Thursday 16 April 2015

Leaving Cardiff

Content: 
Abse is leaving Cardiff and is remembering the things that he loves and the things that relax him such as the sea and the docks.he cant decide whether to stay or go and until he decides his life has been put on pause.

Theme:
Abse gives a sense of change, place and belonging when describing Cardiff. It is his identity and when he leaves the poem begins to change and he starts to miss Cardiff.

Analysis:
First/Second Stanza
- 'Evening air' suggests a sense of ending for Abse.
- 'sea birds drop down to the sea' implying a sense of movement of up and down, repetition, cycle.
- 'docks derelictions' suggesting the place is empty, alliteration, ruins, isolation.
- 'black shapes' everything is unclear.
- 'the furthest star seem near' relating himself to familiar surroundings such as home.

Third Stanza
- 'my eyes, like spaces, fill' shows that he is crying but could also mean that he can't go back on the past such as his childhood.
- 'pump to my eyes and spill' him leaving is a significant move in his life, powerful

Fourth Stanza
- 'can i be the same man twice' he has to stay or go, cant live two different lives.
- in this stanza Abse starts to doubt himself and this is shown through the use of the rhetorical questions, he gives the impression that he can't be the person he wants to be if he stays in Cardiff.

Fifth Stanza
- 'Penarth unload and move on' imigary of industrialisation, suggests that Cardiff is moving on even though he is leaving and it will change further when he comes back.

Links to Larkin:
- The Whitsun Weddings - journey, leaving and moving on, Abse is alot more sentimental and emotional than Larkin.
- Dockery and Son - life choices









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