How typical is the style and content of The Old Fools in Larkin's High Windows?
How typical is the style and content of The Old Fools in Larkin's High Windows? The Old Fools is primarily concerned with Larkin's fear of ageing and dying, a fear that pervades through the poems of High Windows. Using a slightly mocking tone, he attemps to understand the thoughts and feelings of the aged on the subject, but instead finds even more questions, and the inevitable realisation that "We will find out." Death is a frequently occurring subject in High Windows: in The Building, Dublinesque, Vers de Societe and The Explosin he explores the inevitability of death and it's consequences on his state of mind. Often, the idea of a lack of consolation from organised religion is present within these poems. Larkin, as an atheist, found little comfort in the idea of an afterlife, believing instead that "oblivion" was the eventual outcome for humankind: "...for unless its powers / Outbuild cathedrals, nothing contravenes / The coming dark..." Oblivion, as a general fate, is not all that appealing, yet Larkin manages to lift the spirit of The Old Fools with subtle touches of humour. The cynicism and sarcasm that he often uses in the collection do not detract from the more serious overtones of the poems, but they do 'lighten the mood', coupled with a use of more uplifting imagery that hints at non-Christian religon. "...all the time merging with a unique endavour / To
An essay on Ted Hughes' 'The Jaguar' that differentiates between the jaguar and the animals
An essay of Ted Hughes' 'The Jaguar' that differentiates between the jaguar and the animals. Hughes' poem portrays various zoo animals. However, as the title suggests, his focus is upon the jaguar, from which he distinguishes the other animals using a few literary devices. In the opening verse, the mood of faineance has an almost narcotic effect on the reader, created by the presence of punctuation and reinforced by the poet's use of words such as 'yawn', 'Fatigues', and 'indolence'. The parrots' shrieking "as if they were on fire" might perhaps stand out as a contrast to the relative dull and somnolence of the atmosphere if it were not for the fact that the entire verse is interrupted here and there by punctuation marks, which indicate pauses and which slow down the pace of the poem, thereby establishing the mood of boredom and sleepiness. The shrill noises made might not even be loud enough to be deafening or distracting, in which case the image conjured up in our minds would be one of the animals being lulled to slumber by the stillness and placidity of the zoo atmosphere, punctuated only occasionally by the squawks of the parrots. This lack of physical movement is further evidenced in the next stanza, where Hughes uses metaphorical language, calling the coils of the boa constrictor a 'fossil'. Here it is almost as if he is implying that the animals lie so still all
