Musical Moments 1

His Last Piano Lesson 1933
Throughout this poem we see the boredom in which these piano lessons cause and this shows that one of the key themes in the poem are music. We can see within this poem that music is not enjoyed like it is in Larkins poems where he expresses music as being his escape and get away we do not get the same reaction to music from Abse. Word such as 'Numbly bored' show that this piano is not so much something they enjoy or a hobby but a chore something the child has to do. Can hear all the children playing outside yet he has to sit in and play the piano.  The phrase 'a coffin of music' almost shows that music bores the child to death. Its not as fun as playing and being outside and doing your own thing.
In this poem we see a more negative side of Abse more of one that we would find in Larkins poetry. The recurring theme of death which is what we find in the last quote stated.

At The Concert

From the first two stanza's we see that it is almost a journey that Abse has been on and all the things/ animals he has came across. This is similar to the things that we saw in 'Whitsun Weddings' by Philip Larkin, when there is the train journey and Larkin/ the persona talks about everything he can see and hear. The whole poem gives me this feeling of reminiscing of memories and losing himself in the music. 'Do you wait, as I do, numb, for something to happen until it happens?' This reminds me Larkins 'Reference back' and also 'Dockery and Son' where there is the questioning of life decisions and questioning how different there lives are compared to what they could have been like if they had made different decisions and taken a different path. Abse uses a lot of self questioning throughout this poem and I think that this portrays the feeling of there will always be new questions to ask up until you grow old and frail. 'It stretches all the way to the Old People's Home' that notion of growing old and yet still not all questions have been answered.

Red Balloon

We see a more negative approach here in this poem unlike the positive feelings we have gotten from some of Abse's other poems. I got a similarity to Larkin's poem 'Ambulances' because there is the notion of sadness and how it is society making this sadness occur. Here we see this young boy getting bullied for being a Jew but we see him stand up for himself and not give up anything just to see the bullies get what they want. 'But still it would not burst' I feel that this balloon is like a metaphor for his pride and life. No matter how much these boys would laugh and pick this balloon would not burst just like his pride. He was a Jew so he came from a Jewish family so I think that Abse is trying to show the reader how much stick that the Jews had been through and used this metaphoric devise to show that that they will not give up. You can tell that the boy is young in the poem because a balloon is normally associated with children or maybe an occasion.

A Scene From Married Life

This is a poem about his wife. The poem is undoubtedly about the struggles that him and his wife has had to go through, he shares similar views to Larkin to me this just reminded me about how Larkin was so anti marriage and marriages never work sort of attitude although this is not what Abse is trying to say but he is just sort of answering the views that Larkin has put out there. Because this shows that love and marriage isn't always plain sailing and their is daily struggles. The key themes in this poem are love. But I think Abse portrays this argument in quite a childish manor and it does end up being some what comical. Abse uses the word 'squabble' and to me this just makes me think of two children arguing over a toy or something, this word doesn't really show any hatred that they have towards one another is child like. But in the same stanza the word 'verbal revenge' is used to me this seems more adult like and more argumentative because it makes the argument seem like some sort of competition. 'Revenge' is quite a nasty word to me it is a word you would use for someone you hate, or someone that has caused you pain and hurt you. That word would be a better word to sum up the situation because they are probably shouting names and probably doing it out of anger and not spite. I think this poem shows the other side of love than what Larkin's poems do, Larkin makes it out to be that love isn't nice because it doesn't always work out. But here Abse shows that despite all the bitterness and nastiness that it can still work because in the end it is all okay.
In stanza 6 we see Abse coming to realization of how important family and his children are to him. ' I swivelled for a last winsome longshot, saw on the high cliff my wife dressed in blue and all of the world true and desirable. With surrendering waves crawled to the shore.' to me the word 'surrender' just shows his love to her because the moment he sees her he just knows that there is no point in arguments and gives in and gives up despite all the things they have said about each other. Also we see here that Joan Abse's wife is dressed in blue. Blue is a colour that you would represent with calmness and maybe forgiveness so here you see that she is also there for the same reason because she loves him and wants them to be okay.

The Malham Bird

This is a poem about his wife.
The structure of this poem reminds me of Larkin, in the way that in the 4^th stanza of the poem it turns quite philosophical if you look into it with some detail. Also in the way that they both similarly use metaphors to show there views.

Unlike Larkin, Dannie Abse has a completely different view. He shows signs of being a religious man whereas Larkin we seemed to get the idea that he had very atheist views. We can see this when he says ‘I a Jew’ and also The Malham Bird is a religious symbol and it something that the Jewish people believe in.  Although we cannot say whether these are Abse’s views or not he writes in a way that seems more personal. Whereas Larkin uses a persona to express views making them seem less personal.

