General Introduction
Ambulances is a poem written by Philip Larkin in 1961. The poem was published in Larkin's third poetic release, The Whitsun Weddings in 1964. As is obvious from the title, the poem carries the fear of death in it and how humans deal with it. The poem is also said to have been written in response to the severe illness of his friend Monica Jones. She was shifted to his home so that he may take care of her. Later, he himself grew the symptoms of oesophageal cancer and he died with the severe pain.
Development of Situation
The poem opens on an ambulance, going through different routes of the city. The streets on which the ambulance runs are busy. It passes through the children scattered here and there; of ladies "coming out of shops" and then the dead body is placed in the ambulance. The door of the ambulance is shut and the dead body is on its way to be buried in a graveyard. The speaker asserts that everything, from "families and fashions" to "the unique random blend" shall come to an end because it "dulls to distance all we are".
Themes
The prominent theme of this poem is the death and mortality of humanity. Larkin wrote this poem after he himself saw the grazing casualties caused by the Second World War. The horror of nuclear explosions had shattered the romances of bravery, honour and courage associated with the war. All they saw was death and ambulances.
Although the theme of death is vividly present at the core of this poem, Larkin gives some living pictures of life on the way of an ambulance, approaching for the dead. The living and playing children as well as the ladies coming out of the shopping malls do not seem to notice an ambulance crossing nearby. But Larkin indirectly states that those who are not taking a notice of the ambulance should keep in mind that one day, the same ambulance might be at their doorstep.
Figurative Analysis
Therr was no online source that helped me in finding different literary devices used in this poem. Therefore, I am trying myself to find a few. If some are wrongly traced, kindly let me know.
Larkin has used many literary devices to amplify the symbolic meaning of this poem. Ambulance, has been used both as a metaphor and as a symbol of death. While the symbols of the children and ladies coming out of shops are symbolic of life (awaiting death). While the "Wild White Face" is a metaphor used for the dead body. The simile occurs when the ambulance workers are compared with "confessionals"b through the use of the word 'like'.
Setting and Imagery
The poem takes place in an ambulance, crossing few streets. The images of this poem give a morbid picture of death as a universal force, working for the end. The images used in this poem may include like, "Loud noons of cities", "All streets in time are visited", "women coming from the shops", and "it is carried in and stowed".
Structural Analysis
'Ambulences' is composed of 30 lines. The poem is further divided into five stanzas of six lines each, thus making a set of five sestets. A sestet is a stanza of six lines. The poem follows no particular rhyme scheme or rhythmic pattern. Therefore, it is a blank verse. While the diction of this poem is formal.
Conclusion
Ambulances by Larkin compellingly conveys the monarchy of death over every temporal victory inside this temporal world.
