At Grass, Wants, Reasons for Attendance Flashcards

Larkin

1
Q

‘From the ___________ shade they shelter in’

A

cold

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2
Q

What technique is used here: ‘The cold shade they shelter in’? (At Grass)

A

pathetic fallacy

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3
Q

In At Grass, why does Larkin refer to ‘the cold shade [the horses] shelter in’?

A

To convey how, at the beginning of the poem, the horses seem neglected and vulnerable.

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4
Q

‘stands __________ again’ (At Grass)

A

anonymous

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5
Q

In the first stanza of At Grass, why are the horses described as being ‘anonymous’?

A

To suggest that they lack a proper or meaningful identity.

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6
Q

‘Two dozen distances sufficed to __________ them’ (At Grass)

A

fable

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7
Q

What technique is used here - ‘Silks at the start: against the sky/Numbers and parasols’? (At Grass)

A

sibilance

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8
Q

Why does Larkin use sibilance in the lines - ‘Silks at the start: against the sky/Numbers and parasols’? (At Grass)

A

To capture the noise and energy of the race meeting, and therefore the excitement and intensity of the horses’ former identity.

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9
Q

‘Do _________ plague their ears like flies?’ (At Grass)

A

memories

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10
Q

In At Grass, what does the speaker question when he says - ‘Do memories plague their ears like flies’?

A

He questions whether the horses are saddened by the memories of their former exciting lives.

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11
Q

‘they have slipped their ____________’ (At Grass)

A

names

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12
Q

‘the ___________ meadows’

A

unmolesting

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13
Q

In the penultimate stanza of At Grass, why are the horses described as living in ‘umolesting meadows’?

A

It shows that they are now left alone and have found a form of peace through being at one with the natural world.

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14
Q

In the final stanza of At Grass, why are the horses described as having ‘slipped their names’?

A

They have gained a kind of freedom through ‘anonymity’ - they are no longer controlled or defined by the human world.

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15
Q

Does At Grass use a regular rhyme scheme?

A

Yes. There in an ABC rhyme scheme.

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16
Q

What is the correct term for a six-line stanza, like those used in At Grass?

A

sestets

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17
Q

The Poem Wants explores the conflict between the wants and desires of the _____________ and those of ___________.

A

speaker/society.

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18
Q

‘the sky grows __________ with invitation cards’ (Wants)

A

dark

19
Q

Why does the speaker in Wants describe that ‘the sky grows dark with invitation cards’?

A

To convey how the expectation to socialise and be part of a community fills him with a sense of dread and anxiety.

20
Q

‘the ___________ directions of sex’ (Wants)

A

printed

21
Q

Why does the narrator in Wants refer to sex having ‘printed directions’?

A

To suggest that sex, something that should be meaningful and personal, is actually just another dull societal expectation.

22
Q

‘Beyond all this, the wish to be __________ ‘ (Wants)

A

alone

23
Q

In Wants, why does Larkin repeat the speaker’s desires at the end of each stanza, as well as stating them at the beginning?

A

To show that these ‘wants’ - ‘to be alone’ or embrace ‘oblivion’ - are constant and inescapable.

24
Q

What societal expectation does the main character mock in the line ‘the family photographed under the flag-staff’?

A

The expectation that we all take part in society through having a family and being a proud part of our nation.

25
Q

‘the __________ aversion of the eyes away from death’ (Wants)

A

costly

26
Q

In Wants why does ‘beyond all this…’ change to ‘beneath all this’?

A

To convey how societal expectations inevitably come to weigh us down.

27
Q

In Wants, why does the speaker say that averting our eyes from death is ‘costly’?

A

Because it means that we don’t fully engage with life; by not accepting our own mortality, we don’t truly live.

28
Q

What is the correct term for five-line stanzas, such as those used in Wants?

A

quintains (you can also call these quintets)

29
Q

‘The trumpet’s ___________ loud and authoritative’ (Reasons for Attendance)

A

voice

30
Q

What technique is used here: ‘the trumpet’s voice loud and authoritative’ (Reasons for Attendance)?

A

personification

31
Q

‘___________ on the beat of happiness’ (Reasons for Attendance)

A

Solemnly

32
Q

‘Draws me a moment to the ____________ glass’ (Reasons for Attendance)

A

lighted

33
Q

What technique is used here: ‘face to flushed face’ (Reasons for Attendance)?

A

alliteration

34
Q

In Reasons for Attendance, why are the dancers described as moving ‘solemnly on the beat of happiness’?

A

The speaker suggests there is a strange formality to the movement of the dancers. ‘On the beat of happiness’ implies their joy is regulated and tightly controlled.

35
Q

(Art, if you like) whose __________ sound//Insists I too am ____________. (Reasons for Attendance)

A

individual

36
Q

‘It speaks; I __________’ (Reasons for Attedance)

A

hear

37
Q

‘I can live a day week poetry but not a week without ___________’

A

jazz

38
Q

For which newspaper did Larkin write jazz reviews?

A

The Daily Telegraph

39
Q

‘they _________ to and fro’ (Reasons for Attendance)

A

maul

40
Q

Why does the main character of Reasons for Attendance describe how the dancers ‘maul’ each other?

A

He is suggesting that their desires are primitive and undignified.

41
Q

‘If no one has misjudged himself. Or __________’ (Reasons for Attendance)

A

lied

42
Q

What is the significance of the final line of Reasons for Attendance: ‘If no one has misjudged himself. Or lied’

A

The main character wonders whether actually he has just deceived himself that he can find happiness in solitariness, and is therefore no better than the dancers and their illusory desires.

43
Q

Does Reasons for Attendance use a regular rhyme scheme?

A

Yes - ABABB. However, most of this is in half-rhymes, with the exception of the poem’s final rhyming couplet.