3. What is the poem about?
• Larkin
writes
about
the
Jazz
composer
Sidney
Bechet
who
he
was
a
big
fan
of.
• In
the
poem
New
Orleans
(birth
place
of
jazz)
is
described,
filled
with
happy
people
and
music.
• There
is
a
posiPve
reflecPon
of
memories,
reminded
by
music,
about
love
and
happy
Pmes.
4. The Structure
• Larkin
makes
the
poem
have
a
jazz
beat,
and
the
rhyme
scheme
and
stanza
scheme
is
unusual
and
unexpected
like
a
jazz
song.
• The
poem
is
an
apostrophe
because
Larkin
talks
to
someone
as
though
they
were
present.
5. The First Stanza
• In
the
first
stanza
the
music
is
described
with
the
‘shakes
like
New
Orleans
reflect
in
the
water’.
This
simile
is
split
over
two
lines,
the
word
‘shakes’
put
at
the
end
to
ripple
onto
the
next
line.
There
is
a
theme
of
water
in
this
stanza.
• The
poem
is
set
up
as
a
cause
and
effect,
how
the
music
causes
people
to
imagine
different
places.
6. The Second Stanza
• The
first
scenario
of
love
and
beauty
is
described
in
the
second
stanza.
• ‘Balconies,
flower-‐baskets
and
quadrilles’
are
romanPc
and
pre"y
features.
A
quadrille
is
a
square
dance
for
couples.
• Everyone
is
‘making
love’
and
‘going
shares’
which
means
taking
it
easy.
This
is
a
calm,
relaxed
and
fun
atmosphere.
7. The Third Stanza
• The
third
stanza
is
about
the
darker
side
of
New
Orleans.
‘Storyville’
is
the
red-‐light
district.
• Larkin
describes
the
‘sporPng-‐house
girls’
(prosPtutes)
as
‘like
circus
Pgers’.
Larkin
places
women
in
a
negaPve,
degrading
view
that’s
quite
sexist.
He
compares
the
‘girls’
as
animals,
however
they
are
tamed
because
they
are
being
controlled.
Before
this
the
‘Pgers’
were
wild
and
dangerous.
• Larkin
refers
to
the
bible
that
states
‘who
can
find
a
virtuous
woman?
For
her
price
is
far
above
rubies’.
• If
women
were
priced
above
rubies
this
could
mean
that
they
were
expensive.
8. The Fourth Stanza
• In
this
stanza
Larkin
describes
the
wannabes,
that
sit
in
the
audience.
‘Manques’
are
would-‐be
scholars.
The
word
also
meaning
‘to
lack’
in
French,
the
scholars
unfulfilled
of
their
dreams.
• Larkin
uses
a
simile
‘like
old
plaids’
to
describe
the
audience.
Plaids
could
mean
they
are
interwoven
and
engrossed
into
the
music
as
its
close
to
them.
9. The Fifth Stanza
• This
stanza
describes
how
music
affects
Larkin
himself.
He
uses
the
pronouns
‘me’
and
‘’my’.
• The
music
makes
him
feel
the
way
love
is
said
to
make
people
feel.
However
this
could
be
a
paradox
because
he
thinks
he
loves
music,
but
doesn’t
know
because
he’s
never
loved.
• ‘Like
an
enormous
yes’
is
a
caesura,
this
making
an
emphasise
on
Larkin’s
posiPve
view.
10. The Sixth Stanza
• Larkin
says
that
music
understands
him,
and
speaks
to
him
like
a
person;
it
is
the
‘natural
noise
of
good’.
• ‘Long-‐haired
grief
and
scored
pity’,
implies
that
when
Larkin
listens
to
music
he
forgets
his
problems.
This
relates
to
the
African
Americans,
how
jazz
music
was
based
on
their
music
and
‘scored
pity’
is
a
pun
on
a
musical
score,
referring
to
the
pity
felt
when
listening
to
this
genre.
11. Comparison – Love Songs In Age
• Larkin
wrote
the
poem
about
an
elderly
widow
who
finds
the
sheet
music
of
some
songs
she
used
to
play
when
she
was
young,
and
the
cello
plays
a
version
of
Bechet’s
blues
as
a
nostalgic
song
making
her
relive
memories.
• Both
poems
are
about
music
and
how
they
relate
to
memories
and
love.
12. Comparison – An Arundel Tomb
• In
this
poem
Larkin
has
a
posiPve
view
on
love
and
life,
with
a
happier
a^tude
compared
to
his
usual
themes.
• Love
lasts
through
Pme,
whether
this
be
as
a
sculptural
tomb
or
in
the
form
of
music.
