For Sidney Bechet - Philip Larkin

poem dedicated to Sidney Bechet, a jazz musician.

Stanza one: 'like New Orleans reflected on the water'. - city of music, especially jazz, the fantasy land. - where Bechet was born along with the era of jazz. - as far south as you can go before reaching the water.

Stanza two: 'Quarter Of balconies, flower-baskets and quadrilles, Everyone making love and going shares - everything is perfect, very idyllic setting.

stanza three: 'Oh, play that thing!' - appreciation
'sporting-house girls like circus tigers' - prostitutes, animalistic connotations, degrading and sexist.
'Priced far above rubies' - very expensive

Stanza four: 'scholars manques' - they would have been scholars. they're unfulfilled in their lives and dreams, they are obsessed with jazz music. they're practically.
'wrapped up in personnels like old plaids.' - audience engrossed in the music.

Stanza five: 'on me your voice falls as they say love should,' - Does he not know what love feels like? has Larkin ever been in love? Paradox Larkin loves the sound of music but has never been loved.

Stanza six: only has two lines - 'And greeted as the natural noise of good, scattering long-haired grief and scored pity. - the overall poem has a theme of jazz not only in  the context but also in the structure of the poem.

Broadcast - Philip Larkin

A poem for maeve and the music and his love of both.

stanza one: 'Giant whispering' - contrast, paradox, onomatopoeia, background noise.
'coughing' - the start of something - suspense and anticipation.
'sudden scuttle' - alliteration

Stanza two: 'beautiful and devout' - he's adoring of her.
'cascades' - waterfall - metaphor
'one of your gloves unnoticed on the floor' - he knows her traits and what she's like.
'here it goes quickly dark' - his mood and atmosphere changes quickly.

Stanza three: half empty - incomplete, 'leaves on half-emptied trees.'
'rabid storms of chording' - music reaches a crescendo matches emotions - pathetic fallacy
'all the more shamelessly, their cut-off shout leaving me desperate to pick out your hands, tiny in all that air, applauding' - describing his feelings. 'cut-off' - music stopped, relationship stopped. 'desperate' - he misses her, not sure how he feels.

steady rhyme scheme, lots of sound and music imagery.

Here - Philip Larkin

It's a journey poem, homecoming.
A magnetic pull east.

stanza one: 'And the widening river's slow presence' - personification acts like a guide.
'The piled gold clouds, the shining gull-marked mud' - both positive and negative has a contrary effect.

Stanza two: the city. 'domes and statues, spires and cranes cluster' - more partial to culture
'barge-crowded water' - forceful
'and residents from raw estates' - working class, council estates - he's looking down on them.
'cheap suits, red kitchen-ware, sharp shoes, iced lollies' - very materialistic

stanza three: the back streets - 'cut-price crowd, urban yet simple.' 'simple' could be describing the layout, or the people in the town, calling them simple or stupid.
'where only salesmen and relations come' - no one would willingly go there.
these people are cheap and cheerful.

stanza four: the coast - the outskirts - 'loneliness' Larkin is saying that loneliness is good because you are not occupied with materialism and you are able to breathe, and become pure. 'waters quicken' - forces of nature, what you need to survive. 'out of reach' where other humans can't go.

lots of imagery, positive and negative - descriptive and then philosophical.

In Llandough Hospital - Dannie Abse

the first stanza seems depressing, however when looking closely at the words Abse is saying that he wishes the pain would end sooner. 'to hasten the night would be humane'. As a doctor Abse feels that he cannot do anything to help his father, which must be personally painful because of the family connection. 'i, a doctor, beg a doctor'.

in the second stanza Abse is pleading: 'for one maimed bird we'd do as much, and if a creature need not suffer must  he, for etiquette, endure?' Abse is saying that we allow creatures to die if they are in suffering and incureable, so why should 'he' (his father) endure the suffering.

Abse moves into the past tense in this stanza 'earlier'. he remembers his father protecting him, a jew, from auschwitz,he is obviously reminded of the situation beacuse 'he's thin as Auschwitz in that bed'

stanza four has Abse telling us how brave his father is, 'his courage startles me'. he then talks about other people, greek philosipher, socrates and swiss winkelried.

Abse becomes more philosophical in stanza five, 'we quote or misquote in defeat' meaning that when we know we are going to die, we try to see the positives and sometimes quote, for exampe 'kismet' meaning 'fate'. he is also saying that stars are like butchers hooks, hanging peoples souls in the sky after death.

stanza six is back in the hospital with his father 'i grasp his hand so fine' but Abse feels sad and alone and vulnerable now that he is going to lose his father, 'not a handshake either, father, but as i used to as a child'.

stanza seven describes Abse as a child still, who cannot understand why, as a doctor, he is unable to even save is own father. 'night with stars, then night without end', the stars could symbolise the good times Abse and his father had together and the night without end could be the grief that hes feeling now that his fathers gone.

