Leaving Cardiff - Abse

This poem is based on the fact of Abse leaving Cardiff to go and live somewhere else. The use of alliteration is used in stanza one 'docks' derelictions' to give a sense of something now being empty and having no meaning. It gives a representation of an empty place, which will be empty of him when he is gone.

Within the second stanza he is describes that he 'stands on the deck and stares'. Now this literally means that he is looking out into the open. However it is also a metaphor for looking at life and considering the future. 'While black shapes upon the pier' suggests a very intense description of this place. This further reinforces that he is going to miss Cardiff.

Stanza three has a more emotional impact on the reader, this is different to how we feel when we read Larkin's poems. The quote 'pump to my eyes and spill' really encompasses how emotional he is feeling about leaving Cardiff, that this place really means a lot to him.

Similar to Larkin, the fourth stanza then shifts into the more philosophical ideas about choosing to leave. When he comments 'when who sailing made no choice' suggests he wasn't conscious of making the choice to leave. This links to making the right life choices in life and in turn refers to the poem by Larkin 'Dockery and Son'. We also get a gloomy and depressing atmosphere to this poem towards the end of this stanza where he comments 'Not for one second, I know, can I be the same man twice'. This gives us the impression that that when he moves he will be a completely different person, this is what exposes the epiphany of the poem and the philosophical meaning that he comes across.

The last stanza really exposes the idea of moving on in life through 'spokes over the long horizon'. This is a verb of movement, where boats unload and move on. This suggests the change of what is to happen when leaving Cardiff. The poem ends with the quote 'unload and move on' which is symbolism for him moving on and that he is moving on with his life.

This poem has similarities to that of Larkin. We can link Leaving Cardiff to Home is so sad because both poems encompass this idea of the change and having to finally move on. It also links to Dockery and Son as it also includes the aspect of life choices and whether you have made the right ones or not.

On the Coast Road - Abse

On the Coast Road is a poem about persona going on a walk. Within the first stanza a lot of personification is used to highlight to us the persona's past, especially his childhood. We also get the description of the 'ash-end of the year' which highlights to us that the season is Winter and also acts as symbolism for the declining nature of the persona, who is now aging in life. The personification of the weather highlights certain events within the persona's life. For example he mentions the 'bossy wind' and it 'summons' giving us the idea of a school teacher or wife, figures of people who have been and gone in his life, this is also used to highlight how much he has aged as a person. We are also given the concrete description of the 'choirs of ghosts' this really emphasises the sounds of the wind. This in turn links to the musical poems such as Broadcast and Sydney Bechet, these poems also express the aspect of sound.

In stanza two the persona mentions that this is the 'wrong weather' highlighting the fact that he has come out to be alone and isolated because no one will find him. This will give him a chance to think in the open and links well with the poem by Larkin 'Here'. We are also given the semantic field of childhood memories through 'bullied of course' this highlights his moments of childhood. We also get further personification of the wind through 'sheep scrum'. These are sibilant sounds and this literally gives the effect off that the wind is screeching.

We are also given interesting connotations about the persona's life in stanza four as well. We are given the phrase 'the road that leads to the past'. This signifies that the journey he is currently on which is going on his walk brings back all his memories because a journey itself is the metaphor of life. He later describes that his 'eyes water'. This could signify that he is gripped by the cold, or that he is so overcome by happy emotions, now that his father has gone the journey he has gone on is the only reminder he has left of his father and he feels sad because of this. This links well with the Larkin poem 'Home is So Sad'.

Stanza six really encompasses the idea that the persona is of elderly age where he comments 'I, as a boy'. This suggests that many memories have been triggered from remembering his past, he is reminiscing, however through this he has come to the realisation about how fast he has aged and how quickly life has gone. He also graffiti's 'STRAIGHT ON FOR THE FUTURE'. The capitals emphasises how much he has aged, but it is also articulate graffiti that he wanted to achieve something in life, it is a look and a realisation of what is going to happen in the future now. This links to 'Here' by Larkin and 'The Whitsun Weddings' by Larkin as it closely links to the arrow shower that we get at the end of that poem. The arrow shower is the potential or supposed desire to grow up, however it is the complete opposite when you are old because you just end up wanting to be young again.

The last stanza also connotes to us how the persona feels after going on his walk. He is described as being a 'tin can'. This connotes the idea that he feels empty and discarded from remembering all his memories from his childhood. The ending is an overall metaphor for how he now feels through 'with each struggling step I take'. This gives off the overall sense that from this point forward his life will begin to deteriorate and that he needs to make the most of it while it lasts before he dies.

