For Sidney Bechet

Themes
Water, music and love- how all of these are intertwined and envisioned.


Content and Analysis

• The poem was written about the famous Jazz composer Sidney Bechet, whom Larkin was a big fan of. Larkin actually worked as a jazz critic for The Times from 1961- 71 and greatly admired the effect that music could have on people.
• The backdrop for the poem is New Orleans (the birth place of jazz) and there is a positive reflection on memories.
• The poem is designed to have a jazz beat with an unusual rhyme scheme. The word "shakes" is placed at the end of the first line so as to stretch it out onto the next line. It is almost like a ripple on water.
• "Like New Orleans reflected on the water" is a beautiful simile which presents the idea that music flows like water- "narrowing and rising". It adheres only to its own flow and rhythm.
• "Appropriate falsehood wakes" in the ears of all those that listen as they get lost in the music and drift off into various day-dreams. Music is a form of advertisement and therefore Larkin is perhaps suggesting that this also is a "falsehood" and is only present for a time before leaving you in the real world again.
• The poem operates on a system of cause and effect-the music causes people to imagine different scenarios. This may be the "legendary" French Quarter of New Orleans with its "balconies" and "flower-baskets" or the seedy underside. The second stanza focuses around "making love" and the romance that music can bring. There is a calm, relaxed atmosphere with music acting as a balm-soothing. As shown through the exclamation mark, people shout their appreciation of the music and are lifted up by it.
• The poem then goes on to describe Storyville- the rough red-light district of New Orleans. The sounds of this area are muted by the sound of jazz music and  people group "around their chairs" just to listen to it. The government gave "license" for this area to engage in prostitution so as to limit prostitution to one area. The "sporting-house" girls are prostitutes who are likened to "circus tigers" (simile). They are still exotic and wild but are now tamed by the government (degrading view) and are under control-misogynistic. Yet they are still "priced far above rubies"-an offhand comment which refers to the Bible passage stating: "Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies." Larkin is mocking these women and the job they do.
• Moving into the fourth stanza, the would-be scholars ("manqués) start to be described. These people have unfulfilled dreams and are passionate about music to make up for their lack of ability. The simile "like old plaids" is used to describe the audience and their anonymity or the fact that they are engrossed/interwoven into the music.
• Unusually for a Larkin poem, the poem appears to be optimistic as Larkin describes his own connection to music, using the personal pronouns "my" and "me". He reacts to music as he believes others react when in "love", however, as he has not loved, he would not know. The caesura after "like an enormous yes" emphasises his love of music and the sense of affirmation it brings- everything is right in the world. "Crescent City" refers to New Orleans, which is the only place where Bechet's "speech" is understood fully.
• The last two lines are more abstract, with music being the "natural noise of good" and understanding Larkin. "Long-haired grief" and "scored pity" are scattered around as the African American jazz music was notoriously sombre yet by spreading this grief, it appears that it is dispelled and people forget their problems. "Scored pity" is a pun on a musical score and refers to the pity we feel when listening to Sidney Bechet's work- the African Americans led tough lives.
• The constant references to music (e.g."note","falls") give the poem a melodious quality and make people read it as though it were a song.

Links to other poems
'Love Songs in Age'- nostalgia, music and its relation to love and memories-contrast of love fading and music surviving but love remembered in music.
'An Arundel Tomb'- positive view on love and life, love lasting as a form of art e.g. sculptural
'Essential Beauty'- advertisements which seem to offer a better life but never last or cannot achieve what they promised. When the music stops, you are slammed back into reality-temporary diversion.
'Broadcast'- love connected with music-intertwined
'First Sight'- optimism of life, better things to come

Links: http://www.slideshare.net/amieeg/for-sidney-bechet, http://easylitnotes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/analysis-of-philip-larkins-for-sidney.htm

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