Case History - Abse

Case History is a poem by Abse about his experience with a fascist/racist patient. Within the first stanza we get the impression that this patient is extremely fascist towards the Jewish of the Nazi death camps. We get this impression through the quote 'Then he praised the architects of the German death camps'. This supports the view that this patient is pro-nazi and that he is anti-liberal. We come to the realisation that this is unacceptable racism because the Holocaust caused the death of 6 million jews. Obviously, Abse would take great offence to this patient as he is Jewish himself.

Medical jargon is conveyed within the second stanza when Abse describes that he 'palpated his liver'. When Abse is carrying out the operation on his patient it reminds him of senior Nazi officers. For example he mentions the 'liver of Goering' and the 'heartbeats of Himmler'. Abse is conveying the view that these men did such terrible things to the Jewish race that they are going to live on for eternity and be remembered for the crimes that they committed. Abse also mentions 'Sieg heil, mein Fuhrer' which is the way of saluting Hitler, as Fuhrer means leader in German. Everything to do with this patient has brought back terrible memories of the past.

The third stanza represents how Abse is fantasising over how to kill this patient. The quote 'red berry of black bryony, cowbane, deadly nightshade, deathcap' conveys Abse's thoughts on ways in which he could poison his patient. Yet at the end of this stanza he comes to realise that his occupation is a doctor and killing this person would not only go against the job role of what a doctor must do, but also represent Abse as being just as bad as the Nazi officers such as Goering and Himmler.

The last stanza conveys the more philosophical ideas to this poem, this is similar to the way in which Larkin structures many of his poems. 'On my arm' conveys the idea that Abse lost the function in his arm during the night, so he has avoided responsibility for challenging these fascist views. Because his hand is numb he can't write the prescription. So this gives him the excuse to avoid his responsiblity as a doctor. However the last stanza conveys a deeper philosophical message to the poem as well, that he is psychologically punishing himself for treating this man because the pain of this is reflecting within in his body because he didn't stand up for himself. This poem is different to most of Larkin's as it addresses issues that Larkin wouldn't neccessarily be familar with. Larkin wouldn't be able to address Jewish issues as Larkin isn't Jewish himself.