On the Coast Road is very similar to a lot of Larkin's poems as we recognise that the journey he takes then results in a philosophical shift through the eyes of the persona. This is similar to poems by Larkin such as 'Here' and 'The Whitsun Weddings'. Decisions seem to make a basis of this poem as well, such as life choices for example. So this links to poems by Larkin such as 'Dockery and Son' and 'Self's the Man'.

Home Is So Sad - Larkin

Home Is So Sad is a poem that encompasses the themes of belonging and death. The word 'Home' in this case is personified as being sad because it has something missing. Home has the connotations of the person, the family and the memories and if it doesn't have all of this then Home is nothing. This poem is about the description of Larkin's mothers' home.

In the first stanza we get the sense that Larkin is longing for his mother's return after her death. This is represented through the quote 'Shaped to the comfort of the last to go as if to win them back'. We also get negative connotations of words within this stanza. 'bereft', 'withers', 'no heart' and 'theft' are all words that hint of the mother's death and represent Larkin's negative feelings and grief.

In the last stanza we get the quote 'a joyous shot' representing that this is how life starts out, however this shot just falls and life is disappointing for everybody. This stanza describes the mothers home through words such as 'cutlery', 'the music' and 'look at the pictures'. It creates visionary imagery in the mind of the reader. However, it is also a representation that the home is just a shell now because the owner is dead. It is symbolic that home is not complete without an owner. The poem ends with 'that vase' it ends without a sentence, signifying how fast death can come upon all of us and that it was a shock to Larkin when it happened.

The main theme that Larkin is trying to get across through this poem is that life starts out with love, hope and expectation however the Home represents that it ends with disappointment

. This poem links nicely to other poems such as Dockery and Son and Reference Back.

Mr Bleaney - Larkin

Mr Bleaney is a poem about the persona who is trying to imagine the lifestyle of the person called Mr Bleaney who rented the hotel room before himself. The persona is renting a room which used to belong to Mr Bleaney. There is a ballad rhythm to this poem in which every other word rhymes. This signifies the simplistic repetitive lifestyle of not just the persona but Mr Bleaney as well.

Mr Bleaney is represented as having a boring and repetitive lifestyle through when he is 'at the bodies, till they moved him'. We get the sense that Mr Bleaney had to usually be kicked out which represents the view that he had nothing better to do than just sit around and do nothing. The representation of his room signifies his personality. The curtains 'are thin and frayed' which represents something rather cheap, meagre and neglected about the curtains and Mr Bleaney himself. The representation of the setting is effective symbolism of Mr Bleaney's life. His room overlooks 'a strip of building land'. This gives us an idea of an ugly and desolate setting. The 'bed, upright chair, sixty-watt bulb, no hook' gives a very simplistic description of Mr Bleaney's bedroom. It seems as if the description is similar to that of a prison cell. This room is a metaphor for the life and aspirations of Mr Bleaney. The persona describes 'stuffing my ears with cotton wool'. We get a sense of nothingness through these actions. When you lie still you begin to think and when you think you think of your place in life. So Mr Bleaney would of been lying there thinking of how useless he actually is as a human being. We get the sense that Mr Bleaney was always looking for hope in life. The fact that he was always 'plugging at the four aways' suggests that he betted on the football pools. Like the lottery, it gives off hope though very vague and almost pathetic. We get an insight into the desperation of Mr Bleaney's life.

The last two stanzas act as the epiphany and philosophical shift to this poem, that the persona is actually no better off than Mr Bleaney himself because they are both in the exact same situation. Throughout the majority of this poem the persona seems very judgemental towards Mr Bleaney, however he doesn't know the inner feelings of Mr Bleaney at all. The fact that the
persona ends this poem with 'I don't know' adds to his uncertain future. The persona and Mr Bleaney are exact equals even though throughout the majority of this poem the persona is very judgemental we never get to know much about the persona himself. This is down to the fear of what people will think about the persona if he adopts the same ways as Mr Bleaney. The main theme of this poem seems to be down to this idea of snobbishness.

Love Songs in Age - Larkin

Love Songs in Age is a poem again about music but it also encompasses this aspect of time. It is about a woman who is rummaging in the attic trying to find something and she comes across her old sheet music.

