Leaving Cardiff

Main theme: Identity

change and belonging -> Abse's feelings towards Cardiff

he feels Cardiff is changing -> setting -> Docks - the sea and Cardiff relax him

"evening air" -> sense of ending

"sea-birds drop down" -> natural cycle -> "down to the sea"

"docks" -> "derelictions" -> alone - isolated - ruins

"furthest star seem near" -> familiar surroundings - like home -> Abse is sad to leave - questioning why he's leaving

"me eyes, like spaces, fill" -> crying - emotions 

"flames flare" -> alliteration

sense of place -> situation - poetic devices - structure

Rhyme Scheme -> ABAC ABCC ABAB ABAB ABAB

Stanza 3 -> leaving childhood behind

Stanza 4 -> if he stays in Cardiff he can't be the person he wants to be "made no choice" - shift - self doubt - "can I be the same twice" -> connotes challenging and doesn't want any change

Stanzas 5-7 -> imagery of industrialisation - "Penarth unload and move on" -> things move on even though he's leaving and when he returns they would have changed

Links to Larkin's 'Whitsun Weddings' -> a journey - describes surroundings -> Larkin doesn't get upset like Abse does 

Also links to Larkin's 'Dockery and Son' -> life choices