COMPARISON OF LARKIN AND ABSE

Andrew Motion – “very closely guarded, people just didn’t want to see him at home, apart from his close acquaintances”

“Sense of ambiguity in his poems” – attitude towards working class/ looks down on them – or on the other hand he could be envious and a heavy sense of regret that he didn’t live the way they lived

-Socially critical/ Envious of the working class/ Mixes rural and urban in his poems/ Pessimistic

Wilfred Owen influenced Larkin – both have a similar appreciation of the country side/ rural life

Abse - Abse has been compared to Philip Larkin, for his balanced view of life, and for his compassion.

Abse focuses on modern, daily life.

'There is no doubt that the plays greatest moments are wordless'

'The sadness which pervades the play is offest by the exhilirating power of the 'dance'

'Friel still creates language of great power and beauty, particularly in Michaels elegant monologues'

'Micheal is a storyteller drawing the auidence in and yet distancing them from the memory'

- Nesta Jones

LOVE SONGS IN AGE

TALKING IN BED

AN ARUNDEL TOMB

POSTCARD TO HIS WIFE

A SCENE FROM MARRIED LIFE

MR BLEANEY

AN ARUNDEL TOMB

DAYS

THE DEATH OF AUNT ALICE

MY COUSIN, THE SOILDER

HERE

THE WHITSON WEDDINGS

MCMXIV

DOWN THE M4

RETURN TO CARDIFF

MR BLEANEY

THE IMPORTANCE OF ELSEWHERE

DOCKERY AND SON

HOME IS SO SAD

DOWN THE M4

RED BALLOON

HOME IS SO SAD

MR BLEANEY

DOCKERY AND SON

TWO PHOTOGRAPHS

LAST VISIT TO 198 CATHEDRAL ROAD

WATER

FAITH HEALING

QUESTS

RED BALLOON

Dancing  at Lughnasa

Conservative catholic climate of 1936

New cultural influences

Invasion of Abyssinia

Spanish Civil War

Economic/ social changes

 “The combined effect is mesment and deeply moving” - Nesta Jones