Subjects:
Imagery brings out the unjustified hatred each man showed towards each other during war, “And staring face to face, I shot at him as he at me” (line 6-7).
The idea that a man would buy a twenty-dollar drink for a man he does not know symbolizes how the man imagines the possibility of a friendship, “You’d treat if met where any bar is, Or help to a half-a-crown” (line 19-20).
Personification is used as the man associates certain characteristics to war that show how war makes no sense, “Yes; quaint and curious war is” (line 17)!
A sad tone is developed through the story as the author takes a look at the power that war has on humans. Sadly we can see how this man turns cold-hearted as he justifies his killing with the only reason that he can come up with, “I shot him dead because- Because he was my foe. Just so: my foe or course he was” (line 10-11). It is sad to see that war can
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Repetition is used to express how much the boy hated his planned conception and to express how thankful he was for his mother, “conceived in heat, in haste, by mistake, in love, in sex”(line 7-8) and “not the moon, the sun, Orion cartwheeling across the dark, not the earth, the sea” (line 19-21).
A metaphor is used to show how we wait for the future as we are on the verge of seeing whether our promises are filled and if we succeed, “Sparkling armada of promises draw near” (line 6). Both these examples give support to the theme and show how we should put more time into living in the present rather than living in the future.
Allusion is used to describe the ending of one era and the chaotic transition into the beginning of another era because this is what the Second Coming is, “Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand” (line 9-10).
“The world that was not enough for her without me in it” (line 18). Yet it is just that we are so concentrated on the future and anticipating the promises coming that it stirs up our emotions unnecessarily, “How slow they are! And how much time they waste, Refusing to make haste!” (line 7-8).
In “Next Please,” Philip Larkin expresses how we should take advantage of the present, instead of waiting and anticipating the future. “No sooner present than it turns to past. This shows how the current world is beginning to change into a new state as the world begins to fall apart. The author uses sound to stresses different supporting details of the poem.
The boat stopping and unloading symbolizes our hope to succeed in fulfilling certain promises,” We think each one will heave to and unload All good into our lives” (line 17-18). The future isn’t something to wait for since it usually doesn’t stop for you, “Arching our way, it never anchor’s” (line 14).
Essay's Topics
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