As Bad as a Mile

Themes
Irrevocable failure, disappointment, punishment, human greed, temptation, desire to return to innocence

Content
On the surface, this short poem appears to be quite light-hearted, however, it can be seen to have a more pessimistic view. The idea of a person missing the "basket" with an apple core may not seem particularly insightful but Larkin makes the image take on a deeper meaning.

Analysis

• The image of the "shied core" "skidding across the floor" after having missed the bin just barely is one that many people can relate to. It is an everyday failure that many people would place down to "luck", however, Larkin states that this shows "more and more of failure". This would seem  to suggest that faults are passed down from generation to generation but could also be implying that after so many failures in life, a person just sees life as a disappointment and blames what is purely luck upon themselves. The reader can empathise with the persona as there is that sense of frustration at being so close ("striking the basket") but yet still missing your goal.
• "Failure spreading back up the arm" could relate to failures building up and consuming a person, until they become too fearful of failing that they don't wish to try anything anymore. The word "failure" is stressed through the use of enjambment.
• Larkin laments the past,  a time when the "unraised hand" was "calm" and the persona did not know of the failure to come. Allegory is also used by Larkin in terms of the underlying story of Adam and Eve and the "apple unbitten"-the irreversible pinnacle of failure. The persona wishes to return to a time of innocence, before Adam and Eve took a bite of the forbidden apple from the Tree of Knowledge and forever corrupted the world. By eating the apple, Adam and Eve fell from innocence to awareness and thus, Larkin is suggesting that failure begins as soon as you become truly aware of the world.
• However, there is also a message concerning human greed. The persona, like Adam and Eve, wanted too much. Whilst Adam and Eve had paradise yet still wanted the one thing not allowed, the persona had already had a bite of the apple and still wanted the victory of managing to throw it into the bin. People always want more and are bound to be disappointed at some point.
• Therefore, perhaps Larkin is commenting on the fact that we can never return to innocence and that failure is irrevocable due to human greed and temptation.
• The simple rhyme scheme of AAA in the first stanza and BBB in the second stanza make the poem appear almost child-like, emphasising the desire to return to innocence or it could simply be that Larkin is laughing at the ridiculousness of his thoughts. This would seem to be further proved by the title as the failure is exaggerated. The persona only just missed but Larkin makes the failure seem massive, as though they missed by a "mile".

Links to other poems
'Water'-a child-like way of dealing with important matters
'Love Songs in Age'-desire to return to a better time
'Afternoons', 'Talking in Bed'-disappointment due to your own choices
'The Large Cool Store'-human desire to always want to be better
'Sunny Prestatyn'- humans are innately destructive-destroy the best things
'An Arundel Tomb'-the past is always remembered
'Reference Back'-past events being painful to look back on

Link:http://enorfaslitionachampain.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/as-bad-as-mile.html