Within the first stanza of this poem we get the sense that the woman has kept away these sheets of music for a very long time. The fact that they are 'bleached' and 'marked' suggests an everyday kind of neglect, that they have been forgotten and abandoned for a very long time. The finding of this music also brings back happy memories for this woman about her family. They are 'coloured by her daughter' this gives a sense of a family atmosphere. However, if she has aged this gives us a perception of time and like the poem 'Reference Back' gives us a sense of how fast it has gone. We also get the personification of these sheets of music 'so they had waited'. It's as if they are waiting to surprise the woman in a good way so that she could reminisce about good times. Again in this stanza the word 'widowhood' highlights her old age as a person now.

Within stanza two she begins 'relearning how each frank submissive chord'. The words 'frank' and 'submissive' give off the connotations of being in control, that this music can be controlled by her touch. The discovery of this music makes her memory of learning the chords flood back to her. When the woman begins learning all the chords again we get a sense that she reminisces over 'being young'. When she listens to this music she starts to remember her youth. This is why Larkin seems to describe this as if it is a 'spring-woken tree' because this has all of the connotations of becoming alive and this reflects in youth where you still have hope and promise and you haven't made any major life choices yet. Through this, this poem also links nicely to 'Dockery and Son'. The replaying of the music almost gives this woman the feeling of being young again. The music has 'hidden freshness' that she never thought she would of found again if she were not to stumble across it in the attic.

The last stanza is more philosophical in it's nature and has links to love and time. The woman starts to think of her love life and how unlike the music she can control she had no control over love. Words such as 'glare' and 'brilliance' give us a sense that she was literally blinded by it all. In other words, during her youth she was to young to make conscious decisions, she was literally blinded about what to do. Through all the memories of her decisions in her life she is moved to tears. The quote 'promising to solve, and satisfy, and set unchangeable in order' links to the ending 'It had not done so then, and could not now'. Larkin is making the comment that this woman can not change time. The aspect of love did not solve, satisfy and promise now and now that her husband is dead is does not now. Larkin's main message in this poem again seems to be to choose loneliness over a relationship because it is more satisfying in the end.

Reference Back - Larkin

Reference Back is a poem about Larkin and his mother listening to the same song but in alternate rooms. This poem links effectively to the other musical poem by Larkin 'Broadcast' in which two people are also listening to music but in different geographical areas. By listening to this song Larkin comes to the realise the aspect of time and this in turn forms the epiphany and philosophical meaning of this poem.

The first stanza gives the reader the first recognition that this poem's main theme is to do with time. Larkin's mother comments 'That was a pretty one' referencing to the fact that by listening to this song it has reintroduced all of her memories from when she first heard this song. When we listen to music we immediately come to think of where we were when we first heard that song, this is what is happening in the case of Larkin's mother. We also get the repetition of the word 'unsatisfactory' which connotes the idea of an everyday reality that Larkin has to experience while living with his mother. This gives off the connotations that through listening to this music Larkin has realised that he needs to move on in life. Therefore this song links mother and son with one another. We also get contrasting views on this situation in this stanza as well through the quote 'Wasting my time at home, that you looked so much forward to'. In a sense, we are given the contrasts of the fact that Larkin's mother doesn't in fact want him to move on. Whereas he is getting bored of living with his mother now and wants to move on with his life because he feels as if he is not progressing as a person. This in turn, connotes the ideas of life choices and progression in this poem as well.

The second stanza also causes Larkin to literally look back on his life hence the name of the poem 'Reference Back'. He quotes 'Out of Chicago air'. The music that he is listening to causes him to reminisce over times in Chicago. So the music in this poem causes the two characters to look back on the time that they have had in their lives. Within this stanza as well there is the repetition of 'unsatisfactory' again. This is used to signify how much the mother has aged over the years and the son doesn't like this because he has realised how fast time has gone throughout his life.

Like many of other Larkin's poems we get the philosophical shift at the ending of this poem. Like the other poem by Larkin 'Dockery and Son' this poem links to it through the aspect of Life Choices. This is represented through the quote 'We're not suited to the long perspectives'. This represents this idea of looking back on your life and once you have made a choice in life there is no way of reversing it. Larkin also presents the view that looking back on your life is negative. 'They link us to our losses' he is suggesting that it brings back memories of our long lost loved ones and that it is 'Blindingly undiminished' suggesting that it is scary to look back on our younger years because it just shows how quickly time has passed us. The ending again gives us another depressing view on life. Larkin comments 'By acting differently we could have kept it so'. Larkin seems to view the point that if we had made different choices in life then it would of resulted in the same outcomes, this links to fate. However this isn't necessarily true. When you make a different choice in life then it will have a different outcome. The record in this poem will never change, however if Larkin were to make different life choices then his life may of changed.

