Afternoons by Philip Larkin

Question 1

Afternoons
Person?
Structure?
Structure?

Answer 1

3rd, observing the scene objectively
3 identical verses, no rhyme, restrictive nature
Begins and ends with melancholic image, sombre mood, trapped in lives

Question 2

Afternoons
Context?

Answer 2

-Larkin recorded his observations through poetry
-Written in September
-Women were expected to marry and have children

Question 3

Afternoons
5 quotes

Answer 3

‘Summer is fading’
‘Young mothers assemble’
‘An estateful of washing’
‘wind/Is ruining their courting places’
‘To the side of their own lives’

Question 4

Afternoons
‘Summer is fading’

Answer 4

-Symbolic, loss of vitality, degeneration, move from childhood to adulthood
-Negative verb, coming to an end, emotive

Question 5

Afternoons
‘Young mothers assemble’

Answer 5

-Despite youth, lives are tragically over
-Defined by roles, lack of identity
-Verb, regimental daily routine for whole group
-Sibilance, dull repetitive

Question 6

Afternoons
‘An estateful of washing’

Answer 6

-Neologism, vastness, never ending task
-Lives of domestic drudgery, unfulfilling
-Almost laborious work, no machines

Question 7

Afternoons
‘wind/Is ruining their courting places’

Answer 7

-Erosive power, destroy places of past romance, love replaced by domesticity, pathos
-Enjambment, unable to prevent time
-Love least of priorities

Question 8

Afternoons
‘To the side of their own lives’

Answer 8

-Children now more important than person
-Selflessness as now on the side lines, no control, little freedom
-Lack of individuality, common event