‘Ambulances’ by Philip Larkin Philip Larkin’s ‘Ambulances’ is a poem that describes the literal journey of an ambulance that also takes on an increasingly sinister metaphorical value. The ambulance weaves through the busy afternoon streets‚ demanding the attention of passers-by while forcing the reader to acknowledge the ambulance’s symbolic significance as a reminder of our own mortality. By close examination of the ambulance and its literal movement it is possible to gain a greater understanding
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Weddings collection and seems to be an appropriate introduction because‚ much like his other poetry‚ it looks at humanity’s place in the world and the effect of consumerism. Following the pattern of many other poems in this collection‚ ‘Here’ begins with physical ideas of ‘rich industrial images’‚ before becoming more abstract in the final stanza. By beginning the poem with the participle‚ ‘swerving’‚ Larkin immediately gives the reader a sense of the moment being suspended in the present‚ before an
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Larkin: Wild oats Talking in bed Broadcast Love songs in age Faith healing Sunny prestatyn For Sidney bechet Abse: St valentines night A scene from married life The Malian bird Blond bys The silence of tudor evans Focus on ideas of love Wild Oats BY PHILIP LARKIN About twenty years ago Two girls came in where I worked— A bosomy English rose And her friend in specs I could talk to. Faces in those days sparked The whole shooting-match off‚ and I doubt If ever one had
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Ambulances • Days It is understatement to say that both Sylvia Plath and Philip Larkin have immense depth and subsidiary meanings to their poems‚ both writers expertly structure their poems and used varied techniques to convey their themes of death and instil their messages to their readers. Plath goes about it an autobiographical manner and parades death as a theatrical show leaving the audience in shock and awe however Larkin presents death in a rather trivial manner in comparison to Plath. He juxtaposes
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Quests Key: defined overleaf Repetition To reach the other world some sought hemlock in waste spaces: umbels of that small white flower still sway at eye-level when the eye is still; and some‚ at broad sunset‚ walked the sea-shore or prayed for their messiah in a darkening house. But Gods had human faces and were flawed. When prying Apion‚ with eerie conch‚ summoned Homer’s spirit to ask where he was born whose bloody head appeared above the
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With reference to three poems studied so far discuss how Larkin presents the theme of illusion and reality. The poems Sunny Prestatyn‚ Essential Beauty and love Songs in Age‚ are all presented with the theme of illusion and reality. Illusion is a false impression or delusion‚ so when an illusion is used within a poem there is a deeper meaning or reality behind the words. Because of this reality‚ the reader can see what Larkin is really trying to convey in the poems is shown and we understand what
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A poem which describes an ordinary or everyday scene is ‘Ambulances’ by Philip Larkin. ‘Ambulances’ is about an ambulance going to take someone away and the neighbourhood is watching what is happening. It shows the curiosity that is in every human being and the inevitability of dying. This essay will discuss how the poet uses an ordinary/everyday scene and make it important and to explore a wider universal theme. The essay will also show how Larkin’s use of poetic techniques makes and ordinary or
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Analysis- SELFS THE MAN From the offset‚ we get the sense of a sarcastic‚ cynical and flippant character. “Oh‚ no one can deny / That Arnold is less selfish than I”. The colloquial “oh” gives a sense of how he brushes it off‚ and he seems to be boastful of his selfishness. Into the next few lines‚ he presents a stereotypical image of marriage as entrapment‚ “married a woman to stop her getting away” and the ironic aside‚ ‘Now she’s there all day” as though his “less selfish” friend didn’t know what
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interpretation‚ the readers are left in no doubt that the poem is about new beginnings in harsh environments and survival against all odds. The poem consists of two regular stanzas each containing 7 lines. Throughout the poem there is a sense of regularity Larkin uses the regularity of the poem to assure the reader that although the lambs have been born at winter what the lambs have to endure is temporary despite their lack of awareness to conditions which will come. This is supported through the regular iambic
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“Larkin is a pessimistic rather than optimistic poet” – Discuss Larkin has been regarded as a pessimistic poet. Larkin surely takes a very dark view of human life. The main emphasis in his poem is on failure and frustration in human life. However Larkin is not a uniformly pessimistic poet. Some of his poems have a profoundly moral character‚ which expresses itself in the need to control and organize life‚ rather than submit to a pre-determined pattern of failure. There is generally a debate going
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