The poem
Light spreads darkly downwards from the high Clusters of lights over empty chairs That face each other, coloured differently. Through open doors, the dining-room declares A larger loneliness of knives and glass And silence laid like carpet. A porter reads An unsold evening paper. Hours pass, And all the salesmen have gone back to Leeds, Leaving full ashtrays in the Conference Room.
In shoeless corridors, the lights burn. How Isolated, like a fort, it is - The headed paper, made for writing home (If home existed) letters of exile: Now Night comes on. Waves fold behind villages.
Whilst I am not looking to "share" analysis of this poem - I am rather curious as to the relevance of the line "Now night comes on, waves fold behind villages".
To me it seems a little pretentious of Larkin to present this part of the text in italics - does anyone know why he chose to do this or if there is something of interest here that I am completely missing?
Anticipatory thanks!
could it be about race with the different colour chairs and knives and glass are totally opposite so it could be a reference to race again i dunno
I believe that the fact it is in italics could be Larkin using a different perspective or even from a dreamlike state, because it has happened before and it is repetitive. Autonomous if you like.
I feel that the line in italics brings in a threatening note to the poem. It declares the arrival of 'night', with its sinister connotation of death. The image of 'waves' folding behind villages is even more ominous. Also, notice the reference to 'light' at the beginning of the poem; when you contrast this with the perfctly rhyming 'night' you begin to understand the dark idea of death. Again the waves of darkness fold behind 'villages', which I think suggests a perfectly innocent and unsupecting existence shocked by death. This explains the italics, I think!
Please email me about poems
my fav line is: i dont like criket, i love it!
i think that larkin is the greatest poet of our time it was just a coinceedencee that i ended up ijn his garden at 3 in the moring i thought it was the park
Ibba
im a door, alqways will be always have been, help me!?!? My frends rite me letters to leave the group but i will fight foor my place with my witty humour. Buts that is where im goin wrong i have no humor i could b the moest boring boi in the world. Help Help the fatt fatty jew boi pls
i am struggling with the whole friend situation, i need advice on how to make friends i got some but they all hate me
the whole poem is onabout the loneliness and isolation of this hotel, the beginning line being an oxymoron showing us that even the light cant even brighten the place up. the significance of the knives and glass being the loneliness of them, we always assosciate knives with forks and glass with drinks, the lack of these necessary things again emphasises loneliness. the people are the life of this hotel when they leave so does the life. the lines in italics are in reference to the fact we have a beautiful sight of waves but they are situated behind the villages as if the beaury is hidden away, the beauty of this hotel isnt noticed as it has itself been left alone and isolated.
the last line to me carries the idea of loss of homeland, in the way it talks of night coming on, ths can be interpreted as the hardship faced by immigrants to the country. The word 'villages' makes me think of the villages wiped out by tsunamis and that made me think of immigrants. The way the hotel is presented, as dark, forboding maybe reflects the feelings of new arrivals to the country.
It also kind of reminds me of limbo and the underworld. i dunno probably crap but hey.
the last line could symbolise what has been written on a 'letter of exile' by previous travellers who have stopped at 'The Royal Station Hotel' and travellers tend to note down things like waves, etc. Maybe? Let me know - e-mail me your thoughts?? xx