The Death of Aunt Alice - Abse

This poem seems to be about the death of a loved one which is suggested in the title as it is Abse's 'Aunt'. From within the first stanza it seems as though it the persona feels as if the wedding doesn't reflect the aunt's interesting personality. The people at the wedding are 'orderly. each mourner correct, dressed in decent black'. However the persona goes on to say 'where's your opera-ending? For alive you relished high catastrophe'. This suggests an interesting personality to the aunt, as she goes against the norm of what a normal person would do suggesting that the persona knew her and loved her greatly. We also get the connotations that this may be a religious poem through the ending in stanza one 'your bible Page one of a newspaper'.

Stanza two reinforces the bizarre personality of this aunt. She 'talked of Typhoid when we sat to eat; Fords on the M4, mangled, upside down, when we were going for a spin'. We get a sense that this aunt has a unique personality to her. Even though she is now an adult, she still has a wonderful and creative imagination. This further reinforces that it is a great loss that she has died as it seems as though she would have been a pleasure to be around. This contrasts to some of Larkin's poems such as A Study of Reading Habits, because as the persona ages in that poem he ceases no longer to have a creative imagination like he did when he was a child. It also contrasts to the poem Wild Oats as Larkin only values women for their appearance and looks for the idealistic woman, he doesn't appreciate women for their personality unlike Abse. This links to another Abse poem Two Photographs where Abse values his two grandmothers based purely on their personalities.

Within stanza four we still get a sense of the intimate detail of the aunt. She is described as 'so witty, so feminine, Pity she ended up in a concrete mixer'. The use of the intensifier 'so' really emphasises how much the aunt's personality meant to the persona. We also get the reinforcement of her lively lifestyle when she 'ended up in a concrete mixer'. This suggests that she always had a good time as a person and never let dullness or anything negative come over her. Maybe through this Abse is making a wider comment that we should value life and not waste it as it is short so enjoy it while you can.

In the last stanza we get the reinforcement of Aunt Alice's death through the quote 'But now, never again, Alice'. The poem ends with 'your eternity' suggesting that she was such a good person the persona wants her to live on. However, this is not possible.

This poem has close links with the Larkin poem Take One Home For The Kiddies as both poems comment on death and the value of life. However, the two poems both contradict one another as well. In Take One Home For The Kiddies the children don't value the life of the pet. They are 'playing funerals' which suggests that animal life to them is purely a game. However, in this poem it seems as though the persona really reflects on the life of Aunt Alice as she was such a bright and vibrant person.