Last visit to 198 Cathedral Road - Abse

This poem has similar links to other Larkin poems through the presentation that objects bring back memories. This aspect of memories in this poem can be closely linked to Love Songs in Age, where the sheets of music reminded the persona of certain memories, especially of her daughter. The room in this poem gives off interpretations of what the occupant was like. This is similar to the poem by Larkin, Mr Bleaney. The persona is also reminiscing over memories of a long lost relative in this poem as well. This has close links to Home is So Sad, where objects are left behind that trigger the memories of the occupant of the house. This also links to the poem by Abse Two Photographs, where the photographs help the persona remember his grandmother's and these objects also convey this deep love that Abse has for his relatives that isn't really shown to us through Larkin.

Abse is acting as the detatched observer in this poem, through his use of the third person. Within the first stanza the person describes that they entered the room 'like a burglar'. This conveys that when they enter this room they are committing a crime. Because it is the person's father's room, then maybe they had an unstable relationship with one another. The person also comments that 'I don't know why I sat in the dark, in my father's armchair'. It's as if it is a natural impulse for this person to sit in his father's chair, this gives us more postive connotations as it shows that he wants to remember his father through the objects that he owns in his house.

We are given a contrast in stanza two with 'living room' and 'dying room'. This links with Home is So Sad by Larkin because in that poem the house feels empty and dead now that the occupant has died. This is what is also conveyed by Abse in this poem. When the person's father was alive this was a 'living room'. However now that the father has died this means it is now a 'dying room' because it doesn't contain the occupant, it just contains memories through their possessions. Abse also uses personification in this poem to convey a longing for the father to return. This is represented through quotes such as 'the awakened empty fruit bowl', 'vase that yawned hideously' and 'the pattern that ran up the curtain'. It's as if the person is imagining that these objects could come to life. Through this we get the idea of the sense of longing for the father to return because if the person imagines the objects could come alive, then he is that one step closer to having the father back as these objects have common associations with the father.

Within stanza three, it's as if the room is portraying death itself. It describes that 'the room that was out of breath' and that the person is 'sightless'. This is all common associations that we have with death, as you can't see when you die and you obviously stop breathing. We get the impression that this room may act as a metaphor for the father's death and that these objects have reminded the person of how the father died.

We get the impression that the person has personal connections with the objects in the room. Again this is different to Larkin, it seems as if Abse is a lot more emotional and intimate with his descriptions of the dead. Similar to Larkin however the last stanza conveys a philosophical message that Larkin also uses in many of his poems. 'Silence' in the last stanza, may refer to the father, 'profound' means a lot of emotion representing the fact that the person was very emotional when the father died.