Altercation in Splott

Shows how immigration effects people

Sunil leaves - victim of racist attack

Darren Jones perpetrator - attacked Sunil yet denies being racist 

Put a brick through his window

Says be lucky - he's watching Sunil

Sunil doesn't fight back - he leaves

Can't tell the landlord as he's 'blue eyed' - white - racist himself 

There is nobody Sunil can go to

Last stanza shows that no matter what he does there will be woe for him

Could link to Abse's Red Balloon - shows abuse for being different

A Wall

The wall is man made, and at first seems to be out of place in the field as it is isolated, yet in the second stanza we see that the sheep and wildlife have become to depend on the wall 

Abse is hinting that the natural world and man made world can work together and support each other. Contrasts to Larkin's poem Here as he says the industrial world overpowers the natural one. 

The Boasts of Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd

Persona boasts about different women he has each day. 

Religious imagery - praise The Lord. Dry old hymns

Used fruit to describe her

He tries to impress her, it's just fun to her - 'she pigeon-coos when I thrust to woo her'

'O sweet riot of efflorescence' - oxymoron/paradox - he knows it's wrong yet he likes it 

'Let her name be secret for her husbands sake' - boasting that he's having an affair , suggests that whilst she's married, he's not. 

'Her' on only line suggests her importance to him and the he likes her. 

In the Theatre

True Incident

Sister of the patient saying —> soon you'll be back in the ward

Patient lying, saying he feels fine when he doesn't 

Patient was still awake whilst the surgeon was searching for brain tumour 

Every time he blinks it hurts —> 'blink again because of the fingers'

'Rash as blind man's' —> the surgeon can't see what he's touching in his brain/can't see the effect he's having on the man —> can't see that it's hurting him. 

'If items if horror can make a man laugh, then laugh at this' —> this is horror on another scale 

Irregular rhyme scheme could relate to the patients in and out of consciousness or the irregularity of the procedure

'Brain mashed' 'rash as blind man's' —> the mans brain is being played with. 

'Ticking its own wild time' —> frantic - so much pressure on his brain - it doesn't follow a normal time - running out of time?

'Probe's Braille path' —> blind people use Braille. Patients brain is like Braille to the surgeon, guiding him to tumour —> 'probe', 'prod' - not treating with respect

Surgeon has two more patients on the list, thinking about them - preoccupied, desperate to finish with this one, he's in a rush

'Voice so arctic and cry so odd' —> he doesn't recognise himself anymore, blood turning cold, drifting away. 

Cousin Sidney

An Old Commitment

Terrible Angels

The title seems to be a paradox in itself as you would not associate angels with being 'terrible'. 

In stanza one it shows how we view was as heroic, with the war medals having 'pretty coloured ribbons' suggests how war is not valued as much when it's over and all we care about is the medals. 

The 'meat snatching birds' sound like that the birds are waiting for the soldiers to die. The simile 'circle around and around like a carousel' gives the image of the birds continuously circling, waiting for the soldiers to die before they swoop in and eat them. Alternatively, 'horses to bolt' and 'birds to rise' could also be interpreted that warfare scares all life away, even 'meat snatching birds' - something which sounds sinister and cruel. 

The second stanza shows how the soldiers became ruthless and 'bloodthirsty'. This image sounds quite animalistic, like they've lost their morality.  

'To steal the muskets of the dead' makes the soldiers become 'stealthily visible' - paradox. Could show because their now invisible they don't have to hide who they really are. 

'Bold and bloodthirsty, true facsimiles of men' could suggest that they were like this before they died as they are an exact copy and they haven't changed yet being an angel has awakened their bloodthirsty nature. Could be that they had to hide it when they were alive but can show it now their dead. 

'Than was healthy' suggests that his father is no longer healthy and that the war has left him weak. 

The Mistake

In the first stanza we are introduced to a 'green tree' that 'once had no identity'. 

In the second stanza the 'after thirteen years' in brackets emphasises how they had endlessly and tirelessly searched for this trees identity. The word 'thriving' gives the tree value, making it sound special and unique. 

However, the people who have the tree seem to boast about it and show it off to others, this strikingly contrasts with the image of nature against the false, boasting people.  

Finally in the last stanza it appears that the tree is 'tired of lies' - could be tired of its false identity. 'Ordinary walnuts' shows how the tree is just like any other, and is not special but it is happy to be normal and not ashamed of what it is - 'shamelessly free of disguise'. 

