Toads Flashcards
What are the two voices in toads?
They are two conflicting voices
What is one voice say?
It hates work and is jealous of those who don’t have to work
What does the other voice say?
It also hates work but believes it has to work for his identity and dehumanises those who don’t work
What did Larkin work as and where?
He worked as a librarian for 30 years in the university of Hull.
What position did he reject twice?
Poet laureate
What kind of writer was he?
Movement writer
What’s the structure?
ABAB - 4 line stanza (quatrain)
What kind of rhyming was it and why?
It was a half rhyme to show the conflict between the two contrasting view points.
1) “why should I let the __ work squat on my life”
- what’s disgusting? what does the word squat show?
1) toad
- work, it’s a burden
2) “lecturers, __, losers, loblolly - men, __”
- what is he listing, feeling
2) lispers, louts
- his envy, angry
3) “their __ wives are skinny as __”
- imagery? technique? what does he do to them? exaggerates the burden of?
3) unspeakable, whippets
- poverty, simile, he dehumanises and mocks those who don’t work, the burden of love
4) “but I know all to well, that’s the __ that dreams are made on”
- technique? what is he about work? what’s a fantasy?
4) stuff
- intertextual reference - the tempest, he’s too intelligent to work, not being able to work
5) “the fame and the __ and the money”
- technique? what does the listing show? what doesn’t reach the end goal?
5) girl
- repetition, he is mocking those who follow or pursue their shallow ambition, work
