What
is it about?
Larkin
describes how 'home is so sad', because when it is no longer lived in, it goes
back to being no more than an empty shell and is no longer a home, but merely a
house. It is a poem about how the objects within in a home and the actual
edifice do not make it a home, but the memories that are created within it by
the people who live there.
What
are the deeper meanings?
There
are many themes of loneliness within the poem, more-so the loneliness of the
personified house than the people who once lived there – 'having no heart to
put aside the theft'. Once the residents have left, the house is alone once
again, with nobody to live for, essentially. Larkin also refers to his frequent
theme of potential and objects or people falling short of a goal they almost
reached – 'a joyous shot at how things ought to be, long fallen wide'. The
house had potential but the family or couple who lived there decided to move
on, causing it to ultimately fall short. However, as well as featuring
loneliness and isolation, the poem is about bereavement and loss; the house is
personified as physically grieving for the inhabitants it has lost – it's
described as 'sad' and is 'shaped to the comfort of the last to go'.
What
poetic devices are used?
Personification
is used throughout, making the house out to be an actual person who has a heart
and soul. The rhythm of the poem is structured and it follows an A, B, A, B, A,
C, D, C, D, C rhyming scheme, making it repetitive and familiar, like home. The
words ‘long fallen wide’ in the second stanza for a long vowel sound, forcing
the reader to draw them out. This adds emphasis to the fact that potential of
the home has been lost by a long shot, indicated in those strung-out words.
Finally, the poem ends with a metonym – ‘that vase’ and the use of a
demonstrative adjective relates it to one vase in particular that holds
significant meaning. By finishing on a short, sharp sentence, this adds
emphasis and power to finish and finalise the poem.
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