The tree in the poem to begin with is a facade and it's identity unreal, but in the end the tree finds no need to be special or magical ('it'll charm away your cold') but instead should be appreciated for being itself. 

Postcard to his Wife

'The dulcamara of memory is not enough' —> he doesn't just want to remember his wife, he wants to see her again. 

'Make excuses' and 'anything! But come home' in the second and third stanzas sound like Abse is desperate to see his wife and he's pleading to see her again. 

'Cant make Abse's heart grow fonder' could suggest that his heart can't grow fonder for her because he knows that she is not alive and not coming back. 

Down the M4

In the second stanza it sound like his mother is telling him about time ageing him and how he says 'oh dear' or 'how funny' —> it's like he doesn't care because he's young. 

'Till I feel my hair turning grey' —> could suggest that he is only now understanding/appreciating what his mother has been telling him now that his is turning old. Alternatively, could be saying that his mother keeps telling him and he does not care and will continue not to care 'till I feel my hair turning grey'. 

'For I've heard that perishable one two hundred times before' —> suggests his mother keeps on telling him —> he's heard it all before.

First stanza could suggest that all of the people close to him keep dying. 

*contextual knowledge: Abse's wife died down the M4 in a car crash

An elegy for Dylan Thomas

'With rum tourists, inspect his grave' —> suggests the person who's grave it is was famous

'Death was his voluntary marriage' —> death is the only thing he is now committed to. 

'Poor silence sold to that rich and famous bride' —> sounds like his widow sold his story to the press for money, that he worked so hard to keep private. 

'Not even for the sake of love' —> Dylan Thomas was loved by everyone but all of their love cannot bring him back to life. 

Dylan

We see the persona idealise Dylan, and he seems to 'unveil his eyeless staring head' suggests an unnatural look to Dylan and sounds like he may be dead. We can infer from this that the persona is imagining Dylan, because he is actually dead. The persona says 'A heard silence' which is an oxymoron so this could show the personas mixed emotions at seeing Dylan, that he is excited he's seen him but deep down he knows its not real. 

Dylan's life is described as having 'slipped from a cupped hand'. This could suggest that the persona feels that Dylan's life slipped from his hands and you can further infer that the persona feels that Dylan shouldn't have died so young. We get the impression that the persona feels fame was to blame for the death of Dylan through the personification of it in the line 'Dilly, Dilly come and be killed'.

A Sea Shell for Vernon Watkins

The words 'unreal' and 'unearthed' suggest that the person the persona is talking about is no longer alive. The persona remembers other poets 'Yeats' and 'David' in the poem. 

'Darkness stayed in a cave' could be a reference to death and how it inhabits in all of us and comes out when it's ready to take us. 

'Others gone also, like you dispensable' could suggest that everyone is equal and that death takes everyone, no matter what their status in life is. 

Quests

The poem contains a lot of references to Greek mythology - 'Apion' and 'Triton'. It seems that the persona is imagining a life beyond his own, and I think this is further backed up in the title being 'Quests'. In the poem it feels like the persona has an interest in the mythology and is sad to know that he will never see the gods 'no sulking Proteus will rise'. 

Uncle Isidore

In the poem we get the impression that the persona is remembering his Uncle Isidore. In the first stanza the persona seems to 'observe' Uncle Isidore describing him as 'sprawled like Karl Marx' and also as being 'slumped, dead or asleep', which to me seems like the persona is remebering Uncle Isidore as he is no longer alive.

The persona says 'Before Auschwitz, Treblinka, he seemed near, those days of local pogroms, five year programmes' suggesting that like Abse, his uncle was also Jewish so may of experienced being in a German concentration camp. The last part of the stranza it seems that Uncle Isidore looked to God for guidance at this time of his life. 

At Ogmore by Sea this August Evening

The persona uses the word "estuary" which could suggest being part of something bigger and that his father wanted something more in life. This is further continued through the persona saying "My father - who, self taught, scraped upon an obstinate violin" This shows that his father showed perseverance and taught himself something as challenging as a violin. 

Abse could be using pathetic fallacy to describe his feelings when remembering his father and how sad he feels about his death by the line "Darker than the darkening evening". 

The Death of Aunt Alice

The persona is juxtaposing his aunt Alice's vivid, wild imagination of her life with a very orderly contained funeral service. He feels that her personality is not reflected in the orderly funeral she has got.

