Sons

Key Themes: Memory, Youth, love
Links To Larkin: Dockery and Son, Reference Back, Love Songs In Age
Summary Of The Poem: This poem is about the persona looking back on his youth, and who he was when he was younger, and then goes on to describe and compare how similar his son is to how he once was. In stanza 3 there is a philisphical shift, which is similar to Larkin, as the persona is using opposites to describe his son, which could be a reference to how his son doesn't know who he is yet. The persona then goes onto empathise with their son as it reminds them of when they were younger. The persona finishes off by inferring a warning to his son that if he doesn't change the he is then he'll become 'wrongly named'.

Imitations

Key Themes: Love, Death, Memories, Youth
Links To Larkin: Broadcast, Dockery and Son, 
Summary Of The Poem: The persona begins by saying and describing their surroundings and how everything is pure and fresh before going on to describe her child and comapres him to many things to try and put across his physical appearance and his personality 'Chameleon,my soft diamond, my deciduous evergreen' which is saying that he is changing as he grows older and could be fading away from his parent and is becoming part of the background and although he appears hard on the outside he is soft on the inside and has a heart of gold but is now more distant from his parent so they're unsure of who he is anymore as he's a 16 year old teenager so doesn't communicate with his parent about anything. The persona then goes on to talk about how the parent remembers her youth and what she was like when she was 16, and how close she was to her father when he was alive. The persona then talks about 'white butterflies' which suggests innoccence and the souls of the dead ones, so her father. Finally the persona finishes off by saying that the bond the parent had with their father is 'elastic' which suggests that the bond will never break, even though her father is dead. 

A Letter From Ogmore

Key Themes: Time, Memories, Death, Loss, Love
Links To Larkin: MCMXIV
Summary Of The Poem: The persona is talking about moving out of the 20th century and into the next and is wondering what would be worth remembering and what he should forget and leave behind. The persona then says that 'even my nostalgia is becoming history' which suggests that the persona is no longer missing the past and is looking forward to the future, however the poem then contradicts itself in this statement as it could be saying that the persona dislikes how quickly the time has passed and it seemed like yesterday when he was a youth or the war was only a year ago and now time is so much further forward and he is beginning to lose loved ones. Also the persona says ''a genealogy of ghosts' which is suggesting that when people die they join a different group and if we don't remember them or talk about them then they will be forgotten like 'ghosts' and will become 'ghosts' of the past. Finally the persona goes on to say that 'strangers come sealed in Fords and Nissans,' which suggests that the place he once knew and loved and the people who lived in that place are no longer around and 'strangers' in modern cars and coming into Ogmore and are replacing what was once there'. 

Uncle Isidore

Key Themes: Morals, Life decisions
Links To Larkin: Mr Bleaney
Summary Of The Poem: The persona starts off by describing Uncle Isidore as a 'smelly schnorrer' which suggests that  the persona sees Uncle Isidore as a lesser human being and doesn't think very highly of him. The poem then goes on further and takes a slightly religious route as the persona is saying that in society when there is chaos we as humans need to take a stand and do something and not let ourselves belive that God will solve and sort everything out, suggesting that the persona is an atheist. However it then goes onto say the 'Master of the Universe' which is refferring to God and Uncle Isidore hopes that God will help him out of poverty. Finally the persona seems to be judgemental of Uncle Isidore and is blaming him. 

Cricket Ball

Key Themes:  Memories, life decisions, sport
Links To Larkin: Love songs in age, For Sydney Bechet 
Summary Of The Poem: 
This poem is about looking back at a cricket match Dannie Abse went to when he was a boy and portrays his thoughts and notions of the game whilst watching. From reading the poem we see that he describes the game and the way that the ball flies across the grounds and hits a hotel window. After this has been described we then see that the persona begins to describe their desire of the cricket ball rising higher than ever before. Throughout this stanza we are able to see that Abse is putting across the message that this is the rise to fame and how easily anyone can imagine becoming famous and how easy it seems to become famous. In the first stanza we see that there is more freedom as there is no fame towards the players of the cricket team giving us a more positive outlook on the game. As we get further through this poem we see that Abse starts to shows us life choices and how they can seem so small, yet when you look back on life the decisions seem a lot bigger and like they have had a much bigger impact. The cricket ball beginning to fly much higher suggests that its a metaphor to the audience at the match and to the reader and indicates that greater things in life are possible for anyone to achieve, as long as you keep working hard and keep putting in the effort and the time.

Two Photographs

Key Themes: Memories, Love, Death
Links To Larkin: Love songs in age, 
Summary Of The Poem: This poem talks about how each of the grandmother's are similar and loved equally yet at the same time they are the complete opposite of each other. Furthermore, towards the end of the poem Abse goes on to say that although we can all remember things and then we have those memories, but once we die all that remains of the memories is the material objects such as 'two photographs'. 

Blond Boys

Key Themes: Love, memories, Life decisions
Links To Larkin:Summary Of The Poem: Each of the stanzas reflect the chunks of memories that are coming back to Eva Jones, and they also reflect the breaths of shock by the persona on the sighting.  Furthermore this poem is about the persona remembering his first love and how it came to an end so suddenly. This has been triggered by the persona seeing his first love in 'Stockhom' whilst going out by himself. 

