Poem Synopsis - Larkin Flashcards
Here
A train journey from industrial to rural life - isolated existence & passage of time.
Mr Bleaney
Speaker in a dingy room and worries that he will meet the same fate of the trapped, solitary, dull existence of Mr Bleaney.
Nothing to be Said
Explores the slow, inevitable approach to death - pointlessness of life.
Love Songs in Age
Speaker rediscovers her old sheet music - reminder of the hope we had when we were young failing to transfer to adulthood.
Broadcast
A love poem to Maeve Brennan - she was at the BBC symphony orchestra and he is at home listening, imagining her there in the crowd.
Faith Healing
Faith is futile - human desire for cure of the pains of life - depicts a ceremony - women only allowed 20 seconds of contract with the priest but still seem to feel emotionally overturned.
For Sidney Bechet
Poem addressed to Sidney Bechet and his love for his music.
Toads Revisited
Delves into the complexities of everyday life - questions whether the drudgery of work is a necessary evil or a self-imposed limitation.
Water
Larkin talks about creating his own religion and satirically centres water - critiques religion and its traditions suggesting its hollow and futile.
The Whitsun Weddings
Train journey from Hull - observes the world around him and then on a wedding party - critiques the fact that this is only significant to them and no one else.
Self’s The Man
Contrasts the speaker’s bachelorhood with the married life of a man named Arnold - feels that from an outsiders perspective Larkin seems selfish, but concludes that they are both just as selfish as one another.
Take One Home For The Kiddies
Poem about animal rights and the cruelty of humanity - no one seems to care about their life or death they are simply toys.
Days
Brief contemplation of life - days are meant for happiness, are cyclical in nature and people should cherish the present moment.
MCMXIV
War poem - focuses on the importance of the changes England faced after WW2 - focuses on a picture of men who have just signed up to fight yet have no idea what’s about to happen to them.
Talking in Bed
Depicts the difficulties a speaker has talking in bed with his lover - time can change everything - loneliness can invade the most intimate of moments.
The Large Cool Store
Consumerism - Marks & Spencer - sells smart clothes we wear to work as well as nightwear we wear in order to escape the drab of every day life.
A Study of Reading Habits
Reading used to provide the reader with a means to escape, yet now he is older it no longer does - he has to face the reality of the disappointments of life.
As Bad As A Mile
Poet throws an apple core in the bin and misses - symbolic of failure.
Ambulances
Exploration of the pervading sense of death that occurs in constrained societies - poem follows the route of an ambulance through rush hour in the city.
The Importance of Elsewhere
Poem about cultural identity of the poet and how he struggles to live in a foreign land (Ireland)
Sunny Prestatyn
Advertising & Vanity - how unattainable the perfect lifestyle is through the destruction of of an advertisement
Dockery & Son
The speaker, a former student, revisits his old college and reflects on the changes that have occurred - Dockery, a former classmate who died young, now has a son who is a student at the same college.
Wild Oats
Depicts the difficulties in a relationship Larkin had with Ruth Bowman & Jane Exhall.
Essential Beauty
Deals with the gap between the advertising world and the real world - Larkin critically comments on the false hope the advertising world gives to people.
Afternoons
A scene at a playground looking over Pearson Park - women have transitioned from their romantic youth to the responsibilities of parenting - does family life demand more sacrifice than its worth?
An Arundel Tomb
Speaker observes a medieval tomb in Chichester Cathedral - couple shown holding hands - a reflection of love, time and mortality - Larkin believes love transcending death, however, is a stupid concept.