The main themes of the poem 'Reference Back' is time and the way in which you can never change it once it has happened. It has a sad atmosphere to it this poem and a negative view that life goes to quickly and that you age to quickly.

Dannie Abse

Dannie Abse is a welsh poet. He was born in Cardiff.  Abse first studied medicine at the University of Wales College of Medicine, and then at Westminster Hospital Medicine School and King's College London. Although known for his poetry, Abse also worked in the medical field for over thirty years specialising at a chest clinic. He has received numerous literary awards over the years. In 1989, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Wales. His first ever poetry collection After Every Green Thing was published in 1949. Abse has been a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature since 1983. Abse lives in north west London in Hampstead. In 2005, his wife Joan Abse was killed in a car accident, while Abse suffered a broken rib. His poetry collection, Running Late, was published in 2006, and The Presence, a memoir of the year after his wife died, was published in 2007; it won the 2008 Wales book of the year award. The book was later dramatised for BBC Radio 4. He was awarded the Roland Mathias prize for Running Late. Abse still lives and is age 91.

For Sydney Bechet - Larkin

For Sydney Bechet is a poem dedicated to Larkin's Jazz icon Syndey Bechet. Similar to Broadcast it encompasses many feelings of Larkin's towards jazz music and his passionate love for it. The rhythmic sibilant sounds that are used throughout the poem represent the flow of the music that Larkin experiences.

In the second stanza we get a sense of freedom through the represntation of New Orleans. It is presented as a vibrant and energetic place. There are vibrant words such as 'legendary' and 'everyone making love and going shares'. It presents the feelings of freedom in New Orleans.

Within the third stanza Larkin uses music as if it is enticing him on. 'Oh, play that thing!' uses an exclamation mark to really encompass the fact of how important this is to Larkin. The phrase is used in jazz clubs in New Orleans, it's as if everyone in this club has become excited by the music and this builds up the momentum in the poem. Excitement in this stanza is also used for a negative effect as well. Prostitutes
in this poem are described as 'Sporting-house girls like circus tigers (priced far above rubies)'. Larkin uses this quote as a euphemism for prostitutes. There seems as if there is a wildness contained in this women because they are limited in life purely down to being prostitutes. These prostitutes are also 'priced far above rubies'. This suggests that men prize these women more over rubies because they are prostitutes.

Within the fifth stanza, sexual references are also exploited by Larkin within his love for music. He says 'On me your voice falls as they say love should, like an enormous yes.' It suggests a rather orgasmic pleasure that Larkin is getting from the music through the 'enormous yes'. His love for Sydney Bechet's jazz music is presented as if it is a musical orgasm.

The overall theme of this poem is the exubernece and excitement of the night life of New Orleans. The rhyme scheme represents the flow of the music through the enjambent. We get the idea that music communicates to Larkin like a language without words.

Broadcast - Larkin

Broadcast is another poem by Larkin which encompasses the theme of love but also brings together with it the theme of music. Larkin himself was a great lover of Jazz music. The poem is basically about Larkin listening to this classical orchestra on the radio. His lover is within the crowd. The poem gives the effect off that two people in completely different places are able to listen to the exact same orchestra.

For the majority of this poem Larkin uses lots of sounds to describe the music that he hears. For example he uses words such as 'whispering' that are fricative in their nature and come across softly, then we have a complete opposite through the word 'coughing' which is an example of a plosive sound which comes across as a very threatening noise. Then we have another contrast through the words 'sudden scuttle' which act as alliteration and as a sibilant which gives off a harsher sound. Through these different descriptions Larkin is encompassing all of the contrasting noises and sounds that add together to give off the sound of music in this classical orchestra.

The second stanza goes into more detail of his lover in the crowd. As readers, we get a feeling that this poem is very personal to his lover where Larkin comments on her 'slightly-outmoded shoes'. It seems as if he is highlighting
 a personal joke between the two of them. He describes her as 'beautiful and devout' which is an intimate and loving description. The 'cascades of monumental slithering' acts as a metaphor for a waterfall. It shows that through all that noise he is still trying to listen out for her. This links in well with the poem by Larkin 'Talking in Bed', where Larkin presents the couple as being tiny in such a vast world through the description of what is on the outside of their bedroom.