Last Visit to 198 Cathedral Road

Abse is revisiting a place full of memories this place is the house where his parents used to live before they both passed away. 'living room,did I say? Dying room, rather' this shows similar themes to which some we have seen in Larkin's such as death. Here you can see that this is about death. In stanza to the objects off the house are personified. 'the vase that yawned hideously' it is almost symbolizing the loss of the parent I think here it is the mother that has passed and all her belongings just shows the loneliness and how everything is left how it was before the death. We see similarities within other poems of Abse 'surgeons pocket torch' here it is similar to the poem 'A Winter Visit' because there he mentions the white coat and how he inhabits this coat so his dad is obviously a surgeon and he is finding all their old belongings.

A winter Visit

In this poem we see similarities to Larkin's work as it talks about many of the similar things we have seen throughout his poems. Such as death, love and life. The poem talks about age 'now she's ninety I walk through the local park where, too cold' I think the coldness explained could be death. He uses 'cold' and 'dark' similarly like Larkin when he uses feelings to represent death. The persona in the poem talks about how quickly time passes and uses places such as the park to trigger memories. The idea of the white coat suggests that the persona is a doctor or scientist. The poem shows someone being emotionless 'am not qualified to weep' doesn't want to cry or cannot cry.

Naturally The Foundation Will Bear Your Expenses

The comet in stanza one is one of the first air crafts. Berkeley is a university in which he has given lectures. Stanza 2 is set when it is remembrance Sunday and the persona is trying to catch a plane, he then gets quite aggravated because his taxi is made late by all the people are in the streets paying respects. The persona seems very careless and selfish because all he wants to do is get his plane. The final stanza is how England manage this tribute makes him want to 'throw up' because he explains them to be quite childish and sentimental.

Toads Revisited

'Toads' is used as a metaphor for work. Despite how little Larkin/ The persona here despises work they do not want to be someone who doesn't work. Work is the routine lifestyle and Larkin doesn't like being without routine so the work gives him a purpose and groundness without it he would probably go mad so the reason he doesn't want to be without work is so he has that solid daily routine. I think also he thinks if he doesn't have a job he will think of himself as a failure almost because he uses words such as 'stupid or weak' to describe those people that are without work. He doesn't want to be weak or stupid because at the moment he is the total opposite. This poem is the answer to the poem 'Days' and it is a positive poem choice.

Take One Home For The Kiddies

The poem title itself is an old advertisement jingle and the poem is a parody on the advertisement. The poem is about children who craze and craze for a pet, and in the end the pet dies. It compares the pet to toys and shows that the pet to the children is just a game. They learn about death and loss through the pet and shows them that nothing is going to last forever.

The Large Cool Store

This is a poem that shows the person/Larkin looking down his nose upon the working class. We can assume that these are Larkin's views because we have seen him use similar opinions on other poems such as The Whitsun weddings. The shop in the poem is maybe one like marks and spencers although now this shop is known as quite a higher market it hasn't always been. We see this by the way that he describes the shop as selling 'nylon' clothes and this isn't an expensive material its one that is cheap and one that is easily produced. Which again we could compare to 'Sunny Prestatyn' where the girl in the poster is wearing satin which is an expensive luxurious fabric compared to nylon shows the contrast from working class to the more upper class is what they wear. The poem uses 'they'  and 'their' it shows that Larkin is excluding/ separating himself from the working class people and they all stay together.

Sunny Prestatyn

This poem contains casual sexism because back when this poem is set sexism wasn't such an unknown thing and it was more allowed than what it would be now. You could say this poem is about the distaste Larkin has towards the modern world or the sexist vandalism that we have going on throughout. The poem contains this laddish language which shows that probably the graffiti was done by some child. The language in the last few sentences of the second stanza is emphasizing how degrading this vandalism is. The person who has done this vandalism is almost proud of this work how he has signed his name onto it. The way the poem is written is violent ' stab' and 'knife' is how he has destroyed this poster and I imagine there to be very little of the poster left. 'Now the fight cancer is there' Next poster is a poster about cancer, cancer targets people and destroys them just like someone has destroyed the poster of the women. Back when this poem was written it was shown that women were more vulnerable than men which is probably why the women was on the poster because they are easier to target.

