Arrivals, Departures Flashcards
The poem uses the image of a travelling salesman arriving on the ‘morning shore’ to represent the difficulty of c________
choice
The image of a boat arriving on the ‘morning shore’ was likely influenced by…?
Larkin living in Belfast at the time, and regularly making the journey back to England on a ‘channel boat’
The boat comes ‘sidling’ into the harbour, arriving in a quiet, almost secretive, manner - why?
To represent how we are often unaware of the choices that we face, until it is too late
‘His advent _________ to the morning shore’
blurted
What does the word ‘blurted’ mean?
Blurted - to speak loudly and without thinking
The travelling salesman arrives in a loud and somewhat clumsy fashion - why?
To represent how we are often distracted by noise and other unimportant diversions when we make choices
‘We barely recalled from ________’
sleep
Larkin refers to the ‘doleful distance’ - what does ‘doleful’ mean?
Causing sadness/grief
Why does Larkin refer to the ‘doleful distance’?
The speakers thinks that the choices we make will - in the ‘distance’ of the future - make us feel a sense of pain and regret
‘Come and choose _________, they cry, come and choose _______’
wrong
Who or what does Larkin imagine saying - ‘come and choose wrong’?
Larkin personifies his ‘dilemmas’ (stanza 2) as seductive and tempting, drawing us in to make the wrong decision
‘Calling the traveller now, the _________ bound’
outward
What is the significance of the boat that arrived on the ‘morning shore’ (stanza 1) turning into the ‘outward bound’ (stanza 3)
It represents how the opportunities, once new and within reach, are now disappearing
The poem begins in the ‘morning’, representing new opportunities and a fresh start. However, by the end of the poem, it has become ‘night’ - why?
To represent how these new opportunities have disappeared and been replaced by uncertainty and darkness
Larkin rhymes the final three lines of the poem - ‘knowing’/‘blowing’/‘going’ - why?
This is intended to quicken the tempo of the final lines, representing the fast disappearing sense of choice
