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rabbithrted's review
A-level assigned text. Overall, complicated man and Duffy was better-
emmabennettt's review
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.75
umbrelina's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
sydsnot71's review
4.0
I really enjoyed reading this.
There's an elegiac quality to many of the poems, even if they aren't elegies. There's a lot of contemplation of mortality from a man in middle age, unmarried and without children. But there's also the great 'For Sidney Bechet', which is one of the great poems about how music gets to us:
On me your voice falls as they say love should
Like an enormous yes...
There's also one of Larkin's most well-known poems, MCMXIV about the men of Britain on the outbreak of World War One:
Never such innocence,
Never before or since
Also. some lines from 'Naturally the Foundation will Bear Your Expenses' really hit home, perhaps because it is November and partly because of the current political situation:
Yet not till I was airborne
Did I recall the date -
That day when Queen and Minister
And Band of Guards and all
Still act their solemn-sinister
Wreath-rubbish in Whitehall.
It used to make me throw up,
These mawkish nursery games:
O, When will England grow up?
A modern poet writing that would probably get dragged through the tabloids and parliament for their lack of patriotism.
It's a wonderful collection of poems though, that is worth a read.
There's an elegiac quality to many of the poems, even if they aren't elegies. There's a lot of contemplation of mortality from a man in middle age, unmarried and without children. But there's also the great 'For Sidney Bechet', which is one of the great poems about how music gets to us:
On me your voice falls as they say love should
Like an enormous yes...
There's also one of Larkin's most well-known poems, MCMXIV about the men of Britain on the outbreak of World War One:
Never such innocence,
Never before or since
Also. some lines from 'Naturally the Foundation will Bear Your Expenses' really hit home, perhaps because it is November and partly because of the current political situation:
Yet not till I was airborne
Did I recall the date -
That day when Queen and Minister
And Band of Guards and all
Still act their solemn-sinister
Wreath-rubbish in Whitehall.
It used to make me throw up,
These mawkish nursery games:
O, When will England grow up?
A modern poet writing that would probably get dragged through the tabloids and parliament for their lack of patriotism.
It's a wonderful collection of poems though, that is worth a read.
scrapespaghetti's review
3.0
A Study of Reading Habits
When getting my nose in a book
Cured most things short of school,
It was worth ruining my eyes
To know I could still keep cool,
And deal out the old right hook
To dirty dogs twice my size.
Later, with inch-thick specs,
Evil was just my lark:
Me and my cloak and fangs
Had ripping times in the dark.
The women I clubbed with sex!
I broke them up like meringues.
Don’t read much now: the dude
Who lets the girl down before
The hero arrives, the chap
Who’s yellow and keeps the store,
Seem far too familiar. Get stewed:
Books are a load of crap.
───
The Importance of Elsewhere
Lonely in Ireland, since it was not home,
Strangeness made sense. The salt rebuff of speech,
Insisting so on difference, made me welcome:
Once that was recognised, we were in touch.
Their draughty streets, end-on to hills, the faint
Archaic smell of dockland, like a stable,
The herring-hawker’s cry, dwindling, went
To prove me separate, not unworkable.
Living in England has no such excuse:
These are my customs and establishments
It would be much more serious to refuse.
Here no elsewhere underwrites my existence.
───
First Sight
Lambs that learn to walk in snow
When their bleating clouds the air
Meet a vast unwelcome, know
Nothing but a sunless glare.
Newly stumbling to and fro
All they find, outside the fold,
Is a wretched width of cold.
As they wait beside the ewe,
Her fleeces wetly caked, there lies
Hidden round them, waiting too,
Earth’s immeasurable surprise.
They could not grasp it if they knew,
What so soon will wake and grow
Utterly unlike the snow.
When getting my nose in a book
Cured most things short of school,
It was worth ruining my eyes
To know I could still keep cool,
And deal out the old right hook
To dirty dogs twice my size.
Later, with inch-thick specs,
Evil was just my lark:
Me and my cloak and fangs
Had ripping times in the dark.
The women I clubbed with sex!
I broke them up like meringues.
Don’t read much now: the dude
Who lets the girl down before
The hero arrives, the chap
Who’s yellow and keeps the store,
Seem far too familiar. Get stewed:
Books are a load of crap.
───
The Importance of Elsewhere
Lonely in Ireland, since it was not home,
Strangeness made sense. The salt rebuff of speech,
Insisting so on difference, made me welcome:
Once that was recognised, we were in touch.
Their draughty streets, end-on to hills, the faint
Archaic smell of dockland, like a stable,
The herring-hawker’s cry, dwindling, went
To prove me separate, not unworkable.
Living in England has no such excuse:
These are my customs and establishments
It would be much more serious to refuse.
Here no elsewhere underwrites my existence.
───
First Sight
Lambs that learn to walk in snow
When their bleating clouds the air
Meet a vast unwelcome, know
Nothing but a sunless glare.
Newly stumbling to and fro
All they find, outside the fold,
Is a wretched width of cold.
As they wait beside the ewe,
Her fleeces wetly caked, there lies
Hidden round them, waiting too,
Earth’s immeasurable surprise.
They could not grasp it if they knew,
What so soon will wake and grow
Utterly unlike the snow.
blairmahoney's review
5.0
Recommended by Clive James as one of his top five poetry collections. I'd read quite a few of the poems before individually (including the title poem, "An Arundel Tomb,"and "Ambulances", which I included in my second textbook), but it does indeed work marvellously as a collection.
katie_hg's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
hannahh's review
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
soph_el's review
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0