Afternoons

Question 1

time is passing on is introduced right at the beginning

Answer 1

Summer is fading

Question 2

this language introduces the recurring idea of couples and singles

Answer 2

leaves fall in ones and twos

Question 3

nature is surrounding

Answer 3

trees bordering

Question 4

the are is a new government housing estate most likely

Answer 4

new recreation ground

Question 5

afternoons seem almost empty

Answer 5

hollows of afternoon

Question 6

mothers are generalised showing there is no individuality

Answer 6

Young mother

Question 7

men are more important than women

Answer 7

Behind them

Question 7

parents control their children, perhaps reflects Larkin’s lack of children, jealous

Answer 7

Setting free their children.

Question 8

men are presented as skilled and better

Answer 8

husbands in skilled trades

Question 9

it is a working class community as rich people did not have their washing visible

Answer 9

estateful of washing

Question 10

love wears off and becomes less special over time as indicated by this

Answer 10

‘Our wedding’ lying/ near the television

Question 11

enjambment used to reflect how people meet up here

Answer 11

wind/ is ruining their courting places

Question 12

the places are still there but not where the ‘older’ lovers

Answer 12

That are still courting places

Question 13

parenthesis used normally to show something is less important but here it is used to emphasise how the children are important

Answer 13

(But the lovers are all in school)

Question 14

their (the women’s) children are referenced to want unripe acorns, reflecting how young they are, not ready for relationships

Answer 14

Their children, so intent on/ Finding more unripe acorns,

Question 15

children feel entitled for their parents to do what they want them to

Answer 15

Expect to be taken home

Question 16

the women are described as aging in an unusual manner

Answer 16

Their beauty has thickened

Question 17

the mothers are being pushed out by their children being more important

Answer 17

Something is pushing them/ To the side of their own lives

Question 18

why did the poet write about other normal lives

Answer 18

he was very unsuccessful in his love life, he had 3 relationships at once!

Question 19

where was he educated

Answer 19

Oxford and home-schooled until he was 8

Question 20

what could the poem be considered

Answer 20

a tableau as nothing happens

Question 21

what did he deny

Answer 21

poet laureate, he was highly decorated

Question 22

what is the tone

Answer 22

passive aggressive and somewhat jealous of the normal lives he observes

Question 23

what collection did this come from

Answer 23

Whitsun Weddings where he wrote with an observational tone

Question 24

what do children show

Answer 24

that life is cyclical and you become cynical when you get older