The Death of Aunt Alice

The 6th of my students' offerings:

 

Commentary on ‘The Death of Aunt Alice’ by Dannie Abse

The poem is triggered by the speaker thinking about “Aunt Alice’s funeral” and then goes on to talk about his peculiar memories of her and how her funeral didn’t reflect how she lived as it was “orderly” where as she catastrophised everything, perhaps to make her life more exciting.

Aunt Alice “relished high catastrophe” and made herself stand out from others, however at her funeral they were all “dressed in black”, this could suggest that no matter how different we are in life, we all amount to the same thing – death.

A link to Larkin is ‘For Sidney Bechet’, as this was a poem devoted to a jazz musician that died and ‘The Death of Aunt Alice’ is devoted to the speaker’s aunt. Despite this similarity, Abse has written his poem in a much more personal manner, as he described actual memories with her whereas Larkin was more distant with his emotions. Also, Larkin’s poem ‘Nothing To Be Said’ links to the theme of death being inevitable, like how it is described in Abse’s poem. However, the way the inevitability of death is described is much more light-hearted in Abse’s poem.

 Martyrdoms – someone that is willing to die for a cause

Admonitions – firm warning or reprimand

Typhoid – infectious bacterial fever

A Scene from Married Life

The third of poems studied yesterday:

 

Vocabulary

Daps- plimsolls (dialect word from West Country and Wales)
Tusker Rock- A rock in the Bristol channel named after a Viking
Psychopomps – Angel-like creatures who have the job of escorting newly deceased souls to where they need to go.

 

1)    The poem is set in Ogmore

2)    A couple fight throughout this poem but then, towards the end, they agree to stop arguing but they are soon fighting afterwards (suggested by “and then…”

3)    Abse never actually states that the persona is fighting – he uses words like “squabble” and “squirm”. The situation is developed through the use of imagery and metaphors to add more detail about feelings and the situation as time goes on.

4)    The title suggests that it is about a couple who are at a difficult time in their marriage. They feel trapped and try to keep control of the situation. The poem shows what marriage could be like and might act as a warning to those who might get married.

5)    It is structured into stanzas and ‘stages’ in the argument. The structure reflects the stages in the fight and the same amount of lines in each stanza might suggest that it is normal to fight and there is a sense of repetitiveness.

6)    Abse uses metaphors, imagery and is always comparing the situation with other things such as vengeance of the worm or the Cold War. This shows a use of hyperbole.

Links to Larkin Poems
This poem could be linked to ‘Wild Oats’ as Larkin also talks about a relationship.

However it differs from this poem because we are connected with Abse’s poems and because his poem describes a real marriage with a real woman we get a better insight into the relationship.