The last stanza also conveys further feelings towards his lover. The quote 'desperate to pick out your hands, tiny in all that air' suggests a yearning towards this woman. It's almost as if he loves the person he is not with. This links well to the poem 'Wild Oats' where Larkin is trying to find the idealised version of a woman. However on the other hand this quote is a beautiful description of her, that he will always listen out for her. This in turn, is different to how he treats women in the poem 'Wild Oats'.

Critical Interpretations
One Sunday afternoon the previous November, the BBC Symphony Orchestra gave a concert in the City Hall, Hull which was simultaneously broadcast on the radio. Knowing I was at the live performance, Philip listened to it at home. The following day he handed me a typescript of the poem, initially called 'Broadcast Concert', but later shortened to 'Broadcast'. (Maeve Brennan http://www.philiplarkin.com/histpom/title/broadcast.htm)



  

Wild Oats - Larkin

Wild Oats is a poem about the story of two girls who come to visit Larkin where he works. One woman is described as a 'bosomy English rose' and the other her 'friend in specs'. Larkin has a relationship with the 'friend in specs'. However the overall message of this poem is that Larkin always looked on to an idealised version of a woman. He used the 'friend in specs' as a stepping stone to try and get into a relationship with 'bosomy English rose' we get a sense that Larkin always aims higher for girls who are out of his league.

In the first stanza of this poem we are given the two main stereotypes of women. A 'bosomy English rose' and her 'friend in specs'. They are two complete contrasts to one another, this comes across as sexist because Larkin is giving us two very limited stereotypes of women. We also get the sense of the basic nature of this poem, that it isn't a complex poem through the ordinary language it uses. It's not latinate or elevated, it is more colloquial and vernacular. A perfect example of this is the simple quote 'the friend I took out'. We almost get a sense that the overall language Larkin uses comes across as if it is a Dramatic Monologue where he is being very intimate with the tone he uses.

The last stanza shows Larkin's lack of dedication to women. The quote 'Well, useful to get that learnt' implies a willingness not to dedicate himself in a relationship, rather yearn for one particular woman. He seems to wish for an idealised version of a woman in his life. Where he says 'Unlucky charms, perhaps' means that even if he did go out with Bosomy rose it would never work because he is always looking for something better in life. The fact that he is never dedicated gives off connotations that someone else is always the next big thing.

Overall this poem gives off an unsteady atmosphere to Larkin's love life.

Critical interpretations
Bosomy English rose in this poem seem to be based on a real life figure named Jane Exall. In the poem it says 'I met beautiful twice'. This was based on the lunch dates in Leicester and Shrewsbury in February and December 1950. There is no evidence of further meetings although Jane suggests that they might meet when Larkin visited Charles Madge, who admired his poetry, in Birmingham (Essay: Jane Exall - 'A Bosomy English Rose' by Suzuyo Kamitami).

Self's the Man - Larkin

Another one of Larkin's poems about love and relationships is Self's the Man, where we get a view of the selfish persona telling us about how Arnold has picked the route of the married life. The upbeat rhythm of the poem, which seems different to many of the other Larkin poems I have read so far gives off a kind of mocking view on Arnold's life. In the first stanza for example he describes Arnold as if he is a very desperate person. It seems as though Arnold 'married a woman to stop her getting away'. This leaves the persona questioning why everyone thinks that he is selfish just because he is married. He wonders why society doesn't think that Arnold is selfish because he married a woman just to stop her getting away.

We also get a sense that the persona represents Arnold's life in a negative light since he has become married. For example has to 'put a screw in this wall'. It gives us the sense that he never stops and that married life is boring, repetitive, busy, pressurised and stressful. A good representation of this in the poem is the repetitive colloquial rhyme scheme. Words such as 'work, drier, fire' all give us a sense of an everyday reality or routine. That as long as Arnold is married, he will be in this same routine all of his life. The third stanza also represents more negative views on this aspect of marriage where he has kids as well. Larkin is presenting the view that once you are married all your free time suddenly disappears. The persona is representing the contrasts between his life and Arnold's. On one hand Arnold's life is very stressful however the persona is the complete opposite, he is alone and feels peaceful through this.

We also come across the view that the persona may feel sorry for Arnold because he chose the married life and nagging wife but then he doubles back on this idea. The quote 'What I can stand' suggests the view that the persona knew that the married life was not for him, so if Arnold is fed up with the married life why feel sorry for him because Arnold was the one after all who picked the decision to go down the route of being married in his life. The persona ends

 the poem on a dysphemism through the word 'van'. This is symbolism that this van is a Hearst, ready to carry Arnold off from going insane or dying from his stressful and never ending hectic lifestyle.

