At Grass by Philip Larkin pg 30

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At Grass by Philip Larkin (pg 30)
At Grass by Philip Larkin (pg 30)
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At Grass

• This is a poem about the way growing old affects
  our lives. Philip Larkin uses ex-racehorses to
  show this. We begin with a peaceful scene where
  horses graze in a field before a much more
  vibrant, alive series of flashbacks which
  portrays the horses in their prime as winning
  racehorses. I see the poem as a sad vision of
  old age. The horses represent people too as we
  grow old we become lonelier and more anonymous
  the glories of our past are forgotten about.

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Subject and Themes

• Old age
• Loneliness
• Memories
• Loss of the British Empire?

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the title is a phrase which means to have retired
when you give up work in old age you are said
to be at grass
At Grass
the horses it is a struggle to see them until
the wind moves their tails or manes they are
alone and anonymous
The eye can hardly pick them out From the cold
shade they shelter in, Till wind distresses tail
and mane Then one crops grass, and moves about
- The other seeming to look on - And stands
anonymous again
distresses meaning moves, upsets a harsh
verb which may suggest discomfort
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yet drive word - changes mood and setting.
Larkin takes us back to the horses glory days.
perhaps the narrator is unsure of when
exactly the inclusion of this word shows us the
horses racing days have been lost in memory
Yet fifteen years ago, perhaps Two dozen
distances sufficed To fable them faint
afternoons Of Cups and Stakes and Handicaps,
Whereby their names were artificed To inlay
faded, classic Junes -
sufficed means were sufficient, enough. The
horses may have only needed to run two dozen
races to make them famous.
list of three different types of horse racing
competitions
artificed to inlay faded artificed means
printed, inlay meaning the silks on the horses
backs. Their names were printed on the silks
they wore on their backs when racing.
fable to recognise them as important
classic Junes June is the month when the big
races take place (the derby, Ascot etc.)
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sibilance s sound could represent the buzz of
the crowds before a race silks the jockeys
wear silks during a race
numbers the betting that takes place in the
stands parasols the big umbrellas shielding
spectators from the sun
Silks at the start against the sky Numbers and
parasols outside, Squadrons of empty cars, and
heat, And littered grass then the long cry
Hanging unhushed till it subside To stop-press
columns on the street.
squadrons term associated with the army
metaphor suggests everything is well organised
and large in number
This stanza and the one before it shows us what a
typical horse race meeting is like. It is
written with a really fast-pace without stops
(only colons and commas are used for brief
pauses). It contrasts with the slow peaceful
setting at the start.
the screams and cheering of the crowd hangs in
the air unhushed during the race. It then
fades (subsides) and the results are printed in
the stop-press columns in newspapers
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rhetorical question brings us back to the
present simile the memories of the past are
imagine to get in the way like flies do
personification the horses answer the question
the poet asks it is as if they are listening to
him. The horses are no longer aware of their
past (unlike humans)
Do memories plague their ears like flies? They
shake their heads. Dusk brims the shadows.
Summer by summer all stole away, The
starting-gates, the crowd and cries - All but
the unmolesting meadows. Almanacked, their names
live they
all stole away meaning their memories are all
tucked out of mind
unmolesting meadows all that remains for the
horses is the safe meadows in which they graze.
The adjective unmolesting is interesting it
maybe implies that they were harmed in the past
and can now be content?
almanacked recorded in a book their names
live on in the records
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stand at ease another military term the
horses can now relax
their racing names have been slipped (lost or
shaken off) they are anonymous again
Have slipped their names, and stand at ease, Or
gallop for what must be joy, And not a
fieldglass sees them home, Or curious stop-watch
prophesies Only the grooms, and the groom's
boy, With bridles in the evening come.
fieldglass the horses would have been viewed
through these binoculars during the race
curious stop-watch prophesies the predictions
made by bookmakers before the race all of this
must have seemed bizarre (curious) for the horses
melancholy ending the horses are still looked
after but now only the stable hands look after
them
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Links to other poems

• The closest match is probably Old Man, Old Man
  as both poems focus on how being in the prime of
  life brings satisfaction and old age changes
  things. Warning and Mirror are also suitable
  comparisons. If you take nature as a theme then
  some of the Heaney poems would work but this is a
  much more difficult comparison to make.

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Hints and Tips

• This poem can be interpreted in two different
  ways. I see it as quite sad because the horses
  lose their fame and end up being alone and
  anonymous. But you could equally take the
  opposite view and say the horses are now truly at
  rest in their natural environment and are content
  and happy without all the fuss being made of
  them. Whichever view you have it would be good
  to mention both opinions in an exam.
• As long as you understand some of the more
  difficult words and racing terms I would suggest
  this is a good poem to write about in an exam.

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Sample Questions

• How do you think Philip Larkin intends to portray
  the horses in the poem?
• Look again at this poem and one other poem from
  that deals with the passing of time. How is this
  theme represented in each poem?