An Arundel Tomb Flashcards
Who wrote Arundel Tomb
Philip Larkin
What is the main themes in this poem?
Love and Death
The Passage of Time
How is the theme of Love and death portrayed in this poem?
Larkin questions the idea if love is stronger than death. He questions that if the tomb has immortalised te feeling that is portrayed which ha never happened.
How is the theme of the passage of time portrayed in the poem?
The poem is vivid in the portrayal of the passing of time. Time is shown to affect eroding objects/subjects’ original identities gradually.
Two poems to use for comparision?
Bright Star - Love and Death
A broken appointment - Passage of time
Quote 1, Stanza 1, Line 1
“Side by side, their faces blurred”
“Side by Side, their faces blurred”
Blurred - The physical deterioration, of the tomb over time. Also, a METAPHOR, that their identity has been blurred with the passage of time.
Quote 2, Stanza 1, Line 2
“The earl and countess lie in stone”
“The earl and countess lie in stone”
Double meaning with the word “lie”, how do we know that they actually loved eachother.
Quote 3, Stanza 1, Line 5
“faint hint of the absurd-“
“faint hint of the absurd-“
The speaker finds it absurd that the two dogs lay at their feet. Dogs symbolise loyalty, and thee writer thinks it may be a facade.
Quote 4, Stanza 2, Line 1
“Such plainness of the pre-baroque”
“Such plainness of the pre-baroque”
The use of enjambement in the first two lines.
The speaker explains how the pre-baroque (pre-1600s) style is so bare and unremarkable that he could have moved on but was struck by the intimacy of the earl holding his wife’s hand.
Quote 5, Stanza 2, Line 5
“One sees, with a sharp and tender shock”
“One sees, with a sharp and tender shock”
Oxymoron to show his confusion.
Sibiliance.
Quote 6, Stanza 3, Line 2
“Such faithfulness in Effigy”
“Such faithfulness in Effigy”
Cynical on the statue, and how it was the sculptures romantic imagination which created these two things.
Quote 7, Stanza 4, Line 2
“Supine stationary voyage”
“Supine stationary voyage”
Use of enjambment to see the couple continue their journey. There is a failure to reach/act and make a moral change.
Quote 8, Stanza 5, Line 1
“Through lengths and breadths”`
“Through Lengths and breadths”
Firstly the beginning of this stanza flows into this stanza using enjambment
The word uses assonance, elongated words feeding back to the idea of the passing of time.
Quote 9, Stanza 6, Line 1
“Washing at their identity”
“Washing at their identity”
Generations of people vist the cathedral which changes their attidues and outlooks, which “washes away their true meaning” or their true identity.
Quote 10, Stanza 7, Line 1
“Time has transfigured them into untruth”
“Time has transfigured them into untruth”
Their love and loyalty has turned them into a lie.
Quote 11, Stanza 7, Line 6
“What will survive of us is love”
“What will survive of us is love”
Tenative hope at the end of [pe,, and that the idea of their love is defined by the people who visit them.
Structure of poem?
- 7, six lines stanzas
- ABBCAC Ryhme scheme.
- Poem is a imabic terameter.
Language techniques?
