Theme

Places

The Poem

On longer evenings,

Light, chill and yellow,

Bathes the serene

Foreheads of houses.

A thrush sings,

Laurel-surrounded

In the deep bare garden,

Its fresh-peeled voice

Astonishing the brickwork.

It will be spring soon,

It will be spring soon -

And I, whose childhood is a forgotten boredom,

Feel like a child

Who comes on a scene

Of adult reconcilling,

And can understand nothing

But the unusual laughter,

And starts to be happy.

Analysis

On longer evenings,

Light, chill and yellow,

• List - each adjective has positive connotations.

Bathes the serene

Foreheads of houses.

Personification - gives a sense of life to inanimate buildings

A thrush sings,

Laurel-surrounded

In the deep bare garden,

Its fresh-peeled voice

• Personification.

Astonishing the brickwork^^.^^

• End-stop line.

It will be spring soon,

It will be spring soon -

• Volta.

• Repetition - represents a turning point, a pivot in the poem. It expresses excitement and anticipation.

• The hyphen forms a break / caesura as it introduces a new line of thoughts.

And I, whose childhood

Is a forgotten boredom,

• Negativity of the past is faced positively.

Feel like a child

• Simile - childhood is an extended metaphor for spring. Spring usually suggests rebirth and positivity whereas winter symbolises death and negativity. There’s a suggestion that spring is also negative as it symbolises the marching on of time and death growing closer. Society is naive as a child for thinking spring is transformative and positive.

Who comes on a scene

Of adult reconcilling,

• Suggests that spring symbolises new beginnings and making amends. This is crucial as it alludes to the narrator reconciling with the child he was and the adult he became.

And can understand nothing

Suggests that spring is deceitful. It is insecure, because society fails to recognise the truth of spring. It is also superficial

But the unusual laughter,

• Oxymoronic language - happiness is not real as it does not offer comfort or warmth.

• Suggests thatthis appreciation of spring and of life is a new sensation; the effect of maturity and of coming to terms with the negativity of his childhood.

And starts to be happy.

• There is a child-like simplicity in the last line.

• End-stop line.

Context

• The poem was written not too long after World War Two had ended.

• Larkin may be using spring as a symbol for the better.

• Larkin has described his childhood as being ‘uneventful’.