Musical Moments 1: His Last Piano Lesson- Dannie Abse

Key Themes: Death, Music
Links To Larkin:
Summary Of The Poem: Overall, this poem appears to be about Abse and 'his last piano lesson' as he is being forced to learn piano by his father. But Abse is completely distracted by the outside world and seems to hate learning the piano. However this is completely different from Larkin as he enjoyed music, and it's one of the few things that really animated and that Larkin was passionate about, whereas Abse hates every second and dreads every piano lesson. Furthermore 'the piano-lid's closed, a coffin of music' suggests that the music and the piano lessons were driving Abse towards dying either literally or possibly of boredom or something along those lines. In addition to this by making the piano teacher German or reffering to her as a German '(Germany still six million miles away) Miss Crouch, the upright piano teacher' is significant as Abse is a Jew, and so this shows how much he hates his piano teacher and his piano lessons. 

Musical Moments 2: Outside A Graveyard- Dannie Abse

Key Themes: Death, Music, Memory

Links To Larkin: Broadcast, Love songs in age

Summary Of The Poem: This brings a more regretful and a sense of romance into the poem, as it's although Abse is looking back on his life and that actually his piano lessons weren't as bad as he made them out to be as well as his piano teacher wasn't as bad as what Abse found her now that he's grown up. Furthermore it suggests that Abse regrets not continuing with the lessons and he also regrets being so harsh to his teacher. But then towards the end of the poem it becomes happier as Abse sees his piano teacher as some sort of ghost, or figure of imgination about the church and sees her playing the piano in 'a concert-hall, exalted Bechstein', and she is all dressed up, so by giving up being a piano teacher she has become a pianist.

Red Balloon- Dannie Abse

Key Themes: 

Links To Larkin:

Summary Of The Poem: From this poem the message that Abse is trying to convey is that of his childhood and his life choices that he made and didn't make and that the 'red balloon' is meant to symbolise him, and possibly the way he was treated by bullies at school as a child, or from people in his viallge/town/city etc mocking him or the children in his village/town/city mocking him for who he is and his religion.

At The Concert- Dannie Abse

 Key Themes:

Links To Larkin:

Summary Of The Poem: I don't understand this poem

 

A Winter Visit- Dannie Abse

Key Themes: Death, Time, Love, Ageing, Life Decisions
Links To Larkin: Dockery & Son, Love Songs In Age, Reference Back
Summary Of 'A Winter Visit': The persona in the poem talks about the way that the one they care about is getting old and talk about dying, and the persona can't show emotion as they must remain professional. Furthermore it talks about the way time passes so quickly and how much can happen even if you don't really acknowledge it, and how small things can trigger memories. Also Abse uses a consistent rhyme scheme throughout the poem as the first and the last line of each stanza rhymes, which Larkin did in some of his poems. However Abse differs from Larkin as he doesn't have a philosophical shift at the end of the poem, so this entire poem is based on a concrete idea and we know what he's talking about. Furthermore Abse doesn't appear to use personification or bring inanimate objects to life in anyway, which Larkin tends to do. This poem also seems to be more personal to the persona than Larkin's and it seems as though Abse/persona has more vivid memories and more close to the person that is being talked about in the poem.

Last Visit To 198 Cathedral Road

Key Themes:  Memories, Death, Life Decisions

Links To Larkin: Love Songs In Age

Summary Of 'Last Visit To 198 Cathedral Road': In this poem the persona is returning to an old house of some significance to them, such as a dead relative/close friend, from their childhood or something similar. The poem later suggests that the persona sits in his father's old armchair, so the house was probably either their father's or parents or where they lived as a child. The persona then goes onto flash the torch around to see what is in the room. Throughout stanza 2 Abse uses personification is used frequently, as the fruit bowl is described as 'awakened' , the vase is 'yawning' and the pattern is 'running' up the curtain. So it's as though this house died when the owner passed away or left it, but now someone is in it, it's all come to life again, this then suggests that the persona isn't alone in the room as all the objects are becoming personified, so it could be that the spirit or ghost of the deceased relative is trying to say that they're still here. Furthermore Abse could be suggesting that the person in the poem has a close connection with the objects as they were a part of his life for so long. 

The Malham Bird

Key Themes: Life Decisions, Choices, Religion

Links To Larkin: 

Summary Of 'The Malham Bird':  The structure of the poem is similar to Larkin's style as in the 4th stanza it seems to have a philosophical shift, also both Abse and Larkin use metaphors to show their views, thoughts, feelings, opinions etc. Unlike Larkin, Abse has a different view as he shows himself to be a religious man whereas Larkin comes across as quite an atheist. We can see that Abse seems to be a religious person by 'I a Jew' and also The Malham Bird is a religious symbol and it's something that Jewish people believe in. Although we can't say these are definitely Abse's views, as Abse could use a persona to portray his thoughts/feelings/beliefs etc. However this poem does seem more personal than any of Larkin's poems. 

In this poem the bird seems to be symbolising choice and freedom by making the correct decisions that are honest and the right thing to do in life, as these can be the difference between having a very good life and having either an average or bad life. But because the 'Malham Bird' makes the right choice it gets to be immortal and live in paradise for the rest of it's life, so is suggesting that if we follow this we can live in paradise for the rest of life and that we can go and be immortal in heaven.

A Scene From Married Life

Key Themes: Love, Decay, Marriage,

Links To Larkin: Afternoons, The Whitsun Weddings, Talking In Bed

Summary Of 'A Scene From Married Life': Throughout this poem it seems to talk about the decay of marriage. It has some similarities to Larkin as many of Larkin's poems use nature to make a big philosophical shift just as this poem does. However it does have it's differences as Larkin's poems seem a lot more realistic and aren't as in depth as Abse's, also they aren't as personal as Abse's. Furthermore in this poem metaphors seem to be used to describe emotions, and feelings such as 'our own cold wars' this helps to show the significance of events in their lives so that it gives the reader an idea of what it feels like to them. But this is a fairly personal metaphor to use as it describes the way it affects the couple and the way that they feel about the impact of the argument.