"sparrows became vampires" could show that she always had a vivid imagination and that she used to make things up to make life seem unexpected and more interesting. 

There seems to be a contrast between her wild imagination and the finality of her death - she's not here anymore - gone forever - this cannot be changed or altered.  

A letter from Ogmore

We get the impression from 'Goodbye 20th century' that time has passed for the persona and the century that he has lived his life in has gone by. The persona references significant historical events that have happened in the 20th century -  'Hiroshima and Auschwitz'. This could be suggesting that the persona is glad this century has gone by as Auschwitz has a strong connection with the persecution of the Jews and Abse is a Jew so it could be him hoping that it would not happen again in the 21st century. 

The repetition of 'Goodbye, 20th century' reinforces the idea of how important this century was to the personas. The lines 'even my nostalgia is becoming history' suggests that the persona's longing for the past is now in the past, and the things he once thought were nostalgic are now considered old.  

'Goodbye, I-must-leave-you-Dolly, goodbye Lily Marlene' suggests that he is leaving people behind in the 20th century, perhaps people he once knew who are now dead. 

Dannie Abse Imitations

There is an immediate link to Larkin's Dockery and Son in the second line - 'my son and I'. This shows that like Larkin's poem, there is a parent and child theme throughout. 

The persona describes her son as a 'chameleon'. This could be the persona saying that her and her son are alike however her son has to change who he is to fit in. Alternatively, it could be that his personality/emotions are constantly changing throughout his teenage years. 

 'my soft diamond' could be the persona suggesting that her son acts big and tough yet inwardly, he is soft and kind. 

'Dreams of some Juliet I don't know' could suggest that the persona does not know about her sons personal life and that he doesn't confide in her all of the time, he keeps some things secret. 

Dannie Abse Return to Cardiff

Dannie Abse Cricket Ball

In this poem we see the personas love for cricket - the persona has gone to watch 'Glamorgan play' and the persona also tells us that he likes Slogger Smart - who is different from the other players. He is 'free from the disgrace from fame, unrenowned.' This shows that the persona thinks that fame came change people, yet it hasn't effected Slogger, and that's why he likes him best. Abse uses a pun on cricket at the end of the stanza, saying 'the biggest hit with me'. The second stanza shows the use of pathetic fallacy, 'sound of summer' suggesting that summer conveys the notion of happiness, excitement and prosperity in people, and the crowd at the cricket ground. This is further developed by the use of the metaphor, 'the ball is alive' suggesting that summer brings people and inanimate objects to life.

Dannie Abse Blond Boys

Each stanza in the poem reflects on the memories that the persona had with Eva Jones, his first love as a child. He emphasises how time has passed by saying 'remember me?/My acne. Your dimples. This suggests that time has passed since then but shows how he still recognises her, and enforces that as a child he did love her. The use of the word 'forever' in the 5th stanza could suggest that he can never forget the memory and that it will stay with him forever.
In the last stanza the persona describes how Eva didn't want to be with the persona because she preferred blond boys. The persona describes Eva talking to him in prose which makes me think of  Shakespeares' Romeo and Juliet - with them talking in sonnets to each other, and the other characters talk in prose. This could suggest that she shows no love to the persona.

Dannie Abse Two Photographs

Two photographs is about Abse highlighting the differences between his two aunts that have since died. We get direct comparisons of them, much like in Larkin's Wild Oats - the difference being that whilst Larkin is comparing them and prefers one of the women, Abse is saying how he likes them both and cannot choose between them, despite their differences. Larkin's Wild Oats is critical of one of the women whereas Two Photographs is a celebration of them both, displaying the love and fondness Abse has to both of them equally.
The last stanza is quite philosophical in the way it describes Abse's thoughts on their memory and how it remains in him. Abse is saying here that the dead exist in the minds of people who knew and loved them, but when we die, the dead are forgotten. He is sad to think that one day when he dies his children's grandchildren will not know who his aunts were, and their striking personalities that they possessed and that Abse loved will be forgotten.
You could also link this to Larkin's poem 'To Sidney Bechet' as both poems are a celebration of their lives.

