Whatever happened?

Question 1

Analyse the title: Whatever happened

Answer 1

Use of interrogative to convey uncertainty surrounding events of the speakers trauma

Question 2

Analyse: ‘whatever happened starts receding’ (Whatever happened)

Answer 2

Use of metaphor suggests time has the ability to shift perspectives on reality and ultimately shrink trauma

Question 3

Analyse: ‘With trousers ripped, light wallets, and lips bleeding’ (Whatever happened)

Answer 3

Syndetic listing subtly personifies trauma as something violent and physically damaging

Question 4

Analyse: ‘Yes, gone, thank God!’ (Whatever happened)

Answer 4

Exclamation conveys emotional relief, which is ultimately a facade

Question 5

Analyse: ‘All’s kodak-distant’ (Whatever happened)

Answer 5

Imagery of photography conveys the ability of photography to capture moments, suggesting the speaker wants to capture and dispose of his trauma to distance himself from it.

Question 6

Analyse ‘Perspective brings significance,’ we say,’ (Whatever happened)

Answer 6

collective pronoun could refer to the speaker and his partner, or to societal views on traumatic events. Larkin uses quasi philosophical language to create a mocking tone that undermines the sentiment of the saying, suggesting trauma never becomes anything positively significant.

Question 7

Analyse ‘Unhooding our photometers’ (Whatever happened)

Answer 7

Speakers reference to revealing his trauma could suggest acceptance, but the indirect nature of the statement suggests he places the responsibility of recovery on camera and cannot directly confront it himself

Question 8

Analyse ‘Such coastal bedding always means mishap’ (Whatever happened)

Answer 8

Suggests the traumatic event was inevitable and pre-destined. Trauma presented as inescapable.

Question 9

Analyse: ‘Curses? The dark? Struggling?’ (Whatever happened)

Answer 9

Triple of rhetorical questions reveals the speakers true state of confusion and anxiety as he confronts the reality of the distress caused to him by the trauma

Question 10

Analyse: ‘Where’s the source of these yarns?’ (Whatever happened)

Answer 10

Polysemic phrase coukd refer to the story of his trauma, but also a long thread to represent the unending impact of the trauma

Question 11

Analyse: ‘(except in nightmares, of course)’ (Whatever happened)

Answer 11

Parenthesis suggests the trauma is deep-rooted in the speakers subconscious and he is always inescapably plagued by it

Question 12

What A03 can be directly linked to Whatever Happened? (Whatever happened)

Answer 12

The poem is an abstract reference to Larkin’s affair with married Patsy Strang, where she had a miscarriage after becoming pregant With Larkin’s child

Question 13

Why does the poem use terza rima? What is terza rima? (Whatever happened)

Answer 13

Larkin employs a 3 line interlocking rhyme scheme to resemble the speakers attempt to compartmentalise his trauma