Aubade- Larkin

What is the form

Free verse

How are the stanzas written

10 line stanza

What is the rhyme scheme

Mostly iambic pentameter- except every 9th line

What does ‘Larkinesque’ mean

Ironic and gloomy

What is an aubade

About lovers departing at dawn

What does dawn connote

New beginnings/ rebirth/ new day

What is the tone of stanza 1

Waiting for the dawn; death personified

What ao2 does it begin on

Hyperboles

What does “I work all day, and get half-drunk at night” mean

Cocky bachelor - confessing his life is misery - using drink as a distraction from reality/ drinking his life away from his fear of life and death

What is Larkin’s fear on death

what happens after- is it just a void? - fear of the unknown

What ao2 is “soundless dark”

Menacing synesthesia

What is the ao2 of “in time the curtain -edges will grow light”

Tonal shift- light coming in (relief)

How is “unresting death” an unexpected juxtaposition

From “curtain-edges will grow light” this gives a sense of relief but immediately juxtaposes to bringing the reader down

What does “unresting death” do

Personifies death - death won’t rest until it finds someone

What is the ao2 of “how, where, when”

Triplet- time and place of his death - obsessed over every minute detail

What does “ a whole day nearer now” connote to

A ticking clock towards death(countdown) - just waiting on it at this point (evidence of depression) - unnatural/ unhealthy fear of death

What happens on every 9th line

Makes it shorter to show the shock- ‘heartbeat ends’ - countdown ends

What is the meter called on every 9th line

Anapaestic meter - sounds heavy - disruption of the heartbeat rhythm for shock

What is the ao3 of the fear of death

1977- his mum died in a nursing home - potential cause of this fear

What semantic field does “ yet the dread of dying, and being dead” connote to

Creates a semantic field of terror

What does “flashes afresh to hold and horrify” connote with

Snapshots in his mind

What is the tone of stanza 2

The past vs the future - nothingness

What was Larkin terrified of

The ‘nothingness’ after you die- Larkin was agnostic so there is no heaven/hell/ afterlife etc- he is desperate for the control/certainty

What does “not in remorse” mean

There’s no regret of the past or what he hasn’t achieved- he is afraid of what comes after death - fear of the unknown

What ao2 does the word “but” do

Creates a tonal shift- “total emptiness for ever” connotes to the nothingness of death- not at peace with death

What ao2 is “extinction”

Metaphor and a deliberate choice of diction

What does the word “extinction” connote with

Larkin will be extinct and he doesn’t know what happens after death

What does “not to be here, not to be anywhere and soon” mean

Diction makes the readers feel lost geographically

What symbolic about “soon”

Adverb for everyone will die - inevitably

What is the tone of stanza 3

No distractions from death (like religion)

What does “religion used to try” mean

Larkin is cynical of those who are religious- mockery of religion

What ao2 does “no trick dispels” connote to

Semantic field of magic - religion doesn’t work it’s like a ‘magic trick’ - religious people use it like magic as a distraction of death/reality of life

What is the ao2 for “the vast, moth eaten musical brocade”

Metaphor- massive moth eaten piece of fabric to cover up and pretend that we never die (heaven)- moth eaten needs to be replaced

Why does Larkin have the freedom to attack religion

Society is becoming secularised

What is the intertextual allusion of “no rational being can fear a thing it will not feel”

Intertextual Allison- to Lucretius - as he argued death was not to be feared, as we couldn’t feel it - Larkin rejects this and now is attacking philosophy with this quote

What ao2 is “we”

Plural pronoun- Larkin believes we are all to believe what Larkin believes on death

What does Larkin listing the 5 senses do

Reinforces how u feel none of the 5 senses when you die - questioning what are you when you die

What is the ao2 of “the anaesthetic from which none come round”

Metaphor- life is in control of someone else - reinforces Larkin’s fear of the lack of control with death - fear of being there but not there

What is the tone of stanza 4

No easy escape from the fear of death

What does the word “it” do

Pronoun of death

What does “just on the edge of vision, a small unfocused blur” mean

Everything of his life just becomes obsessing on death

what does”most things may never happen: this one will” mean

Definitive diction- death is inevitable

What reference connotes to “realisation of it rages out in furnace-fear”

Connotations of hell- biblical reference

What ao2 comes from “furnace- fear”

Alliteration of fructose sounds ‘f’

What does “when we are caught without people or drink” mean

There’s no distractions when you are alone and the fear emerges

What does “courage is no good” mean

courage doesn’t work - death is fatal - we all face the same fate - nihilistic/ fatalistic

What does “death is no differnt whined at than withstood” mean

No point whining about it as it’s inevitable

What ao2 comes from “whined”

Onomatopoeic diction

What is the tone of the 5th stanza

Dan finally arrives, but with it, not an ounce of comfort

What is the tonal shift

Hopeful as dawn arrives

What does “slowly light strengthens” mean

Light might bring comfort

What ao2 ensures the light doesn’t bring comfort

Simile of the wardrobe

What is the simile of “stands plain as a wardrobe”

Most of us have one, a predictable everyday object- showcasing how we all have to through death so it shouldn’t be such taboo, it should be seen as an everyday object

What does “ what we know, have always known, know that we can’t escape, yet can’t accept” mean

Mortality is a fact of fact, but we still can’t wrap our heads around it with acceptance

What does “one side has to go”

Either or has to be a fantasist or realist about death - can’t be both

What does “meanwhile telephones crouch, getting ready to ring” mean

Personifies death in a different way- we live our lives just to escape the inevitability of death - we’re just another day closer to death

What ao2 connotes to “uncaring rented world”

Pathetic fallacy- we only have our world for a limited time until we die- shows how many have lived and died just to move on - belittling the importance of death- as everyone goes through it

How does this stanza juxtapose to the first line of it

As it goes on it juxtaposes from the very first line showing the break of dawn gives no comfort

What is the ao2 of “sky is white as clay, with no sun”

Simile - no life like clay as it’s cold and fixed with a lack of colour and warmth - world is fake like its constructed by clay

What is the ao2 of “postmen like doctors go from house to house”

Simile- delivering bad news from door to door - fatalism everyone will get this message eventually