Dannie Abse At the Concert

The first two stanzas of the poem suggests that everyday passes the same as the last, never recognising one day to be different than another. 'The same old grass, same old flavour' could be a metaphor for life, with Abse saying that our life is just one big fixed routine.The horse in the second stanza could also be a metaphor for human life, saying that we don't move and we are all like a 'statue' - we don't do anything different in our lives - we all have the same structure. 
The fourth stanza highlights how Abse thinks as humans we always wait for things to happen in life. This is suggested by the line - 'If so, join the queue. It stretches all the way to the Old People's Home'. - You can infer from this that Abse thinks we always wait for things to happen but also that we will wait until we get old and ultimatley we will wait until we die, still having achieved nothing.

Dannie Abse Musical Moments 2

From the poem we get the impression that Miss Crouch, the personas piano teacher from part one of musical moments, has died and now that he has grown up has begun to appreciate her and how he is sorry that he was ignorant when she was trying to teach him to play the piano. The persona now realises how good a person Miss Crouch was and he begins to regret that he didn't listen to her and appreciate her. 

Dannie Abse Musical Moments 1

Musical moments 1 seems to be about a boy who piano lessons is forces upon by his father. Whilst the other children are outside in the park - where he wants to be - the boy is inside with his 'upright piano teacher', 'numbly bored with scales'.

Dannie Abse Red Balloon

The poem is about a child who owns a red balloon that the other children dislike and want to destroy. You can infer this as being a reference to Abse's religion, with others being prejudice towards Jew's. However, towards the end of the poem, we see the boy being proud of his possession even when the other boys have beaten him. This could suggest that Abse has suffered for his religion but is still proud to be apart of it. 

'It was my shame, it was my joy' suggests that even though he loves his religion, it brings him despair and the use of the oxymoron could suggest that he likes being different although he doesn't fit in. The line 'it would not burst' suggests that Abse fights for his religion and will not give up easily. To back this idea up further, the lines 'give up'...'I don't know exactly why' shows that he doesn't know why he should just give in to the boys threats and violence. 

Dannie Abse A Scene From Married Life

We see the persona remembering an argument he has had with his wife and how the words were said out of spite. 

In the third stanza we get the impression that the persona is stuck in the marriage and he can't escape from the line - 'resentful wedlock'. 

In the sixth stanza we see the persona giving in and surrendering to his wife - 'with surrendering waves I crawled to the shore'. 

The last stanza suggests that even though they would agree to stop fighting that it would never last long - suggested by 'and then...'

You could compare this poem to Larkin's Talking in Bed, with both using nature to describe mood and emotion. 

Dannie Abse A Winter Visit

We get the impression from the poem that the persona is walking through the park with his elderly mother who is coming close to death. The personas mother recognises that she is close to death - 'this winter I'm half dead son' and the persona himself knows it too. 

In the fourth stanza we can infer that even though the persona is sad about his old mothers age, he cannot express any emotion. 

From the last stanza we see that the persona doesn't want to talk about death with his mother, even though they are both thinking about it. This shows that he is sensitive and caring towards his mother as he loves her and doesn't want to think or talk about her dying. 

You could link this poem to Larkin's Home is so Sad and Reference Back - with the persona realising how old his mother is. 

Dannie Abse The Malham Bird

Abse remembers the first holiday with his wife in the first three stanzas. We get the impression that this holiday is very dear to him as he clearly remembers lots of details about it. However in the last two stanzas there is a philosophical shift as Abse talks about 'the Malham bird' a Jewish legend of the bird of Eden who obeyed the commandment not to eat the forbidden fruit even when the other birds ate them, they get banished and he lives in paradise forever alone. 

You could link this to Larkin's poem The Whitsun Weddings as not only is there a underlying message about marriage in this poem, but there is also a philosophical shift at the end of the poem. 

Dannie Abse Last Visit to 198 Cathedral Road

From the poem we can infer that the persona has gone back to a house that he once used to live in a long time ago with his parents. It suggests in the poem that his parents have died and he is sitting in his fathers armchair in the dark, alone. We can infer from the poem that he is alone and his parents are no longer there by the line - 'not one, comforting, diminutive sound' this could mean that he no longer feels comforted in this house as their is no life in it since his parents have died. However personification is used in the second stanza to describe the objects in the room. By using personification, Abse could be suggesting that he isn't alone in this room and all the objects have a personal connection towards him.

You could link this poem to Larkin's 'Home is so Sad' because the poem talks about how the house stays the same, waiting for its owner to return and we also get the feeling that it could be about Larkin's mother who died and the home she left behind. 