Essential Beauty

This poem just shows all the problems with advertising. The main problem is it gives people the wrong impression of what the product is going to be like. They are described as being 'Large, Block and giant' I think this shows how the advertisements are destroying the view of everything else. They say they 'cover slums with praise' almost trying to cover up all the bad things with something better an exaggeration of products. Use of the sentence 'high above the gutter' shows that people are higher in classes they are trying to advertise things they knew the poor couldn't afford the product and they live in this 'gutter' but the richer are above the gutter and on land. All the advertisement does is promote and make things sound better than what they are. It gives people false hope. The first stanza could be life from a child's view and then the second stanza life from an adults point of view and shows all the disappointment. People may want to have unrealistic adverts to escape from the reality of whats going on around them.

Afternoons

Its about the inevitability of change and the passing of youth. This poem shows strong features of the change and the growing up. Shows how parents have to let go of their children as they grow up 'unripe acorns' shows that maybe even the children aren't ready to grow up and move on. They explain situations and events that the parents and children have been in 'setting free their children' is clearly that they are allowing their children to grow up and move on and cope with their situations by themselves. This poem shows the change in society because this is back when mums were to stay at home and look after their children whilst the dad was off doing work but now in society it is just as equal because the mothers no longer have to stay at home they have the opportunity to go off and work instead of staying in with the children. The change of the marriage 'And the albums, lettered Our Wedding, lying' the memories are placed there at one point they would of been cared for and treasured and now they are just places and forgotten about.

An Arundel Tomb

To me this poem spoke out about decay of love. From stanza one you get across the vision of erosion and decay through the description of their features. Their features are described as being: vague, faint and blurred. The tomb was made for their family and they had no idea that this many people would have seen it. It was a private tomb for family/ friends and now its this tourist attraction. 'To look not read' shows the ignorance of the people visiting because they don't know the meaning behind what they are looking at. The tomb used to be so symbolic and the meaning has just been lost 'washing at their identity' the people viewing it are symbolic of the change in society and the generations of people viewing the tomb. The meaning changes and wears off like the same as over washing something the colour will wash/fade. People think the tomb is symbolic of love 'transfigured' modern visitors believe and project their desired meaning i.e of love onto this gesture. The tomb is holding hands so people automatically think that is the meaning of the tomb. 'What will survive of us is love' if you were to ready the final line of the final stanza you would think this is a love poem it sort of shows after death something survives and that is love when really the line before completely changes the meaning of the last line. Larkin said 'Love isn't stronger than death because statues hold hands for 600 years' This just shows that Larkin didn't want this to be a love poem.

MCMXIV

This poem is set in the start of WW1. its when all the soldiers are lined up ready to sign up to go fight for the country. In stanza one they show this whole act they put towards how they feel 'grinning' and 'sun' are things you would symbolize as being happy and it shows that they do not really know what they are putting themselves forwards for. In the third stanza they talk about all the place names being hazed over this is because when there was an invasion they would cover up place names so people didn't know where they were. Final stanza about lost innocence and this would be because what the men witnessed they came back changed. War has corrupted the world and brought sins into the world showing how bad the war was and no one really knew what to expect. The word never is repeated throughout this poem especially in the final stanza and I think this shows the thought of it being worse than expected. Because what the men went through changed everything.

Send No Money

The poem is about the personification of time. This poem reminds me of Dockery and Son in the way that the persona is different to others. The persona in stanza one seems quite child like 'lads' just seems very childish. I think the poem is about regret and self questioning. Just shows how he has wasted his youth and wasted time he hasn't took the advantages that he could have. In the final stanza there is almost the personification of death 'dark mornings' could mean the end of the light and dark is something you connect with death.

Faith Healing

The faith healer in the poem is described as being quite professional and business like. The man has little time and care towards the women that he is performing this healing process on. The faith healer can't even cure or help these women he just makes out that he can. The women in this poem actually believe that they can get help and show that they have quite strong religious views.

A Study of Reading Habits

Going straight to the last line in the final stanza of the poem 'books are a load of crap' you just get the wrong idea because it is about someone who works in a library you expect them to want to read books so you know that is obviously a joke that Larkin has done through the persona. The book is the way the persona in the poem uses to escape from the world and get away from real life. In the final stanza it just shows again how Larkin is using different situations to express disappointment in life. Since growing up even the book has changed because he has grown up, the books haven't changed but he has.

Home Is So Sad

The house in this poem is personified. The whole feeling of the home is negative and by calling it a home, a home is meant to be a happy place full of memories. 'Make a house a home.' The owner is no longer in the house they have either moved out or passed away there was no clue. Just shows that life is full of disappointment you start off with all this expectation just to be let down. The poem connects to Mr Bleaneys room where it is full of sadness and negativity.

