Poetry Anthology - Afternoons

Question 1

Key themes

Answer 1

Passing of time
Change

Question 2

Structure

Answer 2

• three regular stanzas - regularity of their lives
• enjambment between 2nd and 3rd stanza - continuous cycle, boredom
• monotonous tone

Question 3

Key quotes (7)

Answer 3

‘Summer is fading’
‘Hollows of afternoons’
‘Young mothers assemble’
‘Setting free their children’
‘Behind them’ and ‘before them’
‘Unripe acorns’
‘Expect to be taken home’

Question 4

Analyse ‘summer is fading’

Answer 4

Time has passed but hopes for the future diminish
They are left with their boring and repetitive lives

Question 5

Analyse ‘hollows of afternoons’

Answer 5

Feel as though something is missing from their lives
Emphasise boredom and emptiness

Question 6

Analyse ‘young mothers assemble’

Answer 6

Regimented like soldiers - no escape
Lack of individuality - typical experience for the working class

Question 7

Analyse ‘setting free their children’

Answer 7

Ironic - their children are free but they are not - contrasts with their own situation
Erosion of identity

Question 8

Analyse ‘behind them’ and ‘before them’

Answer 8

reinforce the idea that the young mothers are trapped between a lost past and a bleak future
No escape from their cyclical routines - feel trapped

Question 9

Analyse ‘unripe acorns’

Answer 9

Hopeful optimism of youth
Idea that children are naive - unaware of the boring trap they will fall into when they grow up

Question 10

Analyse ‘expect to be taken home’

Answer 10

Suggests even the children are restricted by routine

Question 11

Context

Answer 11

Larkin was interested in the lives of the working class
Famous poet with a gloomy persona