Nothing to be said Larkin

when was this poem written?

1961

what does Larkin talk about in this poem?

he adopts a very pessmisitic tone when he talks about the inevitability of death. The poem tracxes a general passage of time withinm which things change as they move slowly down towards death.

'nations vague as weed'

Vague because they are largely unknown or forgotten

'tribes' 'nomads'

However, these figures from the remote past or georgraphically distany are no more than 'families' in contemporary western mill-towns, whose established way of life is passing away with equally unavoidbale certainty. Suggests that their is no excaping death despite who you are or when you live. Esstenially, death is bigger than life.

How does Larkin look at the bigger picture of 'separate ways'?

What has been important for people, groups and cultures is their difference one from other. It is not necessarily that one is better than the other, rather that difference itseld is to be prized whether it be in the uncultivated surrounding of a 'pig hunt' or in the comparatively cultured ones of a 'garden party'. However in the they are all heading in the same direction, towards death.

'life is slowing dying'

this paradox at the end of the first stanza empahsises the idealogy that life just leads up to an eventual death.

'sepatre ways of building, benediction, measuring love and money'

All these things are used by people to procrastinate their thoughts from their impending death. whether that is having faith or being materlisitic.

'ways of slow dying.'

that indulging in religion or superficial things such as love and money gives the illusion of a long and fulfilled life. However, on the contray it is a long and painful death that awaits.

'slow dying'

It is rhymically odd as one would naturallu expect 'slowly' instead of 'slow'. this phrase reveals two levels of potential meaning. the first, an optimistic one, might imply thay it is indeed very hard to extinguish life, that there is something in life that resists death. The second, which undercuts the first is that life is 'slow dying', that all of life is inevitably tained by the prospect of its ending.

'Nothing to be said'

The truth of the advance of death leaves nothing to be said because the hearer is so horrifed by the revlation of death that all speech and all purpose for speech is stopped. The more symbolic reasing would be that the hearer's life is itself stopped by hearing the thought of death; to hear that thought accurartely and fully is, in fact, to die.

'Hours giving evidence'

Zeugma (When you use one word to link two thoughts). The hours passing by in our lives serve as evidence to our eventual death that awaits us. Time passing by symbolises the time the soul has on earth.

'Or birth'

connotations to resurrection. alluding to the idealogy that when one life ends another begins. Larkin also is being extremely cynical here when he suggests that Life may begin again, but it always returns to the same, 'slow' end.

Repition

We now arrive at the third repetition of the word 'slowly', always echoing throughout the poem. This continuous, monotonous, and yet ever so tiny creep of time is an eery faucet to the poem. The use of this word helps to build the somber tone, the slow certainty of the death being a constant reminder.

How does Larkin use the motif of time in this poem to infulence the reader? e.g 'day' - 'hours'

It is interesting to note that the previously used article of time, 'day' has been shortened to 'hours'. The poem is close to the end, a subtle reflection of the closing certainty of death. Perhaps Larkin is willing the reader to focus more on how they are spending their time. As death is drawing near, why waste time on something that doesn't make you happy?

'to some means nothing; others it leaves nothing to be said'

This is the most philosophical part of the poem, where the lens zooms in and focuses on the individual. To some, the thought of death is not bothersome, just something that will happen and that's it. Yet, to others, the sheer magnitude of death is a paralyzing thought. That slow creep towards the abyss is something deeply unsettling. Larkin asks the reader to self-identity. Are you one of the people that is not bothered by death, or is it something that terrifies you?

structure

The poem is split into three six-line stanzas, without a regular rhyme scheme. The first stanza of 'Nothing To Be Said' focuses on people, drawing together examples of different groups around the world. The second focuses on the activities and endeavors of those people. Yet, the final is more philosophical, dividing people into two groups - those to which death does not matter, and those which are frozen in fear at its approach.

what type of narrator does Larkin employ?

Larkin employs an omniscient narrator. The narrator looks down upon the world. The voice is oddly reminiscent of a sort of god, watching over the earth. By writing from this perspective, he imbues his writing with a sense of grandeur. The thought of death suddenly seems all-encompassing, surrounding the everyday plights of life completely. The mundane individualities of life are swept away by one looming presence: death. This perspective allows the tone of the poem to take on a solemn sense of knowing. It's almost as if death itself is watching humanity, much bigger than all else, waiting for the end.