Coming Flashcards
How is the coming of spring relevant to this poem?
It is a celebration of the energy and new hope that arrives with the season and the emotional nature of it all
What AO3 can be linked?
Thomas Hardy- Larkin was influenced by him and admired his work - alludes to Darkling Thrush to present idea of hope from an unknown source or something not understood
What device is used in ‘Light, chill and yellow/ Bathes the serene/ foreheads of house’?
Religious imagery/symbolism/personfication - happiness and purity
Also baptising the home, a refreshing, new life as the landscape is being cleansed as it gets rid of the desolate image of winter
What is meant by ‘laurel-surrounded’?
A laurel is a symbol of victory showing how there is a tone of celebration in the wake of spring - he finds celebration in a mundane environment.
What devices are used in ‘Its fresh peeled voice/ Astonishing the brickwork’?
Sensory imagery : childlike wonder
Personification: giving life to urban - unexpected beauty of sudden light after winter
What does ‘It will be spring soon’ x2 act as?
It acts like a chorus to the poem displaying his child-like excitement and joy. The monosyllabic nature of this phrase also conveys the simple beauty of the season
What tone does ‘Feel like a child / Who comes on a scene / Of adult reconciling / And can understand nothing’?
The simile has a pessimistic tone that acts as an intruding thought
How can the Anti-Romantics be linked to this poem?
Larkin sees the convention of the Romantics as somewhat pompous/elitist - he places nature in an urban setting, unlike Romantics and their theory of the sublime
What is the rhyme is this poem?
There is a lack of rhyme and rhythm as he is unorganised, enjoying a singular moment in time
Why is the single stanza significant?
Represents the overflowing passion and excitement of speaker as he observed the coming of new life. Contrasts the structured, tight, regular stanzas of the majority of Larkin’s poetry.