Reaction to Toads Revisited

The poem shows how the people that don't work 'walk around in the park' and are 'stupid or weak'. The persona considers them to be 'failures' who just sit about, 'hearing the hours chime' - suggesting that they just while away the hours and don't have anything worth while in their lives to do. However, in though the persona recognises that this lifestyle 'should feel better than work', it doesn't suit him, and he prefers to be at work as it gives him something to do. In the last stanza we see him embrace his work, much like a friend - 'give me your arm old toad; Help me down Cemetery Road' suggesting that he wants work to accompany him to his death. 

Reaction to Naturally the Foundation will Bear your Expenses

The persona in the poem is very dislike able and we get the impression that the poem is a satire to academics, possibly the ones that Larkin himself had met in the University Library. The persona seems to brag about the universities his been around the world to lecture at in the first stanza. 

In the second and third stanza we see the persona heavily criticising Remembrance Day, calling it 'wreath-rubbish' and 'mawkish', all because he was being held up by it and making him late for his plane. We get from this poem that the persona is very self centred, especially through his vicious attack on the day, and also in the last stanza, through his name dropping of the 'great Professor Lal/(He once met Morgan Forster)'. 

Reaction to An Arundel Tomb

The poem is about how the love of two medieval people has been cemented for hundreds of years through the tomb of them holding hands. However, it also shows the idea of how the meaning of something can be changed and interpreted differently through the years dependant on the new generations that come and visit the tomb. 

Reaction to Afternoons

Even though on the surface of the poem seems as though Larkin is scathing about the lives and experiences of the working class people, Larkin is actually quite empathetic with the women in the poem, and seems to understand that they become pushed to the side of their own lives when they have a family and have to look after their home too. 

Reaction to Send No Money

In the first stanza the persona is a child and we see him talking to the personification of 'time'. Whilst other boys wanted to get on with their life and experience things for themselves, the persona asks time to tell him what is going to happen in his life. 

In the last stanza 'half life is over now' for the persona and he has realised that he hasn't proved anything by sitting back and watching others experience things. 

Reaction to Essential Beauty

In Essential Beauty we see the ideal version of reality portrayed through advertisements and juxtaposed to the actual reality of people's lives. 

In the first stanza there are descriptions of how adverts portray reality, directly contrasted with the second stanza, with Larkin showing what life is really like. 

In the first stanza there is imagery of 'a glass of milk stands in a meadow' contrasting with the image in the second stanza of 'dark raftered pubs' milk, having a sweet taste, contrasting with the idea of the bitterness of beer inside pubs, and also the idea of meadows having no confines and giving an image of freedom, whereas 'dark raftered pubs' makes me think of being enclosed in a place that is unnerving. 

We get the impression from the second stanza that advertisements try to take advantage of the elderly by emphasising the importance of tradition from 'a halfpenny more' and 'to taste old age' suggests that elderly people will happily spend more on recognised, traditional brands. 

Reaction to Ignorance

I think that the main message in Ignorance is that Larkin feels there is a certain pressure in society to conform to identifying what your religious beliefs are, even when we can never be sure whether there is a God or not. 

'Strange to no nothing' never to be sure

Of what is true or right or real

But forced to qualify or so I feel.' 

I think Larkin is here asking the question of, how can make a decision on our religious beliefs when we actually don't really know anything about God ourselves. 

Reaction to First Sight

First sight signifies the cycle of birth, death and rebirth - world may seem bleak in the winter for the newborn lambs, but then when the snow melts away spring begins - could signify hope for the lambs. This poem seems like a complete opposite to Larkin's other poem, Ambulances. 

Reaction to Sunny Prestatyn

In the first stanza we see the idealised vision of a dream holiday location 'hotel with palms' and 'a hunk of coast' displayed on a poster with a girl advertising 'Sunny Prestatyn'. 

However, in the second and third stanza, we see how the poster, mainly the woman, has been a victim of sexist vandalism. Even though the language used is quite light hearted, in the Third stanza we see something darker, that the vandal is proud of his work, even autographing it for everyone to see. This shows that the person who has defaced the poster thinks it is funny to do this, willingly displaying his misogynistic views. 

Reaction to As Bad as a Mile

In the last stanza I think it links very strongly with the story of Adam and Eve, 'the apple unbitten in the palm' being a reference to Eve reaching for the apple and taking a bite, and then being banished from Eden. This could be Larkin suggesting that he thinks people don't think about what we do and the consequences that it could have for our future and also that we're in it for what we can get for ourselves, and that we don't think about how it could affect others. You could also interpret this line by saying that life is full of possibilities, much like the apple, but yet we as humans, always seem to take advantage of things, leading to failure. An alternative reading in to the line could be that we should resist temptation and we will get the reward later in life.

