What
is it about?
The
poem describes a final visit back to what we presume is Abse's childhood home.
He explains how he 'entered after dark the ground-floor flat' and milled
around, certain objects bringing back significant meaning to his adult self. We
know that this poem is from the point of view as an adult Abse as he mentions
the 'surgeon's pocket torch' that he has, implying that he has graduated and is
now working as a doctor. The house is no longer lived in, we can infer, as
there is 'so much dust'. The poem resolves with Abse simply sitting and taking
in his surroundings, reflecting on the memories he has had within this home and
metaphorically saying 'goodbye' to the flat that is no longer lived in.
What
are the deeper meanings?
It is
evident that the flat is no longer lived in – we can presume that from the
excessive dust and the fact that Abse has to visit during the night, breaking
in 'like a burglar' – and that simple fact adds a sombre mood to the entire
poem. The first thing Abse recalls doing is sitting in his father's armchair,
which could have significant meaning. Perhaps his father has passed away and
that is why sitting in the armchair is mentioned; subconsciously, Abse feels as
if the armchair connects him to his father and the memories he shared with the
man. When Abse mentions that the living room is more of a 'dying room', it is
comedic and indeed a play-on-words, but it could imply that not just the room,
but the entire flat is dying along with the memories that it holds and the
people who once inhabited it. Now, it is nothing more than a shell; it is a
house and not a home, because all of its residents are long gone and they have
taken their memories with them.
What
poetic devices are used?
Abse
uses a lot of personification in this particular poem – 'the awakened empty
fruit bowl' and 'the vase that yawned hideously.' By personifying the objects
within the home, he is reasserting the point that the home once held life and
potential when it was lived in by Abse and his family; even the inanimate
objects within the flat were living but now that the people who used them, who
gave them life, are gone, they are slowly dying along with the flat itself. The
word 'Nothing' is also personified with the use of a capital letter, suggesting
‘Nothing’ is a person and not a thing. Abse also uses prosaic and informal
language (slang) such as 'living room, did I say?' and 'so much dust, Mother!'
By using these phrases, he lowers the sophisticated level of the poem and talks
to us as readers directly, making the poem much more personal as he is choosing
to confide in specific individuals i.e. the readers, about this experience he
has had.
Links
to Larkin?
• Reference Back – Both contain themes of
parents.
• Mr Bleaney – Both poems talk about
specific rooms or houses that have been lived in and the memories they once
held.
• Home Is So Sad – Both are about leaving a
home behind and the memories that are entailed with that.
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