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.