Afternoons

Themes:
The passage of time, marriage and families, social class.

Content
The poem is based around Larkin's view of young mothers watching their children at the playground and how their lives have changed since having children.

Theme analysis
The passage of time

• As the title suggests, the poem highlights the inevitability of change and the erosion of memories as afternoons signal the day drawing to a close- not yet old but no longer young, in a state of decline.
• The poem connects the idea of seasons with the passage of time through pathetic fallacy. "Summer is fading" and with it, beauty and vibrancy are disappearing. The emotive verb "fading" connotes the feeling of loss whilst also linking to the youth of the mothers beginning to wither.
• Much of the imagery is centred around decline ("the leaves fall", the "hollows of the afternoon"), however, this is compared to the "new recreation ground" and "unripe acorns" which highlight the contrast between the two. "Hollows" suggest an emptiness that is present in all afternoons.
• Pathetic fallacy and personification also appear with the statement "the wind is ruining their courting-places"- past memories of love are being blown away by a physical presence, symbolising destruction and removal, with wind offering a chilling shock that wakes people up to reality.
• The mothers themselves have faded into the past in the respect that the "lovers are all in school" now, suggesting that love is something immature and not an adult notion. The younger generation have taken over the mantle of love.
• Many of the verbs end in "ing", hinting at change creeping over the mothers.

Marriage and families

• Inevitably, Larkin suggests, marriage leads to motherhood  and loss of identity as the "young mothers" live a regimented life with little time for pleasure of their own. The fact that they "assemble" has formal connotations which present it as routine but also as an important event- the only time the mothers can gossip with one another instead of looking after their children.
• The alliteration of "swing and sandpit" emphasises the dull repetition of their lives.
• "An estateful of washing" (neologism-made-up word) constitutes life for the mothers-unpleasant and not enriching. The household chores are their only work, aside from looking after their children and their relationship has changed and been neglected like the places where they dated.
• The marriage videos are now "lying" discarded, with "lying" perhaps having a double meaning. A lie of love and happiness or just that marriage has been pushed aside and reduced?
• Larkin appears somewhat sympathetic in the last two lines, commenting that "someone is pushing them to the side of their own lives"- the mothers are just spectators in their own lives, the children are the main stars. These women are no longer so important as their lives have been superseded by their children at so young an age. They live only to serve their children, as these children "expect"- a command which traps the women.
• Ultimately, this family life leads to the passing of youth as shown in the metaphor, "their beauty has thickened". This may imply signs of age or also pregnancy if the children haven't been born so long back.

Social Class

• The women of this poem are working-class. Larkin seems to suggest that getting pregnant young and whiling away the hours looking after children is typical of working-class women.-patronising.
• The children themselves are depicted as tyrants and animals who are set "free" to wreak havoc at the park. They are unrefined and wild, though the mothers also want to escape their entrapment like their children can sometimes.
• In terms of the fathers, these rarely get involved with domestic events and simply "stand" by, however, Larkin paints them at least in a better light by saying that they are "skilled"- they have a profession and trade (misogynistic)

Their is no rhyme within the poem, perhaps because Larkin wants to deliver a clear and simple message.

Connections with other texts

Self's The Man- the restrictions of marriage ( reversed for gender)
Dockery and Son- family life and its identification of change
The Whitsun Weddings- the mockery that is marriage
Take One Home For the Kiddies- children as controlling nuisances
Talking In Bed- breakdown of relationships

Academic links:http://www.philiplarkin.com/afternoons/