Myxomatosis

Question 1

Themes

Answer 1

Death
Decay
Time
Approach
Suffering
Loss of innocence

Question 2

Title

Answer 2

Extended metaphor - rabbit - society accepting death.

Intangible thing to die from, intangible/abstract nature of death, is what confuses society.

Question 3

Caught

Answer 3

Consonants
Harsh Sounds

Question 4

Soundless field

Answer 4

Metaphor - you dont know when death approaches you

Question 5

‘Trap?’ ‘teeth concealed?’

Answer 5

makes use of questions to show sense of confusion

society’s confusion on death shown by italics (‘costly aversion of eyes from death’) - voice of society

Question 6

Sharp reply

Answer 6

Euphemism

For death

Potentially trying to show avoidance on topic

Question 7

Clean my stick

Answer 7

End stop emphasises finality

Question 8

Stanza break

Answer 8

Instantaneous death

Question 9

Teeth, jaws, trap

Answer 9

Predatory image of death, possible semantic field

Question 10

Suppurate

Answer 10

Visceral imagery

Question 11

you may have thought things would come right again, if you could only keep quite still and wait

Answer 11

Critique of society that tries to ignore death

Question 12

AO3

Answer 12

Labour post war ended - trope - larkin negative and realistic

cold war/post ww2 - ppl thinking about death

larkin has preoccupation of writing about death in his 20s

Question 13

narrative

Answer 13

walk
find
kill (mercy killing, it was in pain)

larkin reflects - philosophical thought