Afternoons - Larkin
- Created by: Noah_S
- Created on: 26-01-19 15:44
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- Afternoons
- Philip Larkin
- 1959
- Beginning
- 'Summer is fading:'
- indicates that the changing of the seasons may be a metaphor for the progression of life.
- 'Young mothers assemble'
- The language suggests there is little meaning in the lives of the “young mothers” – “hollow” and “assemble” suggest routine and boredom creating a sense of emptiness.
- 'Summer is fading:'
- Middle
- 'Our Wedding, lying'
- It shows that the marriage between husband and wife has stagnated, like it has been forgotten like the wedding album. Or it could be interpreted that the marriage is a lie.
- 'at intervals'
- It describes the husbands as anonymous and faceless and not supporting the mothers
- 'Our Wedding, lying'
- End
- 'Something is pushing them To the side of their own lives'
- The children are taking over their mothers. The mothers are not in control of their own lives anymore.
- ''That are still courting-places'
- The repetition implies that the next generation is doomed to follow the same fate as their parents
- 'Something is pushing them To the side of their own lives'
- Context
- Larkin never married, had children or even left the UK in his whole life.
- He thought he was better than everyone else
- Larkin examines the lives of others, analysing the existence of a group of young mothers he observes at the local recreation ground
- treats the theme of the passing of youth and the setting-in of middle age
- Structure & Form
- The poem is set out in three unrhymed stanzas of eight lines each
- First stanza takes cynical views of marriage and regimented lives
- Second stanza more descriptive of individuals such as single or little-supported mothers.
- Third stanza focuses on lost dreams, hope and needs.
- Philip Larkin
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