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