Mr Bleany- L Flashcards
Context of Mr Bleany
-Larkin wrote this song after moving to hull where he stayed in a boarding house
-boarding houses: large private houses which owner let out for long term residency
-shows larkins use of colloquial style
Regular rhyme scheme Abab, accomplished by use of enjambment
Mr Bleany- about
-Larkin initially establishes distance between mr gleaning and landlady, and himself
-details rooms unattractive as and discomfort living there
-however in the final two stanzas he establishes a kinship with mr Bleany asking whether we are defined by the life we live and whether we deserve what we get from it
“This was Mr Bleany’s room”
-opens with the voice of landlady talking to Larkin
‘The bodies” “they moved him”
-reference to car manufacturing plant where car bodies are assembled
-duplicity, hint of death
-one of many such bodies, have no meaning like identical to the cars where we worked
Impersonality of “they” and “the bodies” are an indication of working men
-also suggest the lack of control, “they moved him”
“Flowered curtains thin and frayed fall to within five inches of the sill”
-the room he surveys is bleak and rundown
-detail of curtains not fitting is phrased sarcastically
-frivative alliteration
“Strip of building land’ “tussokosy littered’ “my bit of garden properly in hand
-Larkin looks out the window to an Unprepossessing view of hulls post war building programme \
-again comments sarcastically on mr bleach’s efforts at gardening even though he took it “property in hand”
It is still “tussocky, littered” suggesting little can be done to improve on this miserable excuse from agarden
“Bed, upright chair, six=xty watt bulb no hook”
- list of sparse furniture in the room none designed for comfort, suggesting a temporary resting place
-“upright…no hook” further emphasises the bleakness and a anonymity,
-enjambment
“No room for books or bags” “so it happens i lie”
- contrast between Larkin and Mr Bleaby is present in there being no space for his books or bags
Things which he has by mr bleany had no use for - even so he resents the room and find himself living mr bleanys life using his ashtray” stub my fags”an lying in his bed
- Larkin observing mr bleanys mundane details consequently has him ending up the exact same way.
“The jabbering set” “stuffing my ears with cotton wool”
- he tries to block out the sound of the television mr bleany convinced the landlady to buy
-purchase of television sets after the war doubled , accelerated by the queens coronation
-adjective jabering applies to the landlady, becomes clear she’s pestered him with tales from her former lodger
Mr bleany used to ‘come down(stairs)’ and he ‘preferred sauce to gravy”
‘Four away” “plugging”
Mr bleany used to do the football pools probably in the hope of a big win
- ‘plugging’ suggests dogged repetition
-Larkin learns too that his years were divided; work then holiday then Christmas
-seemed that mr bleany may have saved his wages to enjoy the delights of ‘frinton on sea’ the most exclusive seaside resort in Great Britain as th Walton and frinton guide book described
- however it seems impersonal eve tho he goes every year
- hospitality of his sister also seems grudging, limited to an annual visit
-impression that his life is limited and devioid of both friends ans family
