priest at the funeral will pray for you.

Days to 'be happy in' - don't worry about the future, it's futile, live in the now. Don't worry about things you can't control.

- 'Solving the question' of death, how you're going to die. Only answer to life is death, so don't worry about how or when it's going to come.

Nothing To Be Said

- ' advance on death equally slowly' - Whatever you do in life, death is still coming.

- It doesn't matter where you're from, how nice you are, what you do in life - you're still going to die.

- Some people have accepted this - it 'means nothing' to them, as it's just what's coming to everyine. Some people fear it, it ruins their lives as they are constantly worrying about when it's coming.

Toads

Analysis of 'Toads' by Philip Larkin

'Toad' - not literal toad, but a metaphor for work and its obligations in society

Stanza 1

'Why should I let the toad work' - really hates work to compare it to a slimy old toad

'Squat' - not pleasant, work is dreary and soul-sucking 'brute'

Stanza 2

Life sucks because he has to work to pay his bills. 'Six days a week' ruined by work, poisonous to the mind. Quantity of work compared to what he gets out of it isn't in proportion.

Stanza 3

People have escaped the system and use their brains to work - lecturers just talk about what they know, 'losels, loblolly-men, louts' - worthless, foolish, offensive; not really what to aspire to be like. Alliteration of 'l' - like all these people are in some kind of team who have escaped hard work.

Stanza 4

'live up lanes with fires in a bucket' - homeless people, taking fallen food, 'seem to like it' - can't really do anything about it, have to make do.

Stanza 5

'Their nippers have bare feet' - can't afford shoes for the kids, families are malnourished yet not starved - looking on the bright side.

Stanza 6

'were I courageous enough to shout Stuff your pension!' - wishes he could do something to change it but knows he never will because that only happens in 'dreams'.

Stanza 7

'For something sufficiently toad-like squats in me, too' - he has an internal obligation to work, that is 'heavy as hard luck, And cold as snow' - internal struggle.

Stanza 8

Will never be able to sweet-talk his way to the big three; 'the fame and the girl and the money' - doesn't want to have to work for them.

Stanza 9

The internal toad didn't create the external one, and vice versa, but their co-existence makes life hard for him.

The Whitsun Weddings

Analysis of The Whitsun Weddings by Philip Larkin

'The Whitsun Weddings' follows Larkin on a train journey from Lincolnshire to London on Whitsun Day, when marriage taxes are free and more people are encouraged to get married.

"all cushions hot" - The train is uncomfortable because of the other people. It's like a bonding experience with the other passengers.

"Canals with floatings of industrial froth" - pollution is making the natural world unpleasant.

"Until the next town, new and nondescript" - so new that is is bland and lacking distinguishing features; it's just the same as any other town.

"grinning and pomaded, girls in parodies of fashion, heels and veils, all posed irresolutely, watcing us go" - Larkin finds the make-up creepy, the women are unsure of what they are doing - maybe they have cold feet

"mothers loud and fat; An uncle shouting smut; and then the perms, The nylon gloves and jewellery-substitutes" - grotesque, unatural and disgusting - cheap tacky working class weddings, 'substitutes' - nothing is real, maybe not even the relationship because they're only getting married because it is cheaper this day. Larkin is bitter and resentful.

"The secret like a happy funderal" - oxymoronic; ceremony of the 'end', comparing wedding to funeral - life is over? 

"Thought of the others they would never meet" - they will never have the chance to meet someone new and experience this with someone else, stuck with this person forever now, maybe regretting it.

Take One Home For The Kiddies

Analysis of Take One Home For The Kiddies by Philip Larkin

Take One Home For The Kiddies is about children asking their mother to buy them some sort of small rodent, then it dying because kids are incapable of caring for anything.
Larkin describes the animal's life through its living arrangements - 'shallow' could refer to the short, meaningless life rodents live, in conditions where the sun shines in their eyes through 'shadeless glass' and with 'empty bowls' showing that even the shop owner doesn't care enough to remember to feed them. The rodent's deprivation is further shown in the next line:

"No dark, no dam, no earth, no grass-"

This makes us feel sympathy for the animals - taken away from their mother and kept in the dark, away from their natural habitat, just to satisfy some stupid kid who won't appreciate it.

In the second stanza the rodent becomes a 'living toy', showing how kids don't treat it properly. The excitement of a new toy 'soon wears off' and they move on to a game of 'funerals'. This shows how kids are unaware of the real world, treating everything like a game that doesn't have any consequences. 

Here

Analysis of Here by Philip Larkin

In Here, Larkin takes use on a journey to an unknown destination that is known as 'here''. The langage he uses creates imagery which enhances the journey and makes use feel as if we are actually there.

The title word 'here' isn't actually used in the poem until the last stanza, which builds suspense through the first stanzas on where we are heading. 
Larkin repeats 'swerving' three times in the first stanza, emphasizing the movement to make it seem like the narrator is in a rush to get away from this ugly 'gull-marked town' to get to his destination. 'Swerving' could also represent how hectic traffic is in towns and cities. 
Larkin repeatedly refers to how unattractive the town is, talking about the 'grain-scattered streets' and 'raw estates'. This shows how digusted he is by the town, and makes us more curious to see where the place is he is heading that he must actually like.

Larkin uses alliteration and sibilance in the first two stanzas, first 'skies and scarecrows, haystacks, hares'. This increases the fluidity of the movement to 'here', transporting the reader there easier.

Ambulances

Philip Larkin 'Ambulances' Analysis

Ambulances follows, unsurprisingly, an ambulance as it takes someone on their last journey in life. It talks about the fact that we are all going to eventually die, and although we know this will happen to everyone, we are still afraid of dying.

Themes

The main theme of this poem is the fact that death is inevitable.

"All streets in time are visited."

This is basically saying that everyone will die at some point in their lives, whether this is early on or after a long time. Despite seeming morbid, this is the fate that awaits us all, and Larkin is simply being realistic. The word 'visited' is an interesting one to use, as this usually signifies something good, whereas in actuality whenever we see an ambulance we pray it's not going to someone we know because they often mean death is coming.

"The solving emptiness that lies just under all we do."

This shows that we know that death is coming for us, and this knowledge affects the decisions we make - we assess the risk involved to decide whether it's something that could end our lives sooner rather than later. It could also be referring to the fact that when we die and are buried, it is under ground, so literally under our feet.

Interesting Language

"Children strewn on steps or roads"

The use of strewn in this line makes the children seem careless, as they are too young too think about the risks of playing on roads. Larkin then mentions women in the next line, suggesting that it is their fault for not looking after their children properly.

"It is carried away and stowed"

Larkin addresses the person in the ambulance as 'it', which could be because they are nearing death, when gender is irrelevant because you are just a corpse. The body is also 'stowed' away like an object until it is needed for the funeral. This is further shown in the following quote:

"The unique random blend of families and fashions, there at last begin to loosen."

This shows that who you spent time with and what you liked in life, the things that made you different from the next person, don't matter in death, so maybe aren't so important in life either.

"The fastened doors recede."

 This is talking about the ambulance doors closing and the onlookers watching as the life inside is taken away from the world. It reflects the fact that once you have died, you can't come back to life.