Red Balloon - Dannie Abse

the first stanza is descriptive, makes it seem like it's a physical balloon, 'over chapels' seems just like a building but later is ironic when we discover the balloon is a metaphor for faith.

the second stanza describes the persona finding and 'keeping' the balloon, and was proud of it.

the third stanza makes us recognise that the balloon may be a metaphor because it was his 'shame' and 'joy' but then 'ceased to be a toy' implying that the balloon represents something more serious.

the fourth stanza describes the 'girls of cardiff sigh' when the balloon soared into the sky, the balloon seems to be that of a symbol as a flag would, broadcasting that he is jewish, therefore the girls sigh as they realise he's different.

by stanza five, the persona is now ashamed of the 'balloon' and 'to no one dare i show it now' shows that he is embarrassed about his faith.

stanza six reveals that 'it's a jew's balloon' again broadcasting his faith, also 'stained wit the dear lord's blood' could be a symbol of the red colour. stanza six is also when the persona reveals he's a jew.

however stanza seven appears to reveal that the persona doesn't see the problem in being a jew. 'what relevance?' this stanza also has mocking and bullying. 'your red balloon's a jew's balloon, let's get it circumcised'.

the next stanza appears to describe violence towards the persona, however 'but still it would not burst' after 'some lunged, some clawed at my balloon' showing that if you really believe nothing can burst you faith or 'burst your bubble' and that you should keep believing and just ignore the grief.

stanza nine shows the 'rude boys' trying to change the faith of the persona 'give up, give up your red balloon.' which shows that some people will have different beliefs to you and may do anything to get you to change faiths, including beating you up 'they bled my nose, they cut my eye'

stanza ten seems to describe the persona as deeply hurt, afraid and ashamed, 'Father bolt the door, turn the key, lest those sad, brash boys return'. however the persona still seems defiant and he appears to carry on believing.

Abse could be showing in the overall poem, that if you believe in something, hold on to it and dont let anyone else take it away, or change your thoughts and feelings.


some stanzas have a structured rhyme scheme for example the first stanza when everything is clam and controlled, however further down the poem they turn into half rhymes to show the chaos and the distress of the situation. obviously lots of faith imagery.

A Wall - Dannie Abse

the first stanza the imagery is very negative 'different greys', 'plonk', 'it begins for no reason'
'you wont find it named in any guide book' shows that it is insignificant and not particularly special or useful or pretty. 'it's just there' shows that people just ignore it and noones really interested in it.

the second stanza is more positive, it gives reasons for why the wall is special and useful, 'it exists for golden lichens to settle' 'for butterflies in their obstacle race'. 'this wall is beautiful'. this is showing that even though the wall might not be pretty and might be ignored by some, it still has a purpose, like for the sheep or the butterflies or the lichen. the bigger picture could then show that just because something looks useless or ugly, it does mean it is.

the negative to positive imagery makes the reader change their mind and question what actually is beautiful in life. there is no rhyme scheme, making it more casual and real.

Quests - Dannie Abse

in this poem Abse is trying to convey the journey through life and the curiosity of what happens after death. 'To reach the other world'.

in the first stanza it seems that Abse is talking about how some people sought out hemlock, a poisonous flower, to reach the other world, which it is assumed it's the afterlife.

the second stanza mentions how some people pray to their 'messiah' or god to reach the other world, possibly paradise. but Abse then says 'gods had human faces and were flawed'. which could mean that Abse thinks that because something has a human face it's flawed and no longer sacred.

the third stanza talks about 'Apion' who in greek mythology criticized jewish culture, and as Abse is jewish it could explain as to why Apion is described as 'prying'

the fourth stanza has a lot of greek mythology.

in the fifth stanza, Abse mentions Ogmore, his home, so it is more personal to him, it appears that Abse doesn't believe or want to believe in greek mythology as he says 'from which no sulking proteus will rise'.proteus is an earl sea-god

in the sixth stanza Abse seems to explain that he will 'never hear the spheres, their perfect orchestra, or below, with joy, old triton playing out of tune' this could suggest that he wont be one of the people who go on a 'quest' to find 'the other world', therefore he will never find whats in it.

there is some enjambement in the stanzas but not in between, which gives the poem a regular rhythm. there is no rhyme scheme. there is lots of greek imagery.