Afternoons by Phillip Larkin What does time mean

Afternoons by Phillip Larkin. What does ‘time’ mean to you?

A reminder of the assessment criteria. Assessment Objective AO 1 – read, understand, respond The breakdown – simplified! Personal response, showing understanding Knowing what some of the detail means & use quotations Interpret what the poet wants you to think about AO 2 – analyse language and its effect Language – use of words, images and techniques for effect. Subject terminology Form – type of poem, e. g sonnet and use of rhyme/rhythm Structure – organisation of poet’s ideas (whole poem and by stanza) AO 3 – context Show understanding of relationships between texts and the context in which they were written Influenced by when it was written?

Afternoons. Summer is fading: The leaves fall in ones and twos From trees bordering The new recreation ground. In the hollows of afternoons Young mothers assemble At swing and sandpit Setting free their children. Behind them, at intervals, Stand husbands in skilled trades, An estateful of washing, And the albums, lettered Our Wedding, lying Near the television: Before them, the wind Is ruining their courting-places That are still courting-places (But the lovers are all in school), And their children, so intent on Finding more unripe acorns, Expect to be taken home. Their beauty has thickened. Something is pushing them To the side of their own lives.

Consolidating your first thoughts. . . AO 1 Think-pair-share: Zoom forward about 10 years, when you’ll be in your midtwenties. What do you imagine you’ll be doing with your life? How would you like your life to be then? Now, look back at the poem. • Are there any words or short phrases which make growing up seem unappealing? • Why might Larkin have this viewpoint? What do you think he might have experienced in this life? Write a response to these questions in your exercise book.

AO 3 About the poet. . . Phillip Larkin (1922 -1985) • English poet; • Famous for poems to do with detailed observations about everyday life and relationships; • Critics say that his poetry was rather negative and miserable; • Had a restricted life: never married, didn’t ever travel abroad and worked as a librarian for 30 years, in Hull. • Does this context affect the meaning of the poem? • What is Larkin trying to get the reader to think about? • Does it affect your understanding of the poem?

When analysing Afternoons think about… Key letter: S P I R I T Definition/questions: Structure – how are the stanzas ordered? Beginning and end? Poetic devices – Enjambment? Repetition? Symbolism? Cacophony? Alliteration? Imagery – Similes? Metaphors? Adjectives? Adverbs? Hyperbole? Oxymoron? Contrast? Connotation? Rhythm & Rhyme – Can you spot rhythm? Where? When? Why is it used? Same for rhyme… Ideas – What is the poem about? What does the writer/narrator think and feel? How do you feel? Tone of voice – What is the narrator’s tone of voice? Is it harsh, or is it sad? Why? What effect does this have?

AO 2 – Analyse language and its effect. Stanza one Is this fatalistic? Does the colon turn this line into a factual statement? Contrasts of new and old. The old rec ground has been replaced by something new. End of a season. Cyclical nature of life? Summer is fading: The leaves fall in ones and twos From trees bordering The new recreation ground. In the hollows of afternoons Young mothers assemble At swing and sandpit Setting free their children. Alliteration Decline is gradual, almost unnoticeable. Can you link this to another poem we have studied? Sense of emptiness and loneliness Mothers are anonymous. Routine, trapped in their daily lives, typical domesticated life Freedom of the playground represents the freedom they will eventually seek from parents. Yet they are restricted to the confines of the sandpit. What could this also represent?

AO 2 – Analyse language and its effect. Stanza two Men and women are set apart in different stanzas. Working class society The TV overshadows their lives. Stereotyping of working class society The men do not gather together. Distance between them. The men have more freedom, they go out to work. Comment on the traditional roles of men and women. Behind them, at intervals, Stand husbands in skilled trades, An estateful of washing, And the albums, lettered Domesticity Our Wedding, lying Near the television: The wedding album is discarded and forgotten. Is marriage not Before them, the wind Is ruining their courting-places valued? Decay and destruction Comment on the use of pathetic fallacy and enjambment

AO 2 – Analyse language and its effect. Stanza three That are still courting-places (But the lovers are all in school), And their children, so intent on Finding more unripe acorns, Expect to be taken home. Their beauty has thickened. Something is pushing them To the side of their own lives. Whose “beauty” has “thickened”? The parents? Or the children? Has having children aged the parents or is this a comment on children themselves? Is the idea of a family is more appealing than the realities of family life. Cyclical nature of life. The lovers are no longer the parents but the children of the parents. Perhaps describing love as teenage and immature, not present in adult life “unripe” – not ready? Not ready for love? “thickened”, aged? Something (children? ) is pushing the adults to the side of their own lives and they are powerless to this force. Creates a regretful and fatalistic tone. “Something” is deliberately vague and open to interpretation.

Major themes • Time / passing of time • Decay and decline • Cyclical nature of life • Reflects upon the subject of marriage and working class life. AO 2

AO 1 : Develop an informed personal response using evidence (quotations) to support interpretations. Larkin expresses the emotion of the mothers’ being disillusioned with their lives, ‘something is pushing them / to the side of their own lives. ’ Here, Larkin is referring to time and how their life may be passing them by now that they have the responsibilities of children and family. As a man who led a solitary existence and was unmarried could he be suggesting that having a family leads to a lack of opportunities and loss of control - ‘something is pushing them’?

AO 2 Your turn. • Following my starter example, in pairs, create a personal response to the poem focusing on language and the mood and themes of the poem. • You have 10 minutes to complete this activity. • Be prepared to share your ideas with another pair. End Peer Marking: Have they got a clear point? Suitable and relevant evidence? A brief explanation? Analysis of a word or technique used by Larkin? Secondary evidence to support their point? Can you add anything to their analysis?