ambulances by larkin
‘Ambulances’ by Philip Larkin
Philip Larkin’s ‘Ambulances’ is a poem that describes the literal journey of an ambulance that also takes on an increasingly sinister metaphorical value. The ambulance weaves through the busy afternoon streets, demanding the attention of passers-by while forcing the reader to acknowledge the ambulance’s symbolic significance as a reminder of our own mortality. By close examination of the ambulance and its literal movement it is possible to gain a greater understanding of how the ambulance serves as a metaphor of death and the idea that it is ubiquitous; it is indiscriminate; it is inevitable.
In the first stanza, Larkin immediately makes clear the ambulance’s symbolic substance with the description of the ambulance and its literal movement through the city. The alliterative simile, ‘Closed like confessionals’ suggests the ambulance, like a confessional is a small, confined, claustrophobic place of a secretive nature where people seek forgiveness with the fear of death. This comparison helps the reader understand that death is something that we all face alone. The randomness of death is suggested by the way the ambulance comes ‘to rest at any kerb’ while the inevitability of death is expressed by how ‘All streets in time are visited’ by the ambulance. These last two lines are particularly ominous with the suggestion that death will come to us all at any time; the only uncertainty is when. This opening stanza introduces the literally cramped ambulance and it’s movement through a city, however it is already clear that this ambulance serves as a metaphor.
Larkin develops the evocation of the ambulance’s movement through the description of the patient and the use of stark contrast between polar opposites while continuing the sinister symbolic aspect of the ambulance. The ordinariness of an everyday scene: ‘children strewn on steps’ and ‘women coming from the shops’ is juxtaposed with the horror of it’s opposite – death – as a
Philip Larkin’s ‘Ambulances’ is a poem that describes the literal journey of an ambulance that also takes on an increasingly sinister metaphorical value. The ambulance weaves through the busy afternoon streets, demanding the attention of passers-by while forcing the reader to acknowledge the ambulance’s symbolic significance as a reminder of our own mortality. By close examination of the ambulance and its literal movement it is possible to gain a greater understanding of how the ambulance serves as a metaphor of death and the idea that it is ubiquitous; it is indiscriminate; it is inevitable.
In the first stanza, Larkin immediately makes clear the ambulance’s symbolic substance with the description of the ambulance and its literal movement through the city. The alliterative simile, ‘Closed like confessionals’ suggests the ambulance, like a confessional is a small, confined, claustrophobic place of a secretive nature where people seek forgiveness with the fear of death. This comparison helps the reader understand that death is something that we all face alone. The randomness of death is suggested by the way the ambulance comes ‘to rest at any kerb’ while the inevitability of death is expressed by how ‘All streets in time are visited’ by the ambulance. These last two lines are particularly ominous with the suggestion that death will come to us all at any time; the only uncertainty is when. This opening stanza introduces the literally cramped ambulance and it’s movement through a city, however it is already clear that this ambulance serves as a metaphor.
Larkin develops the evocation of the ambulance’s movement through the description of the patient and the use of stark contrast between polar opposites while continuing the sinister symbolic aspect of the ambulance. The ordinariness of an everyday scene: ‘children strewn on steps’ and ‘women coming from the shops’ is juxtaposed with the horror of it’s opposite – death – as a