Toads Revisited

Themes:
Work life and boredom.

Content
'Toads Revisited' is a follow-up poem to 'Toads' (published in 1954), which depicts work as a trap that a person needs courage to leave behind. In comparison, the second poem offers a more mature approach and comments that life would be tedious and miserable if one had nothing to do and did not work.
 
Analysis

• "Toads" are repulsive and unpleasant creatures which are an analogy/ metaphor for work and its poisonous influence on life. In the original poem, these creatures "squat" on the life of the persona, suggesting that they took up residence where they were not wanted and a toad also existed inside the persona-a fatal character flaw (fear) that prevented them from leaving work.
• 'Toads Revisited' starts with the speaker "walking around in the park" on what is supposedly a day off work. To the persona, this "should" be a restful and joyous time, however, the word "should" implies that that is not the reality of the situation. Whilst the " lake" and "sunshine" are serene examples of nature and the other outside noises are simply "blurred" so as not to intrude on the speaker's peace, "it doesn't suit" them. The surroundings are not "bad" but are also not interesting enough to warrant vast amounts of time spent there.
• The poem then goes on to describe the men that the persona would hate to be- the men that "you meet of an afternoon" who are all the same with nothing to do:

- "palsied old step takers"- the elderly/infirm with twitches who are drawing close to death.
-"hare-eyed clerks with the jitters"-terrified clerks on the verge of a nervous breakdown, perhaps due to the sudden freedom or the pressures of work.
-"waxed-flesh out patients"-sickly-looking patients who have been released from the hospital for a time
"characters in long coats deep in the litter baskets"- the homeless of the area, desperately searching for food without a way to earn money to buy it.

• Larkin describes each of these groups of men as "dodging" work-purposefully making no contribution to society. However, this disdain and view of them as "stupid" and "weak" is both snobbish and ironic as the people have a valid reason for being unemployed as each are closer to death than the persona. Whilst they live their lives watching events and people pass by ("the children going home"), this is because there is no other alternative for them. Some are too ill to work or have no way through which to find a job.
• The line "think of being them" is repeated to emphasise the incredulity and disgust of the persona in regards to the people they have seen. The condescending tone suggests repulsion and horror at the thought of becoming one of these men, thus contrasting to 'Toads', in which the persona envies those not having to work.
• The groups of men are then highlighted as having "failures"(being useless and unable to do anything) and having "nowhere to go". The men appear lost and miserable without a purpose/activity to occupy their time and in the case of this poem, the fear is of having no work to do and feeling unneeded.
• The epiphany of the poem comes towards the end when the speaker comments "give me my in-tray" and "loaf-haired secretary". This is comical in relation to the fashion of the time but also contradicts many of Larkin's other poems within this collection as for once, the persona doesn't want to be alone in nature. A job, is it suggested, fills your life with a purpose and human interaction. The grass isn't greener on the other side.
• As the year comes to a close, the last two lines imply that ultimately though, work is a death sentence. The toad work gives the persona an "arm" down "Cemetery Road" and helps them along to death, pushing them quickly in that direction. On the other hand, it could be implying that work helps brighten your life until death and makes it bearable as work is better than the alternative and keeps your mind away from the grim thoughts of death that stroll in the park. Everyone is heading one way but doesn't need to be reminded of it all the time.
• In terms of the rhyme within the poem, eye-rhymes appear to give a sense of disconnection from the rest of the world whilst also serving to highlight those lines where full-rhymes appear, such as the last two lines of the poem.
• Pathetic fallacy of the "sun by clouds covered" also underlines that a life without work is a life without excitement or light.

Links to other poems
The Whitsun Weddings- social conventions e.g. to work, to marry
Afternoons-looking down on those not working
Here-mocking those of a lower class

Academic links: http://www.allinfo.org.uk/levelup/toadsrevisited.htm