Saturday 29 March 2014

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.

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