This is a poem that never spells out its subject but merely hints at it, the title for instance is nondescript and leaves the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. The imagery within the poem suggests that "The Building" is in fact a hospital. The "close ribbed streets" that "rise and fall" represent the chest of a man as he breathes. From the reading that this is in fact a hospital one may then logically conceive that "what keep drawing up/ At the entrance are not taxis" must therefore be ambulances.
             The opening line of the poem is Larkin giving his opinion of the status of the hospital "Higher than the handsomest hotel", his opinion being that the hospital may not look like much but it serves a noble purpose and buildings such as hotels are inferior in this way. Also this can be read to say that the hospital dominates the skyline and is a landmark, "The lucent comb shows up for miles".
             This is a place were people come and wait to be seen, this is the subject of both the second and third stanzas, this is the main activity that appears to go on in the building. "Like an airport lounge", "tea at so much a cup" minor details that are important in the monotony of waiting. The people that are waiting are "caught/ on ground strangely neutral" this enjambement is form and meaning coming together as the sentence itself is caught between two lines.
             The atmosphere in the hospital is odd, the patients are described as "Here to confess that something has gone wrong" , the mood is conjured by the uneasy description of the waiting room , when someone is sent to see a doctor " the rest refit/ cups back to saucers, cough, or glance below seats". These people are ashamed to admit that they are ill yet the hospital is caring and "Every few minutes comes a kind nurse".
             This poem is Larkin summing...