Summary of "Aubade" by Philip Larkin
"Aubade" is a profound and somber meditation on the inescapable reality of death, written by Philip Larkin towards the end of his life. The poem begins with the speaker waking in the early hours of the morning, a time he describes as a "fearing or thinking" period where the mind is stripped of daily distractions. In this stillness, he confronts the "vast, moth-eaten musical brocade" of religion and the hollow comforts of philosophy, both of which he claims fail to provide any true solace against the certainty of non-existence. He describes death not as a grand transition or a peaceful sleep, but as a "total emptiness" and a "permanent extinction" that we move toward every single minute of our lives.
As the poem progresses, Larkin explores the psychological terror that comes with the realization that death is a "special way of being afraid" that no amount of courage can truly overcome. He argues that being brave does not actually change the outcome; it only serves to mask the fear from others. The speaker observes that we spend our lives trying to ignore this void through work and social interaction, yet it remains "a small, unfocused blur" at the edge of our vision. The poem captures the universal human struggle of acknowledging that one day the world will continue to turn, but the individual consciousness will be gone forever.
In the final movement of the poem, the sun begins to rise, but it does not bring the traditional "aubade" or morning love song. Instead, the dawn reveals a "plain far-reaching grey" world where people prepare for their mundane daily routines. The "telephones" and "postmen" symbolize the resumption of a world that operates on clockwork, indifferent to the individual’s existential dread. The speaker concludes that death stays with us like a shadow, standing just outside the light of the morning, waiting for the moment when the "work" of living finally ceases.
Summary of "Originally" by Carol Ann Duffy
"Originally" by Carol Ann Duffy is a deeply personal exploration of the trauma of childhood relocation and the fluid nature of identity. The poem starts with the physical journey of a young Duffy and her family moving from Glasgow to England, described through the metaphor of a "red room" that represents their car. This journey is characterized by a sense of loss and confusion, as the children "bawl" for their home while the speaker stares at the "blind toy" in her hands. The poem captures the feeling that childhood itself is a series of migrations, where moving from one place to another feels like a permanent loss of safety and belonging.
In the second paragraph of the poem, Duffy examines the struggle of assimilation and the "shame" of being an outsider. She describes how her brothers eventually began to fit in, their Scottish "accent-blue" voices slowly transforming into the local dialect of their new home. The speaker, however, remains acutely aware of the "sudden blindness" caused by being in an unfamiliar landscape where the "big boys eating worms" and the "shouted words" feel alien and threatening. This section highlights the psychological impact of immigration on a child, who must navigate a world where they are judged for how they speak and where they come from.
The poem concludes with a reflection on how time eventually erodes one's original sense of self. The speaker admits that she, too, eventually lost her original accent and adapted to her new surroundings, but she is left with a lingering question of "where do you come from?" She realizes that identity is not a fixed point but something that is constantly being reshaped and lost. The final lines emphasize that even if we remember our origins, we can never truly return to them because we have been changed by the journey. The summary of her experience is one of a "hesitant" identity, where the word "originally" becomes a complex and difficult question to answer.
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