Broadcast

Broadcast

 

Larkin wrote this poem for maeve and it conveys his love for music and his love of  maeve 

Within stanza one: 'Giant whispering' - contrast, paradox, onomatopoeia, background noise.
'coughing' - the start of something - suspense and anticipation.
'sudden scuttle' - alliteration

Stanza two: 'beautiful and devout' - he's adoring of her.
'cascades' - waterfall - metaphor
'one of your gloves unnoticed on the floor' - he knows her traits and what she's like.
'here it goes quickly dark' - his mood and atmosphere changes quickly.

Within Stanza three: half empty - incomplete, 'leaves on half-emptied trees.'
'rabid storms of chording' - music reaches a crescendo matches emotions - pathetic fallacy
'all the more shamelessly, their cut-off shout leaving me desperate to pick out your hands, tiny in all that air, applauding' - describing his feelings. 'cut-off' - music stopped, relationship stopped. 'desperate' - he misses her, not sure how he feels.

Larkin uses a steady rhyme scheme, with lots of sound and music imagery.

For Sidney Bechet

For Sidney Bechet

This poem written by Larkin was dedicated to Sidney Bechet, a famous jazz musician.


Within stanza one 'like New Orleans reflected on the water' New Orleans is the city of music, especially jazz, the fantasy land. This is where Bechet was born along with the era of jazz. As far south as you can go before reaching the water. In Stanza two Larkin describes the 'Quarter Of balconies, flower-baskets and quadrilles, everyone making love and going shares' everything is perfect, a very idyllic setting.

In stanza three 'Oh, play that thing!' this presents the audiences appreciation
'sporting-house girls like circus tigers' these are prostitutes that have animalistic connotations, this is degrading and sexist.
'Priced far above rubies'  they were very expensive
In stanza four 'scholars manques'  they would have been scholars, therefore they're unfulfilled in their lives and dreams, they are obsessed with jazz music. they're practically experts.
'wrapped up in personnels like old plaids.' the audience was engrossed in the music.

In stanza five 'on me your voice falls as they say love should,' Does Larkin not know what love feels like? has Larkin ever been in love? Paradox as Larkin loves the sound of music but has never been loved. Within stanza six it only has two lines, the other five stanzas all have three lines. 'And greeted as the natural noise of good, scattering long-haired grief and scored pity'.  the overall poem has a theme of jazz not only in  the context but also in the structure of the poem. This poem is one of the very few of Larkin's poems that isn't cynical.

Afternoons

 

 

Afternoons

 

 

The use of pathetic fallacy throughout the poem

 

Summer is fading - the happy times are drifting away, the leaves fall in ones and twos- the autumn is slowly reappearing, their moods are shifting as they are all a lot happier in the summer.

 

The different people within the poem

 

The estate mothers, they are described as gossipers they set their children free as if their children are wild and untamed.

The skilled trade fathers stand back 'at intervals' Larkin describes the fathers as not very hands on they prefer to let the mothers raise the children as they watch.

The children referred to as animals, they get set free as if they were cooped up at home all day, metaphorically could be from prison

 

Changes over time / different generations

 

Children before marriage?

The album is neglected, this conveys how the husband feels after the children were born, he feels pushed out and unwanted, it could also present their relationship as being neglected and ruined.

There are young people acting much older than they are 'still in school' The husbands aren't part of it anymore.

 

Social Class

 

They look daft, assembling at the swings, the mothers are just gossiping whereas males have  skilled trade, therefore they're standing back, Larkin is trying to show that being a mother isn't a skilled trade it is supposedly easy, and these mothers only stand around gossiping.

 

Use of poetic techniques

 

The last stanza: The children have pushed their mothers to the side of their own lives, the children are more important than their own lives and happiness.

Self's The Man

Self's The Man

 



What kind of persona is created in the poem?

 

A harsh persona is used that females are useless and take everything from the males that work, also the stereotype that females just cook, clean and take care of the children.

 

What view of marriage is presented?

 

The males do everything within the marriage and the females are just using the males, Arnold trapped her. She receives no name as she is not important, he gets trapped, the use of imperatives conveys the bossy relationship the female has over her husband 'Put a screw in the wall'

 

What view of women is presented?

 

The female is taking all of his money, she doesn't do anything to help, she is described as a leach

 

A fairly casual tone is adopted. Give examples to support this and comment on the effect on the reader

 

'Nippers'  is a strong slang word for children

Its the normal tone of the household they have become accustomed to it

 

Moving into the 6th stanza the use of 'but' signifies change. What is this change and what is the significance?

 

He changes his mind and has more sympathy and is less selfish, Larkin is almost mocking Arnold because he thought he would be the man in the relationship and that he would use her but she's actually spending the money on their children. Arnold thinks she spends all of the money

 

What conclusion is reached at the end of the poem?

 

He is explaining about how it is to be selfish and taking care of yourself 'Knowing where I stand' - deal breakers, things that are not able to be compromised.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here

Here

 

 

The poem is titles “here”, yet in the first three stanzas the poem takes the reader through various different locations the poem seems never to stand still, we don't know whether it is a physical location. in 'Here' Larkin is very critical about the urban landscape he makes it very clear that he prefers the peaceful nature world to the human world. In the third paragraph the word 'swerving' is used three times to convey movement, Larkin emphasises the fact that the poem is about traveling. Larkin acts fairly snobby during this poem as he is describing the landscape, he suggests that the majority of people in the town are middle income earners, people with normally simple tastes. The main theme in 'Here' is highlighted in the last three lines of the third stanza, 'and out beyond its mortgaged half- built edges fast-shadowed wheat fields, running high as hedges, isolate villagers, where removed lives loneliness clarifies, here silence stands like heat' Loneliness was Larkin's main theme, the poem itself is about being alone and finding solitude.

Dockery & Son

 

Dockery and Son

In the first stanza 'the Dean' is the man in charge, the start of the second stanza refers to the door to his old life being 'locked' it conveys how a part of his old life is sealed and gone, and that he cannot reclaim his youth. 'A known bell chimes' a sense of familiarity is shown when he hears that bell, its reassurance that not everything has changed.

In stanza 4 he was unsure of how much of his life had passed 'finding out how much had gone of life' also Dockery's son 'only nineteen, he must have taken stock of what he wanted, and been capable of ' how did he have a plan? when Larkin was much older and had still hadn't come to a conclusion on what he wanted.

Stanza 5, 'where do these innate assumptions come from?' he didn't want to have a child, although it was the social expectation. In stanza 6 'suddenly they harden into all we've got' he has no family to call his own, so habits and such take ownership of his life.

 In the final stanza he comes to the realisation he has no one to share his life with he doesn't have to care for someone else, Dockery has his son 'For Dockery and son, for me nothing' 'Life is first boredom, then fear' you start of with too much time to spare, but after time you end up suddenly losing that time and wishing you had more.

Ambulances

Ambulances are a symbol of worries, chaos and uncertainty of human life. The theme of life and death is presented in this poem. The subject of this poem is crystallization of the realities of life in the face of death. Death is the biggest reality of this world. Life is a combination of known and unknown miseries and issues of life. We can hardly tackle known issues of life. So the unknown issues and problem of life are beyond human capacity.