Wires, Maiden Name and Toads

Question 1

What is the main technique used in Toads?

Answer 1

Extended Metaphor

Question 2

‘Why should I let the toad work __________ on my life’

Answer 2

squat

Question 3

What technique is used here - ‘six days of the week it soils/with its sickening poison’ (Toads)

Answer 3

sibilance

Question 4

Although the speaker in Toads resents work, how does he feel about those that don’t - ‘lecturers, lispers/losers, lob-lolly-men, louts’?

Answer 4

He mocks them via Larkin’s use of alliterative listing

Question 5

Towards the end of Toads, the speaker realises that ‘something sufficiently ‘________ - _________ squats in me’

Answer 5

toad - like

Question 6

The speaker in Toads ultimately decides that work is a necessary part of human existence - how could this link to Larkin’s own life?

Answer 6

Despite being a poet he continued to work as a librarian, even twice rejecting the prestigious position of poet laureate.

Question 7

What technique is used here - ‘their unspeakable wives are skinny as whippets’? (Toads)

Answer 7

simile

Question 8

In Toads, why does Larkin refer to ‘unspeakable wives are skinny as whippets’?

Answer 8

He is dehumanising and mocking those that don’t work; although Larkin’s narrator resents the restrictions of work, he also looks down on those that don’t.

Question 9

How does Larkin use an intertextual reference in Toads?

Answer 9

In the line ‘that’s the stuff/That dreams are made on’ he refers to the Shakespeare play The Tempest.

Question 10

Why does Larkin employ an intertextual reference to The Tempest is his poem Toads - ‘that’s the stuff/That dreams are made on’

Answer 10

These philosophical lines are spoken by the magician Prospero, who dreams of a utopian world. Larkin’s speaker is therefore perhaps mocking the notion of a perfect society.

Question 11

What does the word ‘blarney’ mean that is used in the poem Toads?

Answer 11

It means to speak in a flattering or persuasive way - the speaker mocks an existence of such insincerity.

Question 12

‘The ________ and the __________ and the _________’ (Toads)

Answer 12

fame/girl/money

Question 13

Why does Larkin employ listing in the line ‘the fame and the girl and the money’?

Answer 13

He is perhaps intending to mock such generic and superficial ambitions.

Question 14

What major event ended in 1945 - ten years prior to The Less Deceived being published?

Answer 14

WWII

Question 15

After WWII, food rationing was still in place until…?

Answer 15

1954

Question 16

Which political party came into power in 1945, promising to create a fairer, more equal Britain?

Answer 16

Labour

Question 17

What did the Labour government create in 1948 that was seen, by some, as a positive symbol of social progress?

Answer 17

the NHS

Question 18

In what year was the NHS created?

Answer 18

1948

Question 19

Although Larkin is not especially a political poet, we might describe his views as being c_____________ ?

Answer 19

conservative

Question 20

Which war, just beginning in the 1950s, brought the fear of nuclear apocalypse?

Answer 20

The Cold War

Question 21

‘The ____________ prairies have electric fences’ (Wires)

Answer 21

widest

Question 22

What technique is used in the line: ‘The WIDEST fences’ (Wires)

Answer 22

superlative adjective

Question 23

In the poem Wires, what do the ‘old cattle and ‘young steers’ represent?

Answer 23

The ‘old cattle’ are the older generation, who understand and accept societal restrictions. The ‘young steers’ are the younger generation, who are optimistic and naive to the limitations they face.

Question 24

‘Young steers are always scenting ___________ / ___________ ‘ (Wires)

Answer 24

purer water

Question 25

In Wires, which verb (beginning with ‘b’) describes the clumsy movement of the ignorant ‘young steers’?

Answer 25

blunder

Question 26

In the poem Wires, why is the word ‘wires’ repeated in the fourth and fifth lines of the poem?

Answer 26

To represent the idea of continual confinement. Although the ‘young steers’ are unaware, restriction if ever-present.

