On the day of the explosion
Shadows pointed towards the pithead:
In thesun the slagheap slept.
Down the lane came men in pitboots
Coughing oath-edged talk and pipe-smoke
Shouldering off the freshened silence.
One chased after rabbits; lost them;
Came back with a nest of lark's eggs;
Showed them; lodged them in the grasses.
So they passed in beards and moleskins
Fathers brothers nicknames laughter
Through the tall gates standing open.
At noon there came a tremor; cows
Stopped chewing for a second; sun
Scarfed as in a heat-haze dimmed.
The dead go on before us they
Are sitting in God's house in comfort
We shall see them face to face—
plian as lettering in the chapels
It was said and for a second
Wives saw men of the explosion
Larger than in life they managed—
Gold as on a coin or walking
Somehow from the sun towards them
One showing the eggs unbroken.
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Anna's comment
From guest Anna (contact)
im looking at the poem for an English A Level pressentation. the poem creates some nice images. -
From guest zara (contact)
i think the last line is symbolic in that it shows life goes on an indication of human mortality. it may also represent hope of ressurection or even the preciousness of memory. it could just be used as a startling final image to instill pathos . -
10/10
Oh Larkin... another piece that depicts the outcry of destruction, yet hinting at that small slither of hope. It's the fact that we as human beings go on despite all things, and the fact that the cycle is neverending that intrigues me the most. Larkin almost seems to contradict his previous beliefs on the afterlife here, yet still manages to leave the reader with a remaining questioning inside their mind. I love the relation of the unbroken egg to new life. Pure brilliance.
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Don't really know the meaning of this, sometimes it just doesn't click, I know it's something to do I suppose about the afterlife all existing as a family with god, but the significance of the very last line escapes me, I think I will have to come back and look through it again....
Sanity.
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