Reaction to The Large Cool Store

In this poem, we get the impression that the persona is looking down upon the middle class people he is describing in the store as he uses words like 'they' - excluding himself from these people and we get the impression that he doesn't want to be associated with them. 

Larkin uses words like 'clusters' as 'unearthly' to express his distaste for these middle class women and it also gives us the impression that he is sneering at them. 

In the last stanza, the line 'or in our young unreal wishes' he is saying that we all want the same thing, including himself with the word 'our' which is love. 

Reaction to The Importance of Elsewhere

From the poem we get the impression that the persona feels isolated and lonely in Ireland yet he feels comfortable and feels that in a place where nobody knows him, he feels normal. The persona feels that in England, where his home is, he is not allowed to be himself - separate, anti social, strange and isolated yet in Ireland, where he is different from others, he feels normal, as he can be himself. This main theme presents a paradox as only elsewhere can he feel like himself where nobody knows him and yet at home he feels he has to conform to the expectations of others, fearing he might lose his true self and become someone he's not. 

Reaction to A Study of Reading Habits

By using the word 'cured' the persona suggests that during his school years, reading was his escape, where he could imagine himself as a character in a book, instead of being someone who was bullied at school. In the second stanza we see the persona going through his teenage reading, with him suggesting that he devoured books much like women. However, in the last stanza, the persona reveals that he doesnt read now, because when he was younger he wanted to be able to relate himself to the hero but now knows that he is much more like the coward, 'the chap who's yellow'.

Reaction to Wild Oats

Wild oats presents a paradox in the poem - the woman the persona has, he doesnt want, and the woman he wants, he hasnt got. We see the persona committed to the notion of the perfect woman, and unable to accept the woman he's got for who she is.
The persona shares his desire to be with a 'bosomy rose' and won't be committed or happy with any one who isn't, yet when he meets this type of woman, the persona says 'she was trying both times (or so I thought) not to laugh' suggesting that to the woman, the persona is a joke.

Reaction to Ambulances

'closed like confessionals, they thread' - by confessionals you could infer saving your soul from hell could be the ambulance/paramedic is saving the person from death and the word 'thread' could mean that the persons life is hanging by a thread, dependant on the ambulance coming to save them from death. In stanza 3 the line 'that lies under all we do' could be the persona realising that much like the person needing an ambulance, we are all vulnerable, it could be any one of us and death could take us at any time and ultimately there is nothing we can do to prevent it. 'so permanent and blank and true' could be referring to the reality of existence but also to death, the fact that it is inevitable to everyone and most perceptions of death is that it's permanent and that when we die there is nothing, death is the end of everything.

Reaction to MCMXIV

The poem is inspired by WW1 and is about young men waiting to be enlisted for the war. The first stanza shows the patriotism of the crowds watching them enlist. The poem has a lot of dramatic irony in it, with the young men full of hope and prosperity for the war and what it will make of them - however we know that the war will result in death for many of them. 

Reaction to Days

Days could be questioning what we are doing during our existence and whether what are doing is of any worth. Larkin suggests that people live their lives in monotony by saying - 'they come, they wake us/time and time over'. 

'Where can we live but days?' Could hint at his atheist views as Christians would say heaven, but he is questioning what's next. 

Reaction to Take One Home for the Kiddies

The poem infers that the persona thinks children treat pets like toys with no feelings or emotions and that ultimately they don't really care about them and when they die, they will be forgotten and the children will move on to something different that they want their parents to buy them.

Reaction to Water

In the poem you could infer that the persona feels that religion is no longer purely spiritual as it is too strictly controlled - 'A furious devout drench' could infer that the persona feels religion itself needs to be cleansed with water to purify it again. Larkin uses the word 'construct' in the first stanza to suggest he feels that religion is a man made conception and not something spiritual. The word 'fording' in stanza 2 could suggest that the persona feels that religion is a shallow crossing to the answers that we all desire, manly about death. It could be that Larkin is inferring that he thinks religion is just a form of escapism, and that it teaches people not to fear death, even if what it's saying is not necessarily known to be true. However, it sounds like Larkin accepts that some people do trust what religion says even if he does not. 

