Here

Realistic or Pessimistic?

 

Larkin's portrayal of the landscape is arguably the predominant themes in this poem – along with a journey (again) and nature.

This poem is about a journey from Sheffield to Hull and he explores the landscape and his surroundings to explain how he feels about certain places. “Too thin and  thistled to be called meadows” – I think Larkin is trying to say that meadows are meant to be something full and soft and gentle but the presence of thistles and that its thin makes them rough and dry – not worthy of being a meadow.

The presentation of nature occasionally offers hope.

 “Fast shadowed wheat fields, running high as hedges”. This simile shows that the wheat fields as stretching high and that they are vast and tower high.

“The piled gold clouds, the shining gull-marked mud”. – I really like this line from the poem as it presents an amazing image in the reader’s head (well mine anyway) and the imagery behind this is incredible.

Rhyme Scheme:

1^st Stanza: ABAB CDDC

2^nd Stanza: ABBA CDCD

3^rd Stanza: ABAB CDDC

4^th Stanza: ABBA CDCD

Rhymes Used:

Half-Rhyme – “stands” and “ascends”

Eye-Rhyme – tough and enough – words that look like they should rhyme

Feminine Rhyme – “cluster” and “water”

There are a few uses of enjambment and caesuras in order to make the poem flow and stop in places that Larkin feels will put emphasis on specific parts of the poem.

The final stanza presents the existence of freedom – “unfenced existence” but then contradicits that by saying that its “out of reach” – suggesting that he’s never going to get it.