Afternoons - Larkin

Afternoons is a poem by Larkin that highlights the themes of love and change through time. From within the first stanza it starts off with 'Summer is fading' suggesting a cycle or renewal after a year Spring will be on its way. After all it is suggesting a change of the seasons with Summer going into Autumn, this could represent darker times ahead as nature begins to die in Autumn we get this idea of change. Larkin could also be commenting on attitudes about love. It could represent that the excitement of love is now over and this is why the Summer is fading. From the 'new recreation ground' we get a further sense of things changing, however this time the change seems more positive as it is a 'new' recreation ground. The 'hollows' of the afternoon is a contrast to the 'new recreation ground' as yet again it could represent a negative change. The fact that the afternoons are now 'hollow' suggests an emptiness, that maybe the children are moving on from the mothers now in life and therefore it is empty without them. We also get a further notion of change within society towards the last part of stanza one. The 'young mothers assemble at swing and sandpit'. A lot of mother's no longer do this anymore as women want to try and gain a further status in society nowadays instead of staying at home. This represents a change into the modern era, that mothers used to do this with their children, however they no longer have any time as they have jobs and are constantly busy.

Within the second stanza we get some ideas about gender roles during the 1950s. The husbands 'stand in skilled trades'. This is a contrast to how the women look after the children in stanza one. Mum's have time for their kids, the dad's clearly don't, so this represents the view that women stay at home and men go out to work not paying much attention to the children. It also represents this idea of change again, that the kids now need less care and they are beginning to grow up. The female stereotype is also portrayed in this stanza through the quote 'An estateful of washing' suggesting that the woman's only role is the domestic lifestyle. Larkin seems rather critical of women at this point as he mentions an 'estateful' which is stereotypical of the working class woman. We come to the conclusion that Larkin is distasteful towards working class women as he believes they just stay at home and carry out the domestic chores. Larkin also paints a perspective about love where it says 'Our weddings, lying' now this could suggest that there love has been forgotten so it is just 'lying' there. Or it could convey a false love and the couple are literally lying to one another that they love each other. Overall this represents this idea of change yet again that love changes and weddings change.

Within the last stanza we also see that Larkin is critical of the working class. He describes the children trying to find more 'unripe acorns' this is focused and egotistical towards the working class, it suggests that there are lots of them and that they come in lots of numbers which is very stereotypical of Larkin. The children now 'expect to be taken home' suggesting that the children do not want to move on with their lives, this is the opposite to change and acts as the antithesis of the poem. During the last part of this stanza we get a further representation of marriage and its effect on people through the quote 'something is pushing them to the side of their own lives'. The 'something' is marriage and this has pushed the women to the side of their own lives. We see that Larkin may feel sympathy for these women now as they have no freedom as they belong to a man. Through this poem Larkin seems to see the negative side to marriage and love and how it can trap you.

Larkin is also critical of the working class, women and marriage in some of his other poems such as The Whitsun Weddings, Self's the Man and Wild Oats. In regards to linking with Abse this poem links closely with St Valentine's Night through this idea of love and marriage and the many
interpretations of it.