This is one of Larkins humouros, shortest poems. He describes the careless nature of children, and the tolerable nature of parents.
Stanza One
> 'On shallow straw, in shadeless glass' - bleak unatural homes for animals, shadless seems like the hamsters are unprotected (possibly from the eyes of horrible children!)
> 'Huddled by empty bowls' - image of neglect in the petshop, huddled together implies they're cold
> Repetition of no enhances negatives
> The children asking and getting implies Larkin thinks parents are walkovers.
Stanza Two
> 'Living toys are something novel' - the children see the hamster as a funny toy, not a living thing, this suggests their careless nature.
> 'Soon it wears off' - easily bored
> 'Fetch the shoe box, fetch the shovel' - disposable
Thursday 19 February 2015
Broadcast
The poem is essentially a love poem, written for Maeve Brennan, based upon a true event at which Maeve went to a concert and Larkin listened to it over broadcast. Broadcast could refer to the radio broadcast he was listening to, or the thoughts of Maeve 'broadcast' in his mind.
Stanza One
> Auditory imagery is used, the 'giant whispering' is an oxymoron, whispering is seen to be small, but the combination of all the whispers creates a giant noise in the concert hall.
> 'Precede a sudden scuttle' preceeding and scuttling of the drums is as if they are moving to approach and play for 'the Queen' aka. the national anthem.
> 'I think of your face among all those faces' - all he can think about is Maeve, he picks her out with his own imagination, her face has had a lasting impact in his mind.
Stanza Two
> 'Beautiful and devout' - refers to her catholicism
> 'One of your gloves, unnoticed on the floor' - he notices even the small details if it involves her, suggesting his affection for her
> 'New, slighty-outmoded shoes' - Maeve has bought last season shoes, even though he notices he does not mind. He seems to loose his snobbish nature when it comes to Maeve.
> 'Here it goes quickly dark. I lose//' the linebreak after I lose leaves the reader wondering what he has lost, most probably Maeve. The quick darkness could be loss of connection from the radio signal
Stanza Three
> 'leaves on half-emptied trees' - shows Larkin's pessimistic attitude, even when he talks about love his pessimistic attitude prevails
> 'by being distant overpower my mind' - his distance from Maeve is taking over, it overpowers him and distracts him from the music.
> 'Leaving me desperate to pick out' - he searches for her like he needs her, desperation takes over.
> 'Your hands, tiny' - the fact he searches for such a tiny part of her suggests he knows her so well, if he can pick her out from her hands he must truly love her OR is he searching for something he will never find? Is his search helpless
Stanza One
> Auditory imagery is used, the 'giant whispering' is an oxymoron, whispering is seen to be small, but the combination of all the whispers creates a giant noise in the concert hall.
> 'Precede a sudden scuttle' preceeding and scuttling of the drums is as if they are moving to approach and play for 'the Queen' aka. the national anthem.
> 'I think of your face among all those faces' - all he can think about is Maeve, he picks her out with his own imagination, her face has had a lasting impact in his mind.
Stanza Two
> 'Beautiful and devout' - refers to her catholicism
> 'One of your gloves, unnoticed on the floor' - he notices even the small details if it involves her, suggesting his affection for her
> 'New, slighty-outmoded shoes' - Maeve has bought last season shoes, even though he notices he does not mind. He seems to loose his snobbish nature when it comes to Maeve.
> 'Here it goes quickly dark. I lose//' the linebreak after I lose leaves the reader wondering what he has lost, most probably Maeve. The quick darkness could be loss of connection from the radio signal
Stanza Three
> 'leaves on half-emptied trees' - shows Larkin's pessimistic attitude, even when he talks about love his pessimistic attitude prevails
> 'by being distant overpower my mind' - his distance from Maeve is taking over, it overpowers him and distracts him from the music.
> 'Leaving me desperate to pick out' - he searches for her like he needs her, desperation takes over.
> 'Your hands, tiny' - the fact he searches for such a tiny part of her suggests he knows her so well, if he can pick her out from her hands he must truly love her OR is he searching for something he will never find? Is his search helpless
Nothing To Be Said
Nothing To Be Said is a poem about the inevitability of death, no matter who you are life slowly comes to an end.
Stanza One
> 'For nations vague as weed' - small isolated nations
> 'For nomads among stones' - nomads are wanderers
> Despite the variety in lifestyles, all of these people are slowly dying, they may be the different but they will all end the same.
Stanza Two
> 'Of building, benediction' - no matter how you build your life, or how kind you are, you are still slowly dying
> 'The days spent hunting pig // Or holding a garden-party' - massive contrast in normal day-to-day activities for different people, juxtaposing images, with reference to the rich and poor
Stanza Three
> 'advance on birth equally slowly' - life is the slow journey towards death no matter who you are
> 'and saying so to some means nothing' - telling some people life is the slow journey to death means nothing to them because they don't like to think about it - possibly because they do not agree with the approach, or because they find it traumatic.
> 'others it leaves // Nothing to be said' - death is unescapeable and the thought of death could say to rob any words they have
Stanza One
> 'For nations vague as weed' - small isolated nations
> 'For nomads among stones' - nomads are wanderers
> Despite the variety in lifestyles, all of these people are slowly dying, they may be the different but they will all end the same.