This poem links nicely to the poem by Larkin 'Dockery and Son', through the fact that the two poems main themes are life choices and that the life choices that you make will determine your future as a person.


 

Talking in Bed - Larkin

After many of Larkin's poems being connected to the theme of a journey either through an actual journey or a journey through life and death, Talking in Bed is different. Talking in Bed is in fact about the enduring love between a middle-aged married couple. Through this poem we see that the two's relationship has lasted a long time and that they are just simply lying with one another being nice to each other.

Words in the first stanza such as 'easiest' and 'emblem' suggest something easy and comforting about this couples relationship with one another, that there is no awkwardness through the silence between them. There are also lots of contrasts within this poem as well. Such as 'talking' and 'silently'. This gives opposing ideas of communicating and also not communicating as well. Other examples include 'uneasy and 'unrest' that are linked contrasts through the rhyme scheme.

During the second stanza we get this sense of the wider world that is outside of the couples bedroom window. Larkin is showing us just how small and tiny this couple seem in such a big world. We also get the philosophical meaning of this poem during the middle instead of the end. This in itself, is a contrast to the other poems we have read by Larkin so far in that in the other poems the philosophical meaning tends to be at the end. The use of the philosophical meaning of 'isolation' is used in this poem. Linking this to the context of the poem, Larkin is suggesting the view that isolation and silence between this couple is a positive thing. That they have been in love so long that there is no need for them to talk with one another anymore because they understand what each of them are thinking anyway, silence between them is what they like, when they can think.
 This links in well to the poem by Larkin 'Here'.

The overall structure of this poem seems to go in a cycle. The poem moves from two people in bed, to the weather, to the landscape and back to the relationship. This suggest to the reader that nothing new has happened in the outer world, that no matter what happens in their relationship the world will always stay the same. The overall structure of this poem is similar to that of 'Ambulances' where again we have a same beginning and end.

Ambulances - Larkin

Ambulances is a poem about a person who is in an ambulance clinging onto life. The rhyme pattern in this poem is very interesting with it going in the pattern A, B, C, B, C, A. Larkin is presenting the view that this is what everyday life is like, it continues on in the same beat and that it never changes. It can also be a representation of the person's heart beat through the half rhymes of C, which are found on the first stanza and the last stanza. Larkin is suggesting that there is no progression within this poem, that the beginning of this poem also results in the same outcome. Words such as 'closed' and confessionals' in the first stanza suggests the idea of the ambulance patients feelings, that he is just hanging on for life and that his future could go either way.

The second stanza uses a lot of vernacular and demotic language. The neutral descriptions present the fact of the shocked nature of these people about what has happened. Words such as 'strewn' give a sense of a thrown around feeling, it really exaggerates and places emphasis on how valuable life is through this serious injury. 'Stowed' is used by Larkin to give the notion of the difference between humans and objects, however this is done in a casual manner. The way in which Larkin describes this person comes across as if he is being presented as luggage.

In the third stanza the quote 'solving emptiness' is used for a metaphor for death, in turn this acts as a euphemism to deter from the situation of death. The representation of shock is again highlighted in this stanza through words such as 'permanent' and 'blank'. That this community of people's shock will be permanently with them for ever and that they are feeling blank and empty about this idea. The three words 'thread' 'blend' and 'loosen' have interesting connotations to them in this poem as well. The word 'thread' suggests that you are holding on to life, like you would in an ambulance. 'Blend' suggest the chances of surviving increase is this thread 'thickens'. And 'loosen' suggests that when life itself begins to loosen, you are near death. In a way it seems as though these three words act as a metaphor for the representation of life after you have had a serious accident.

The last stanza gives off an interesting view on death and gives off some religious imagery again as well. The quote 'And dulls to distance all we are' suggests the aspect of Larkin being atheist again. This is a reflection of near death, but also the view that there is nothing beyond living on Earth, once you die you are dead and gone. Another negative aspect that seems to be highlighted within this stanza is the idea of 'the exchange of love'. It comes across rather transactional in it's nature, something mechanical in other words. This paints a picture in the mind of the reader of something like a façade, something that isn't genuine. In turn, this gives off a negative selfish feel to the phrase. However the fact that it is 'love' also comes across positively as well, therefore the reader gets neutral feelings from this idea.

 The main themes of this poem seem to be death and the progression and value of life as well.