Triple Time Flashcards
(18 cards)
title analysis
musical reference - link to his love of jazz
tempo - time moves quickly
What do the first, second and third stanzas represent?
1st - present
2nd - future
3rd - past
anaphora in 1st stanza
adds to the sense of mundanity - the present is boring, forgetful, wasteful etc
empty
blandness
indistinct
unrecommended
the present is shown as boring, insignificant which explains why we waste it
autumn
pathetic fallacy - middle ground between the life of summer and the death of winter (nothing really happens)
approaching death - we waste the present because we aren’t currently facing death
A03 to link to the death analysis pf autumn
Larkin was writing about death in his 20s - he sees himself as not deceived because he acknowledges death in his present and so can make the most of his life, unlike the rest of society who refuses to acknowledge the presence of death and this causes them to waste their present and causes regrets
like a reflection
simile
emphatic of how we waste time in the present
But (start of stanza 2)
conjunction signals a change in time
constant changing of perspective over time
furthest future
fricatives
often linked to pace - highlights the speed at which the future becomes the present
contending bells
use of sound to indicate excitement - we look forward to the future
air lambent
light imagery - excitement for the future
how do ‘air lambent’ and ‘contending bells’ in the second stanza contrast the first stanza
the excitement of the future contrasts the mundanity of the present
structural contrast
a valley cropped by fat neglected chances
pastoral imagery
we look on the past with regret, we don’t make the most of opportunities when they are in front of us
who is Larkin’s use of pastoral imagery influenced by
Thomas Hardy
forebore to fleece
fricatives
speed of time - missed opportunities
on this we blame our last threadbare perspectives
we blame ourselves
threadbare - links to age or death - use of death to explore regret and the inevitable nature of time
structural comments
Quintets - strict rigid structure - inevitable nature of time
key theme in collection - also seen in Whatever Happened through the terza rima
A03
Time erodes spoils and disappoints
saddest heart in the post war supermarket
sad eyed realism
influence of the cold war
