Activity C Activity E Activity F Activity D Activity B Afternoons by Philip Larkin Philip Larkin was born in 1922 and died in 1985 The poem describes a particular kind of way of life in 1960s Britain How would you describe this way of life ID: 659715
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Slide1
Choose a
task
Activity A
Activity C
Activity E
Activity F
Activity D
Activity B
Afternoons
–
by
Philip Larkin – Slide2
Philip Larkin was born in 1922 and died in 1985. The poem describes a particular kind of way of life in 1960s Britain. How would you describe this way of life?
Activity A
Menu
Click
to highlight
words in red
.
What do these details show about the kind of family life described in the poem?
How do these details set the poem in its context?
Afternoons
–
by
Philip Larkin –
Summer
is fading:
The leaves fall in ones and twos
From the trees bordering
The new recreation ground.
In the hollows of afternoons
Young mothers assemble
At swing and sandpit
Setting free their children.
1
Behind them, at intervals,
Stand husbands in skilled trades,
An estateful of washing,
And the albums, lettered
Our Wedding
, lying
Near the television:
Before them, the wind
Is ruining their courting-places
1That are still courting-places(But the lovers are all in school),And their children, so intent onFinding more unripe acorns,Expect to be taken home.Their beauty has thickened.Something is pushing themTo the side of their own lives.
Summer
is fading:
The leaves fall in ones and twos
From the trees bordering
The
new recreation ground
.
In the hollows of afternoons
Young mothers assemble
At swing and sandpit
Setting free their children.
1
Behind them, at intervals,
Stand
husbands in skilled trades
,
An
estateful of washing
,
And the albums, lettered
Our Wedding
, lying
Near the television:
Before them, the wind
Is ruining their courting-places
1
That are still courting-places
(But the lovers are all in school),
And their children, so intent on
Finding more unripe acorns,
Expect to be taken home.
Their beauty has thickened.
Something is pushing them
To the side of their own lives.Slide3
Whose lives are being described here? How do you react to the way these lives are depicted?
Activity
B
Menu
Click
to highlight
words in red
.
Look at the pronouns used in the poem.
Who are the ‘they’ described here?
Afternoons
–
by
Philip Larkin –
Summer
is fading:
The leaves fall in ones and twos
From the trees bordering
The new recreation ground.
In the hollows of afternoons
Young mothers assemble
At swing and sandpit
Setting free their children.
1
Behind them, at intervals,
Stand husbands in skilled trades,
An estateful of washing,
And the albums, lettered
Our Wedding
, lying
Near the television:
Before them, the wind
Is ruining their courting-places 1That are still courting-places(But the lovers are all in school),And their children, so intent onFinding more unripe acorns,Expect to be taken home.Their beauty has thickened.Something is pushing them
To the side of their own lives.
Summer
is fading:
The leaves fall in ones and twos
From the trees bordering
The new recreation ground.
In the hollows of afternoons
Young mothers assemble
At swing and sandpit
Setting free
their
children.
1
Behind
them
, at intervals,
Stand husbands in skilled trades,
An estateful of washing,
And the albums, lettered
Our Wedding
, lying
Near the television:
Before
them
, the wind
Is ruining
their
courting-places
1
That are still courting-places
(But the lovers are all in school),
And
their
children, so intent on
Finding more unripe acorns,
Expect to be taken home.
Their
beauty has thickened.
Something is pushing them
To the side of
their
own lives.Slide4
How is the poem constructed? What kind of impression is created of these people as the image of them develops?
Activity C
Menu
Click
to highlight
words in red
.
Why does the poet use these phrases to structure the poem?
Afternoons
–
by
Philip Larkin –
Summer
is fading:
The leaves fall in ones and twos
From the trees bordering
The new recreation ground.
In the hollows of afternoons
Young mothers assemble
At swing and sandpit
Setting free their children.
1
Behind them, at intervals,
Stand husbands in skilled trades,
An estateful of washing,
And the albums, lettered
Our Wedding
, lying
Near the television:
Before them, the wind
Is ruining their courting-places
1That are still courting-places(But the lovers are all in school),And their children, so intent onFinding more unripe acorns,Expect to be taken home.Their beauty has thickened.Something is pushing themTo the side of their own lives.Summer is fading:The leaves fall in ones and twosFrom the trees borderingThe new recreation ground.In the hollows of afternoonsYoung mothers assembleAt swing and sandpitSetting free their children. 1Behind them
, at intervals,
Stand husbands in skilled trades,
An estateful of washing,
And the albums, lettered
Our Wedding
, lying
Near the television
:
Before them
, the wind
Is ruining their courting-places
1
That are still courting-places
(But the lovers are all in school),
And their children, so intent on
Finding more unripe acorns,
Expect to be taken home.
Their beauty has thickened.
Something is pushing them
To the side of their own lives.Slide5
How does the poet use imagery to set the scene in the first stanza?
Activity
D
Menu
Click
to highlight
words in red
.
How do you react to Larkin’s use of imagery here?
Look at the way the time of
year
and the time of day are described here.
What kind of effects does the poet create?
Afternoons
–
by
Philip Larkin –
Summer
is fading:
The leaves fall in ones and twos
From the trees bordering
The new recreation ground.
In the hollows of afternoons
Young mothers assemble
At swing and sandpit
Setting free their children.
1
Behind them, at intervals,
Stand husbands in skilled trades,
An estateful of washing,
And the albums, lettered
Our Wedding
, lyingNear the television:Before them, the wind Is ruining their courting-places 1That are still courting-places(But the lovers are all in school),And their children, so intent onFinding more unripe acorns,Expect to be taken home.
Their beauty has thickened.
Something is pushing them
To the side of their own lives.
Summer
is fading:
The leaves fall in ones and twos
From the trees bordering
The new recreation ground.
In the hollows of afternoons
Young mothers assemble
At swing and sandpit
Setting free their children
.
1Slide6
What do you think is the poet’s attitude to the people he describes here? What evidence can you give for your ideas?
Activity E
Menu
Look at the highlighted phrase. Why do you think the poet has used it?
What do you think of the image of the wind in the last two lines and how would you interpret it?
Afternoons
–
by
Philip Larkin –
Summer
is fading:
The leaves fall in ones and twos
From the trees bordering
The new recreation ground.
In the hollows of afternoons
Young mothers assemble
At swing and sandpit
Setting free their children
.
1
Behind them,
at intervals
,
Stand husbands in skilled trades,
An estateful of washing,
And the albums, lettered
Our Wedding
, lying
Near the television:
Before them, the wind
Is ruining their courting-places
1That are still courting-places(But the lovers are all in school),
And their children, so intent onFinding more unripe acorns,Expect to be taken home.Their beauty has thickened.Something is pushing themTo the side of their own lives.Slide7
What final impressions of suburban life does Larkin create in the last stanza? How does he evoke these impressions?
Activity
F
Menu
The enjambement used from one stanza to the next here is the only example in the poem. What effect is created?
How would you interpret the image used in the last two lines?
Afternoons
–
by
Philip Larkin –
Summer
is fading:
The leaves fall in ones and twos
From the trees bordering
The new recreation ground.
In the hollows of afternoons
Young mothers assemble
At swing and sandpit
Setting free their children
.
1
Behind them, at intervals,
Stand husbands in skilled trades,
An estateful of washing,
And the albums, lettered
Our Wedding, lying
Near the television:
Before them, the wind
Is ruining their courting-places
1
That are still courting-places(But the lovers are all in school),And their children, so intent onFinding more unripe acorns,Expect to be taken home.Their beauty has thickened.Something is pushing themTo the side of their own lives.