afternoons

Question 1

author

Answer 1

philip larkin

Question 2

context

Answer 2

This poem was written when Philip Larkin lived in his top flat in Pearson Park in Hull. He loved living in a high room, where he could observe the comings and goings of other people. As he walked through the park he used to pass a children’s playground, and what he saw there inspired this bleak poem.

Question 3

structure

Answer 3

• 3 unrhymed stanzas, 8 lines each

- lack of rhyme, lack of unity between couples

Question 4

paragraph 1

Answer 4

• inevitable passing of time means natural decline of their lives, decline and loss of love
• ‘behind them, at intervals’ - calculated distance, physical boundary between them
• ‘our wedding, lying near the television’ - symbol of love abandoned, carelessly, distance between them as they grow older
• ‘hollows of afternoons’ - something is missing, no longer in their prime
• ‘setting free their children’ - they are trapped in adulthood, whereas their children are free from obligations
• ‘wind is ruining their courting places’ - passionate love has become lacklustre

Question 5

paragraph 2

Answer 5

• wistful tone, potential for their children to grow with time and as nature grows
• ‘that are still courting places’ - next generation doomed to fall into the same routine as their parents
• ‘lovers are all in school’ - true love only for the young, inevitably fades as you grow older
• ‘unripe acorns’ - potential for growth, become something more mature, children have a sense of purpose whereas their mothers don’t anymore
• ‘to the side of their own lives’ - selfless nature of adulthood, forced to be sidelined