Mr Bleaney

Mr Bleaney is a poem that has shared experiences of those of Mr Bleaney and the persona. The rhyme scheme of the poem is simple just like the life that Mr Bleaney lives so I think that Larkin thought about this carefully so that it did represent this. Mr Bleaney is a man that has no purpose and doesn't really like the thought of change. Throughout the poem I get the feeling of him being negative about everything in his life. Even with the change he doesn't like it he just does it because he has no other choice.

Reference Back

The poem is about the connection a mother and her son have through a song. This poem has connections to both broadcast and Dockery and Son. The connection it has with broadcast is they aren't together but yet when they hear the music they both share the same experience and the connection with Dockery and Son is that the son hasn't thought about life choices. He is 30 and still living at home and hasn't been able to do the things most people have done by his age.

For Sydney Bechet

This poem is about jazz music. Sydney Bechet is a famous jazz artist and one that Larkin liked. This poem is about the days where jazz music was the big thing. It goes into depth of Larking love for music. 'On me your voice falls as they say love should' to him music is better than love because he shows this connection and feeling towards music as people say it feels when you fall in love he explains that connection with the music he listens to.

Love songs in age

The poem love songs in age is about a women who had loved to listen and play music when she was younger and over time they had been forgotten about but she soon unravels them and along with them memories come flooding back. I enjoyed reading this poem because i like the way Larkin describes her happiness when she finds her music again. "spring woken tree" just makes me feel of new life and spring and gives off a happy feeling because it shows her love for her music has just came back again. Also makes you feel happy for her because you know how much she loved to play and again she can almost relive her youth.

Broadcast

In this poem I thought that it had connection with Talking in bed. In the way that it was quite a discreet love story. He shows very intimate feelings towards the girl who he is writing this poem to. Its almost as if he can feel her presence and although they aren't together they can share the same experience. The person in this poem he is yearning for like the saying goes "absence makes the heart grow fonder" I think this sums up exactly how Larkin/ the persona feels.

Wild Oats

In this poem i found that Larkin was talking about a personal situation by again using a persona. He shows Very limiting stereotypes towards the girls and is quite shallow. This poem is written in a dramatic monologue and shows his unluckiness with women. I found this poem quite easy to understand as you could see it was something that was quite personal to himself.

Talking in bed

I enjoyed this poem because I found that there was quite a lot of hidden meanings. Although to start off with I didn't really think that it was going to be a love poem but once I looked at in more detail I changed my mind. The poem sort of shows this feeling of enduring and lasting love. I got the wrong idea because you talk about all the silence and not talking but if you read in more detail you get more feeling of it being a relationship that has been a long lasting one and one that will be lasting for a long while and the silence is one that shows their comfort between one another. I think this gave a different aspect to Larkins other poems because it is about love and it is written in a less discreet way.

Ambulances

From this poem I got quite a negative feeling. The main point given was 'the only constant thing in life is death'. The poem consisted of 2 half rhymes and 3 full rhymes. The words confessionals, thread, strewn and stowed in the second stanza. From 'confessionals' we got quite a religious idea from it- the thought of if you dont confess you will never be forgiven. The word 'thread' could mean trying to fix something, because thread is an object which is used to fix things. Strewn- meaning to pick up the pieces and stowed is something that could be a secret, hidden or something maybe illegal. And the title being ambulances you get the feeling these words all tie in for something that could be an accident.

Dockery and Son

Here you can see the shock to the persona and how he isn't bothered about his life choice. Everyone else seems to be having kids and settling down with a family. Although it isn't Larkin who this poem is about its the persona you almost get the attitude that maybe it is written about Larkin himself but you cant say because it is unknown. The persona is perceived as being very different from the rest of the people his age. Everyone else has grown up and moved on with their life but he hasn't. The poem is about a man called Dockery a man who he had met at university and now his son is at the very same university shows the time change and how everyone makes different life choices made for themselves.

Here

Larkin is describing Hull in this poem. He goes into quite a bit of detail as to what he can see and all the surroundings. It gives off the impression that he doesn't like it all that much. You get a negative feeling that he feels towards Hull by the description of all the man made objects. You see this shift of feeling coming to the final stanza when it all changes feeling. You see a sudden change and a sudden hope and looking into the distance.

The Whitsun Weddings

I felt a very negative side to this poem. You can see the bad side in marriage but you can also see the potential in having a good marriage. You see Larkin having his very philosophical views towards his life choices and portrays his views through the persona. Larkin is a very observant poem he talks about each detail of the journey once he actually notices the other people around because at first he isn't very aware.