Reaction to Faith Healing

In the poem, we get the impression that these women are lonely, they lack kindness in their lives and they need love and support. Because of the lack of this, it makes the women vulnerable, and the faith healer is exploiting them because they are weak and naive. They cannot see that he is just an act and even though the women's faith in him is genuine, sadly he is not. His entourage herd the women on to the stage, and when they meet him, 'each dwells some twenty seconds' before being pushed aside and disregarded - it could be a link to what has happened to them in their lives. 

'A sense of life lived according to love' is not only referring to the women and how they want to feel again after a life of neglect, but the persona also suggests that this is everyone's ideal - that we all want to be loved continuously throughout our lives. 

Reaction to Nothing to be Said

In the first stanza, we see a variation in different cultures and people, but Larkin points out through 'life is slowly dying' that we are all the same because of the fact that we are all dying together. You could also interpret this by saying that even though everyone is different, death provides everyone with equality. 

In the second stanza, 'ways of slowly dying' could mean that we all do different things to satisfy us before dying, to keep us occupied before death, also reaffirming the idea of that in the first stanza. 

In the third stanza we see Larkin's view that we as humans want to give evidence to our existence through reproducing and also gives the notion that Larkin feels that whilst life goes quickly - 'or birth, advance', death is eternal. Larkin recognises religion by the last three lines - 'and saying so to some/means nothing; others it leaves/nothing to be said.' - Christians believe in life after death, heaven - so therefore death is another journey, whilst others believe that death is the end. 

Dannie Abse bio

Dannie Abse was born in Cardiff, Wales to a Jewish family in 1923. He has two older brothers Leo and Wilfred. Dannie Abse studied Medicine at the University of Wales College of Medicine, Westminster Hospital Medical School and King's College London. Abse was a specialist doctor for over 30 years. 

Abse has won numerous awards for his poems and has received an honorary doctorate from the University of Wales in 1989. Dannie Abse has lived in Hampstead, London for several decades where he used to write an article for a local newspaper called the Ham & High. 

In 2005, his wife Joan Abse died in a car accident. The Presence, a memoir of the year after his wife died, was published in 2007 and won the 2008 Wales Book of the Year award.

Reaction to Reference Back

Reference Back is about the persona, possibly Larkin himself, living at his mothers house, listening to music from his room that they both share a love of. Whilst this makes the mother sad as the music transports her back to her youth when she used to play this music, the persona also reflects on how he is 'wasting my time at home' suggesting maybe that he wishes that he was in his own home listening to this music without his mother being there. Another hint that he is unhappy at still being at home is 'to my unsatisfactory prime' this could be a hint that he feels it should be his time to go and have a family and to have his own house yet he still lives alone with his mother. 

Reaction to Home is so Sad

I really enjoyed this poem and it initially reminded me of a dog yearning for its owner to come back. From the poem we get the impression that the person who lived in the house had just recently passed away and the house was still as they'd left it, as if waiting for them to get back. 

Reaction to For Sidney Bechet

For Sidney Bechet is Philip Larkins tribute to the Jazz Player Sidney Bechet. The persona says how hearing him play can almost transport him to New Orleans and he can imagine that he is there, picturing all the things that are going on around him. I think the line in the first stanza -"And in all ears appropriate falsehood wakes" means that the audience get lost in his music, and sets their imaginations loose, all in their own separate day dreams. Another reference to how the music makes the persona feel is "Is where your speech alone is understood". I think that this is showing that to the persona, the music speaks more clearly and more meaningful than perhaps sometimes words. 

Reaction to Love Songs in Age

From the poem we see sheet music that has been forgotten about over the years that have been worn and torn by everyday life and have almost become part of the furniture. However, when the woman in the poem has become widowed, she discovers the music, as if waiting for her, and she remembers how she used to play them. The poem talks of how love promises so many things and then does not deliver. "It had not done so then, and could not now".  - This could connotate that thoughts of marriage in her youth did not please her, and it still does not now and also that she never wanted to get married to start with, but love promised so much for her but failed to deliver. 

Reaction to Mr Bleaney

Mr Bleaney is about the persona going to visit a flat in a industrial area and learning through the landlord that the previous occupant was a man called Mr Bleaney. The persona then through the characteristics of the flat feels like he knows Mr Bleaney and all of his habits. We get the impression that the persona views himself superior to Mr Bleaney but towards the end it becomes apparent that the persona thinks they are more a like than he thought. 

