Going

Question 1

how does Larkin use structure in Going to illustrate his messages?

Answer 1

• 3 tercets and 1 single line stanza
• singular final line slows pace, mimicking slowing mind processes/the heaviness of hands
• breakdown of structure shows break from life, reinforces speaker’s anxieties and tears; death is inexplicable and evasive
• shows journey/transformation of life to death; becomes more vague/less concrete through poem
• final line is unexpected, like death
• each tercet is end-stopped; finality of death

Question 2

analyse the title of Going

Answer 2

present tense suggests it is constant, ever-present, inescapable, inevitable, universal; nihilistic

Question 3

analyse the quote ‘across the fields, one never seen before’ from Going

Answer 3

• nature imagery recalls natural cycle of life
• death defined as the unknown
• ‘evening’ is metaphor for death

Question 4

analyse the quote ‘lights no lamps’ from Going

Answer 4

• repetition of negators shows death is empirically unverifiable
• reference to artificial lights suggests our dependence on modern society has separated us from the cycle of life; we no longer accept death
• darkness connotes confusion, lack of hope; merciless, unforgiving; the absence of anything (soul etc) after death

Question 5

analyse the quote ‘silken it seems at a distance’ from Going

Answer 5

• sibilance suggests a sense of speed; people don’t realise how fast death approaches
• gentle and mild imagery suggests we have an ignorant perception of death as a child or due to religion - hope of afterlife - (‘at a distance’) and we don’t understand the full impact

Question 6

analyse the quote ‘it brings no comfort’ from Going

Answer 6

plosives contrasts earlier sibilance; reality of death is harsh and destructive

Question 7

analyse the quote ‘where has the tree gone, that locked / earth to sky?’ from Going

Answer 7

• tree is symbolic of tree of life - connection of life to earth is severed as hope of afterlife is destroyed
• isolating, disconcerting imagery suggests complete lack of comfort

Question 8

analyse the quote ‘what loads my hands down?’ from Going

Answer 8

• triple of rhetorical questions emphasise confusion, desperation, and fear in the face of death
• speaker feels the need to have an answer, but there is a complete lack of one
• earlier in the poem, speaker had certainty; ignorance to death is universal
• questioning life decisions