Stanza Two
> 'Of building, benediction' - no matter how you build your life, or how kind you are, you are still slowly dying
> 'The days spent hunting pig // Or holding a garden-party' - massive contrast in normal day-to-day activities for different people, juxtaposing images, with reference to the rich and poor
Stanza Three
> 'advance on birth equally slowly' - life is the slow journey towards death no matter who you are
> 'and saying so to some means nothing' - telling some people life is the slow journey to death means nothing to them because they don't like to think about it - possibly because they do not agree with the approach, or because they find it traumatic.
> 'others it leaves // Nothing to be said' - death is unescapeable and the thought of death could say to rob any words they have
Mr Bleaney
The poem itself is about a man looking at rooms up for rent. He desribes a particualr room owned by the strange Mr Bleany. The speaker chooses the room due to the similarties he sees between himself and Mr Bleany.
Stanza One
> 'The whole time he was at the bodies' - Mr Bleany worked at the morgue, not only did he live in solitude but he worked in solitude, the solitude seems to be a theme of his own life.
> 'thin and frayed' - the description of his home could be linked to Mr Bleaney's own appearance, homes often represent their owner, the thin and frayed curtains could represent his physique, or diminishing mental state, which could be caused by a life of such solitude.
Stanza Two
> The description of the room is relitively bleak, it feels like room rather than a home
> Even the view from the room is onto littered 'building land', the bleak outlook could describe Bleanys bleak outlook on life.
Stanza Three
> The speaker begins to make a connection with Bleany after he 'takes' the room, he 'lies' where Mr Bleany did and stubs his fags on the same saucer, he represents all the Mr Bleaney was.
Stanza Four
> 'i know his habits' - although Bleaney is no longer around, the speaker feels as if he knows him and all the details of his life. This could be because his life was so monotonous, he stuck to such a routine in that house that it is shown within the house.
Stanza Five
> This stanza talks about Bleaney's visits to others, but never their visits to him. This could suggest Bleaney liked his solitude, and was a private man.
> 'Put him up' - seems unwanted, they have him because they have to, not because they want to
Stanza Six
> The fact Bleaney has to tell himself this is 'his home' suggets that really, it is not. This could suggest he doesn't feel as cofortable with his solitude as portrayed.
> The 'grin' is quickly removed by a shiver, this could suggest his happiness is quickly removed by the cold life he leads.
> 'shivered, without shaking off the dread' - his inability to shake off the dread he has implies hes been scared by something, is he scared of his own solitude?
Stanza Seven
> 'how we live mesaures our own nature' - Bleaney's life of solitude represents his own lonely nature, its almost inevitable.
> 'at his age' - implies he died old 7
> 'one hired box should make him pretty sure, he warranted no better' - his bleak and empty home has led him to believe its the life he deserves, he has become stuck in a rut, but its the rut he deserves.
> The penultimate line of doubt, 'i don't know', suggests the speakers unsureity, even though he feels as if he knows Bleaney, he never really did.
Stanza One
> 'The whole time he was at the bodies' - Mr Bleany worked at the morgue, not only did he live in solitude but he worked in solitude, the solitude seems to be a theme of his own life.
> 'thin and frayed' - the description of his home could be linked to Mr Bleaney's own appearance, homes often represent their owner, the thin and frayed curtains could represent his physique, or diminishing mental state, which could be caused by a life of such solitude.
Stanza Two
> The description of the room is relitively bleak, it feels like room rather than a home
> Even the view from the room is onto littered 'building land', the bleak outlook could describe Bleanys bleak outlook on life.
Stanza Three
> The speaker begins to make a connection with Bleany after he 'takes' the room, he 'lies' where Mr Bleany did and stubs his fags on the same saucer, he represents all the Mr Bleaney was.
Stanza Four
> 'i know his habits' - although Bleaney is no longer around, the speaker feels as if he knows him and all the details of his life. This could be because his life was so monotonous, he stuck to such a routine in that house that it is shown within the house.
Stanza Five
> This stanza talks about Bleaney's visits to others, but never their visits to him. This could suggest Bleaney liked his solitude, and was a private man.
> 'Put him up' - seems unwanted, they have him because they have to, not because they want to
Stanza Six
> The fact Bleaney has to tell himself this is 'his home' suggets that really, it is not. This could suggest he doesn't feel as cofortable with his solitude as portrayed.
> The 'grin' is quickly removed by a shiver, this could suggest his happiness is quickly removed by the cold life he leads.
> 'shivered, without shaking off the dread' - his inability to shake off the dread he has implies hes been scared by something, is he scared of his own solitude?
Stanza Seven
> 'how we live mesaures our own nature' - Bleaney's life of solitude represents his own lonely nature, its almost inevitable.
> 'at his age' - implies he died old 7
> 'one hired box should make him pretty sure, he warranted no better' - his bleak and empty home has led him to believe its the life he deserves, he has become stuck in a rut, but its the rut he deserves.
> The penultimate line of doubt, 'i don't know', suggests the speakers unsureity, even though he feels as if he knows Bleaney, he never really did.
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