Dockery And Son -time Flashcards
About
- explores the passage of time by portraying the persona who reflects on his own choices in contrast to his peers life paths
- the persona revisits his past through memories of his peer dockery
-overall reflects a bleak view of time as the persona seems to meet the conclusion that life’s significance is inherently limited by times passages
“Death suited” “numbness”
Suggest that the passage of time had drained the speakers life of vitality an purpose
“Embodying, for dockery a son for me nothing”
“Life is first, boredom then fear”
-presents the extesntial dread of a life perceived as empty
-with the speaker feeling alienated from traditional life milestones lifke family
Realisation brings the speaker to a bleak conclusion “life is first bordeom then fear’- encapsulating his clinical outlook on the progression from youthful indifferences to the dread of morality
- he emphasises the relentlessness of time suggesting that regardless the path one chooses a life like dockery one filled with family or a solitary experience time will past regardless
“Numbness registered the shock of finding out how much had gone of life”
- reinforces the them of lost potential throughout time and the profound realisation of how time has slipped away
- conveys a sense of missed opportunity
-“gone” implies permanent loss reinforcing the irreversibility of time and the disorientation that can accompany it
-numbness reflects the detachment from his own life journey and instead of grieving what has been lost he experienced a Dulled shock suggesting that life has slipped away without his active participation or awareness.
“Joining and parting lines reflect a strong/ unhindered moon”
- uses enjambment to mirror the relentless unstructured passage of time as thought flow without clear breaks reflecting the way memories and realisation merges as one ages
- imagery suggests the train tracks along which the persona travels symbolises the paths people take through life each marked by moments coming together and drifting apart
- coveys a melancholy acceptance of times passage and an acknowledgment of its steady unaltered flow
“Whether we use it or not it goes”
-irregular rhyme scheme and conversational tone contribute to a sense of detachment and aimlessness reinforcing the speakers feeling of drifting through life
- the idea that time is indifferent to human plants achievements or regrets
Context
-Larkin often expressed his scepticism about life paths and trad values questioning the necessity of marriage, family (which he never had) and career ambitions “no son not wife no house or land”
-the poem becomes a reflection on societal expectations and the realisation that these choices -whether to conform or not- are a major part of human existence
- the personas amibivlance about dockery choices may reflect Larkins own views on societal belief “not from what we think truest or most want to do”
-challenging the assumption that having children of following convential paths lead to a more fulfilling life
“Nothing”
-repeated focus on nothing suggests he sees his life as ultimately hollow, haunted by what he hasn’t achieved compared to dockery.
“Locked”
Imagery symbolises the personas lost your and closed opportunities that come with aging
The vibrant ‘lawn and familiar ‘bell” seems distance and unreachable like the speaker is cut off from his own past
Existential realisation that “age and then only the end of age’”
-persona sees time as a force that diminishes all human ambitions leaving not inevitability of mortality
