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.
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