Reaction to Dockery & Son

In Dockery & Son we see the persona reminiscing about his time at University in his youth when the Dean their speaks of the personas old friend Dockery, informing him that Dockery's son now goes there now. The persona is then transported back through his youth there, remembering the things that himself and Dockery used to do.
We see the persona question whether having a son is a good thing, with the persona asking why Dockery thought that he should be added to by increasing the number of Dockery's in the world, when the persona thinks that this has actually diluted Dockery Snr, now that he has had a son.
We also see the persona reflect on his own life, wondering where all his time has gone and he reveals to us that he has no wife, son or house, yet he is comfortable living like this.

'Not from what
We think truest, or most want to do:
Those warp tight-shut, like doors. They're more a style
Our lives bring with them: habit for a while,
Suddenly they harden into all we've got'

I think Larkin is here saying that there is no free will -- we are the product of the choices we've made and we only do things because of the choices we've previously made in our lives. In the poem there is an epiphany, that being life goes quickly, and every life choice you makes narrows down the options for your next set of choices until one day you get to an age when you realise your stuck with them and can't go back.

analysis of Dannie Abse's Sons

Reaction to Talking in Bed

Talking in Bed to me, seemed like a paradox. Throughout the poem there were so many opposites - 'easiest' and 'unrest', 'honest' and 'untrue', 'together' and 'isolation'. I think that as you read the poem, it becomes apparent that this is not young love, but middle aged/old love, something that has lasted for a long time. I think there is a message towards the end of how young loves words are 'true and kind' but when love has aged, it no longer stays that way and I think that perhaps Larkin is saying here that being kind is not always being true.

Reaction to Self's the Man

I felt that Self's the Man was quite easy to understand and to pick up the message of the poem. The persona throughout seems to be joking and is quite hyperbolic, so it leaves you questioning how much you can actually believe. The fact that there is consistently rhyming couplets throughout the poem not only makes it sound like a limeric, but also like the persona is mocking Arnold and the life he has chosen. Whilst it is apparent that the persona has actively chosen not to marry because he wants peace, and feels that marriage will be the death of you, the persona recognizes that this is the life Arnold has chosen, and that even though the persona has pointed out all the stress Arnold goes through, Arnold is not to be pitied. I understood the line 'without them sending a van' to be like death, and that through the stress that marriage and children brings, it would send Arnold to an early grave.
I think there is an underlying message in this poem that Larkin has made about life choices, and how they cannot be changed once you've made them and I think for this reason the poem links well with Larkin's other poem, Dockery & Son.

Reaction to Broadcast

I enjoyed Broadcast and got the impression from the poem that not only was it dedicated to his love for music, but also to the woman in the poem. It sounds to me like the persona and the woman are sharing the experience together, even though they are separated.Whilst this is happening, the persona is also trying to capture the sounds of the concert in words, by using onomatopoeia and sibilance and at one point has personified the violin, making it 'snivel'.

Reaction to Here

I quite enjoyed Here and felt that the poem had a very calming message about isolation and loneliness and how it is not always a bad thing. 'Loneliness clarifies' I felt made me think of being alone in another, positive light and how being isolated enables you to see things clearly. 

Reaction to The Whitsun Weddings

When I first reading the Whitsun Weddings my initial reaction was that it was a deterrence to marriage but since reading it again and analysing it in detail, I realised that I was wrong.
 My opinion now on the poem is that the persona recognises that weddings can be happy and that married couples do have a future, even though it may not necessarily be for them. The persona however does mock the people he sees, with indications that they are common, particularly the uncle shouting smut and the girls who are parodies to fashion. I found that towards the end Larkin wrote in a more abstract way, allowing us to come to our own conclusions as to what he means and to a further extent what perhaps marriage means to us.

My first reaction to Larkin

My first reaction to the poems I read by Philip Larkin was that they all had a negative approach to the subject he was addressing. In Mr Bleaney, it sounded like death whereas in Toads Revisited, it sounded like the man in the poem did not appreciate things in life and doesn't have any friends as all he likes to do is work. The Witsun Weddings poem to me felt like a deterrence to marriage and I thought that the underlying message was that when you get married you don't live anymore. Take one home for the kiddies sounded to me a bit like living in poverty - 'huddled by empty bowls' made me think of vulnerability and being poor.