Question 27

What technique is used in the line: ‘muscle-shredding violence’ (Wires)?

Answer 27

sibilance

Question 28

Why does Larkin employ sibilance in the line, ‘muscle-shredding violence’? (Wires)

Answer 28

To represent the brutal and unforgiving pain caused by the electric fences (and the restrictions they represent)

Question 29

Does Wires use a regular rhyme scheme?

Answer 29

Yes. ABCD DCBA (this can also be referred to as an ‘envelope’ rhyme scheme)

Question 30

Why does the poem Wires use a ABCD DCBA (or ‘envelope’) rhyme scheme?

Answer 30

The way that the lines of the second stanza lock into those of the first is perhaps intended to represent the unavoidable restrictions we all have to face.

Question 31

Did Larkin ever marry?

Answer 31

No. Although he was briefly engaged to Ruth Bowman when he was younger.

Question 32

What did Larkin say of marriage (referring to his parents’ marriage): ‘the only married state I know is ___________ / ___________’

Answer 32

bloody hell

Question 33

The poem Maiden Name is thought to be partly inspired by…?

Answer 33

Winifred Arnott

Question 34

Maiden Name is thought to be partly inspired by Winifred Arnott. Where did Larkin meet her?

Answer 34

Larkin met Winifred Arnott whilst working as a librarian at The University of Belfast.

Question 35

‘Marrying left your maiden name ___________.’ (Maiden Name)

Answer 35

disused

Question 36

Which part of the poem Maiden Name might we consider to be a specific reference to Winifred Arnott?

Answer 36

‘its five light sounds’ (the five syllables of her name)

Question 37

What technique is used in the phrase ‘thankfully confused’? (Maiden Name)

Answer 37

oxymoron

Question 38

Why does Larkin use an oxymoron in the phrase ‘thankfully confused’? (Maiden Name)

Answer 38

To juxtapose the cliched positive sentiments connected with marriage - being ‘thankful’ - with the starker reality: that you lose your identity and become ‘confused’ with someone else.

Question 39

‘since you were so thankfully confused by ____________ ‘ (Maiden Name)

Answer 39

law

Question 40

In Maiden Name, why does Larkin describe the women as being ‘thankfully confused BY LAW’?

Answer 40

To suggest that the marriage is nothing more than a legal contract. As we see elsewhere in the poem, Larkin disconnects marriage from ideas of romance or intimacy.

Question 41

In Maiden Name, how is the newly married women described - ‘scentless, weightless, ________________?

Answer 41

strengthless

Question 42

Why is the ‘less’ suffix repeated in the poem Maiden Name: ‘scentless, weightless, strengthless’

Answer 42

To show the extent of what she has lost through marriage. ‘Strengthless’ in particular implies that by giving herself to another she has been weakened.

Question 43

‘old lists, old programmes, a __________ / _____________ or two’ (Maiden Name)

Answer 43

school prize

Question 44

Why does the speaker in Maiden Name link the female character’s old self to ‘a school prize or two’?

Answer 44

To suggest that her old self was notable and worth of celebration - which is in contrast to her less remarkable, married self.

Question 45

How might the word ‘unfingermarked’ be considered a pun? (Maiden Name)

Answer 45

1. It refers to a time when he finger was literally not ‘marked’ by a ring. 2. It refers to a time when she was untainted, pure and not ‘marked’ by someone else.

Question 46

‘with your _________ / ___________ / ____________ ‘ (Maiden Name)

Answer 46

depreciating luggage laden

Question 47

What technique is used in the line ‘depreciating luggage laden’?

Answer 47

Metaphor. This is used to describe her new life or perhaps new new partner - something that is losing value and quickly becoming a burden.

Question 48

Does Maiden Name use a regular rhyme scheme?

Answer 48

Yes. ABBACCA.

Question 49

Why does Larkin use a regular rhyme scheme in Maiden Name?

Answer 49

The regularity of the rhyme, alongside the regular stanza and line length, perhaps represent the monotony and routine nature of marriage.