Poem pairings

Themes

Duffy

Larkin

Time and aging

• Stafford Afternoons

• Captain

• pluto

• first love

• havisham

• mean time

• Mr Bleaney

death and morality

• pluto

• havisham

• mean time

• Mr Bleaney

Love and relationships

• Brothers

• first love

• valentine

• disgrace

• havisham

• mean time

• Talking in Bed

• Wild Oats

• Afternoons

• An Arundel Tomb

Identity and Voice

• Captain

• pluto

• Mr Bleaney

Society and class

• Litany

• Afternoons

• Essential Beauty

Gender and power

• Litany

• havisham

• Wild Oats

• Talking in Bed

• Afternoons

Isolation and loneliness

• Captain

• pluto

• havisham

• Mr Bleaney

• Selfs the Man

Memory and the past

• Captain

• Stafford Afternoons

• Brothers

• first love

• Wild Oats

reality vs illusion

• Stafford Afternoons

• valentine

• havisham

• Essential Beauty

Religion and belief

• An Arundel Tomb

Power of language

• valentine

• mean time

• days

War and conflict *