The second stanza introduces to us the husbands “in skilled trades”. What I believe the poet is referring to here is the fact that many young husbands, who try to keep money coming in whilst the mothers toil to look after the children, often have jobs in trades such as plumbing, masonry, carpentry etc. These are trades which more often than not do not require qualifications of any sort. Thus, Larkin is trying to show that though these husbands may work long hours in what is in practice a highly skilled job, they are not paid well, and this shows in the poor quality of life that surrounds council estates. The line “at intervals” shows that they have little time for their family, although they wish to have more. The husbands have to spend as much time as they can working, and thus have little time for their wives and children.
The following lines describe wedding albums, cast aside by the television, waiting to be picked up and looked at. This suggests that there may be a fleeting thought of regret, as a young mother may look at the pictures, wondering if she did the right thing – getting married as she was pregnant, and wondering if the fact that she has ended up in a dreary life, with little money and a poor quality of life. The following lines “before them, the wind, is ruining their courting-places” shows us that even though these young mothers are having to carry on their lives as if they were much older, in truth, they are still only teenager, who enjoy fun and who wish they were still care-free in their ways, and able to cavort with different men at their own will. Instead, they are stuck in a life of responsibility and children who need looking after.
The third stanza repeats the fact that these are very young people that we are looking at, in the line “But the lovers are all in school”. We then get the idea that these lovers, although they bear the brunt of responsibility now, and have entered adulthood early, that they still wish to be their young selves, rather than these unripe adults they have become. The line “finding more unripe acorns” shows us that the children of these young mothers will follow in much the same footsteps as their elders, leading a life of regimented despair and emptiness, as this is all they know, and all they are taught - even if not intentionally - by their mothers. The line “Expect to be taken home,” with the use of the word ‘expect’ tries to reinforce the idea of a routine and regimented lifestyle, and shows that the children are familiar with these ideas and know that they will come.
The last lines of stanza three, and therefore also the closing lines of the poem, read “Their beauty has thickened. Something is pushing them to the side of their own lives.” The line talks about the children, and how they are slowly taking the form of their own parents, in the way that they are maturing too quickly, and how they are becoming adults, whilst they are still children. The line “Something is pushing them” shows the relationship between the weight of responsibility they must endure, the image of having to grow up faster than a normal child, and the wish they must have of simply being able to follow life like a normal child and teenager, free of concerns about bringing in money and bringing up children.
The structure of the poem is very simple, with three stanzas and eight lines to each stanza. What does stand out in the poem is the fact that none of the lines rhyme, and this makes the poem seem more abrupt, and the use of enjambment, clearly seen in the lines “And the albums, lettered/Our wedding, lying/Near the television:” makes the poem seem cut off and isolated. It also gives the poem the sense of the lives followed by these mothers – routine, day in and day out, regimented and robotic. The abruptness and almost inhumanness of the lines seem to actually represent the type of life followed by these mothers.
Larkin’s use of imagery in the poem is strong, and in each stanza there are several images that tend to stand out. In the first stanza, the line “In the hollows of afternoons” pictures these afternoons as empty, a void, waiting to be filled by a life of fulfillment, not just one that is empty of emotion and love. In the second stanza, the line “An estateful of washing” plays on the image of the setting of the poem. We can clearly see the poor quality of life, and the estate that they have to live on, with the washing slung from window to hook, and graffiti colouring the walls.
The poet’s careful consideration of language use has an effect on the poem. Certain words can, and indeed do, change the entire meaning of a line, once one looks closer at the poem. Take for example, the line “Expect to be taken home.” The use of the word ‘expect’ brings about the ideas of a knowing, routine lifestyle, one that is done every day without emotion or thought. A regimented, structured, time-table of a life, designed to fill the gaps that may occur. Larkin uses the metaphor “unripe acorns,” which allows us to decide for ourselves what the “unripe acorns” may be. The fact that he has let us do this, gives us our own insight into the poem, letting us take it for what we want it to be.
The poem as a whole shows a biased side of Larkin’s atheist ideas about marriage. Although the poem strictly follows Larkin’s ideas, we are left to make up our own minds about the extremities described. The poem’s mood is melancholy, dark and empty, and shows us life without emotion or pain. It is robotic, and gives us a sense of helplessness. The poem and its poet exhibit ideas of fraught marriage, decay, decline and pain. They are issues that many can relate to, and are contemplated carefully and with a lot of thought on the poet’s part. It is well written, and reflects a true image of young love, one that should be learnt from, and taken notice of.
