Stanza One
- 'hollows of the afternoon' - purposeless if you don't go to work
- 'setting free their children' - animalistic, they've been caged up, indicates mothers cannot control their children, they're poor at the one job they have to or are meant to do
- 'young mothers assemble' - Young is highlighted, indicates an element of judging. Assemble sounds formal, this makes what they're doing seem silly
Stanza Two
- 'behind them, at intervals' - do the women place themselves in front of the men because in terms of the family the mothers are dominant? 'Intervals' implies that the fathers are there occasionally, parenting is a part time second place job for them over their 'real' careers.
- 'estateful' - a neologism, suggests their living conditions, grimy, cheap?
- 'our wedding, lying' - the albums are on show, lying open to make the couple seem perfect and happy it's a lie now. LINEBREAK emphasises the word lying, and makes the reader consider its double meaning
- 'near the television' - the TV draws attentions, they look at the TV and then see the album, reminding them how 'happy they are'. Suggests the feelings are fake, maybe only they stay together for the children which dominate their lives? Later reinforced (last line stanza three)
- 'ruining their courting place' - memories
Stanza Three
- 'but the lovers are all in school' - Young love, bracketed like it should be hidden, it's shameful because they're so young
- 'their beauty has thickened'- Larkin sees this as the most important thing, suggests his vanity and his lack of care for emotions
- 'something pushing' - left unidentified like it's not very important
- 'pushing them to the side of their own lives' - could be sympathetic, the wives have lost all control of their own lives because it's been taken over by family - they leave the albums out to reminisce how they used to be
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