Philip Larkin - Toads - Analysis. Poetry Lecture by Dr. Andrew Barker 

Ng SHeung Huen Barron In Larkin's two poems, "Toads" and "Toads Revisited," he presents two different self-assessments that reflect his changing attitudes towards work and leisure. In "Toads," Larkin expresses a sense of resignation and dissatisfaction with his daily routine. He sees work as a necessary evil that he must endure in order to earn a living, and he resents the fact that it takes up so much of his time and energy. He describes his job as an unalterable task or unfulfilled, and he feels trapped by his responsibilities. Larkin's tone throughout the poem is bleak and pessimistic, suggesting that he has little hope for change or improvement in his life. In contrast, "Toads Revisited" takes a more hopeful and optimistic tone. Larkin has revisited the same theme of work and leisure, but this time he sees things differently. He acknowledges that work is still necessary, but he also recognizes the value of leisure time and the importance of balancing the two. He describes himself as "older, unhappier, more cautious," but also "more grateful, more amazed." Larkin seems to have gained a greater appreciation for the small pleasures in life, such as reading and nature, and he finds solace in them. Larkin's two poems suggest that his self-assessment has changed over time. In "Toads," he is resigned to his fate and sees little hope for improvement, while in "Toads Revisited," he has become more reflective and appreciative of the good things in life. He has come to realize that work and leisure are both important and that finding a balance between the two is vital to a fulfilling life.

Lai Yuen Lam Thuy The conclusion Philip Larkin makes about himself by combining his self-discoveries in his both of the poems ‘Toads’ and ‘Toads Revisited’ is that he had been too timid to change his job and ventured out of his comfort zone by the time he wrote both poems. In the poem ‘Toads’, Larkin describes his work and life miserable and compares them to a toad, an unattractive creature, because he has to work ‘ six days of the weeks’ and ‘soils’ his life. He consciously realises that he is doing a job that he does not truly enjoy doing and that cannot actualise his ‘wit’ or intelligence. He then says that although he is intelligent, he does not want to live off his wit because he may end up earning very little amount of money for himself and his family, like those “Lecturers, lispers, Losels, loblolly” who he considers losers. Here, we can see that he actually has a life that he always wants to go after, but what stops him is the reality that he believes that it is too difficult for him to pursue the life and job he wants, so he starts to punish himself internally, saying things like his work is a ‘sickening poison’. He even projects his fear to change into people around him and regards them as people who “Eat windfalls and tinned sardines- they seem to like it.”, justifying the kind of suffering he had been endured. I, on the contrary, find those people very encouraging as they are willing to live off a perceived poor life but enjoy what they are doing. Larkin lists these people, to some extent, out of jealousy and fear. He gets timid and jealous (subtly) because those people make the choice he is too afraid to make, and he chooses to stay at his work as he craves recognition and seeks of external validation, including ‘the fame and the girl and the money.’ To sum up what Larkin says in ‘Toads’ is that it is hard for him to get rid of his job as well as his comfort zone since he chooses to go down that road filled with irresistible stability that men often hold dearly. In the sequel ‘Toads Revisited’, Larkin finds out that even though he does not like his job, he refuses to change and is intended to work until he dies. The reason why he makes this conscious decision is that he does not want to end up like those "Palsied old step-takers, Hare-eyed clerks with the jitters, Waxed-fleshed out-patients" he sees in the park, pitiful and hopeless. What I feel for him in the situation is that he is not only a person who is not brave enough to pursue his desired life but also a person beside with assumptions. The fact is that he does not walk around the park and never talks to the people as they are simply within his imagination, so how does he know those unfortunate people are lazy and useless by mere a few seconds of scanning their appearance? His narrow sight does not do the hard-work those people pay off in their life justice. Misfortune, agony of aging, and traumas are inevitable, as the Buddhist says. I know that he is trying hard to view his life as a less miserable one to make himself feel better by comparing himself to others who are more inferior than him, but I doubt if this is really good for him. Let them shine and so can you, Larkin. Apart from seeing the insecurities in Larkin, his assessment upon himself vary in both poems. The poem ‘Toads’ is more like setting up a context for readers and a record of how Philip Larkin feels at the age he writes this poem. The time he writes this poem may be at the age in which he comes to realise that something is wrong in his life and mental health. The metaphor ‘Toads’, according to my wild guess, does not only refer to his unfavourable job and life that he consciously chooses at the time, but also his emotional baggage. He knows that there is a sense of confusion, fear, and misery buried beneath him. But why did he write a poem to express his feelings? It could be the moment he knows he is not alone, and everyone from the middle class or who are well-educated could relate to his situation since they may be on the same page. Those in the middle class, including Larkin, know that something is triggered in there inside them (fear of change, craving money, fame, and love) and refuse to recognise their fear and even deny them so much that they reject changes of their comfortable status quo. ‘Toads Revisited’ adopts another angle of viewing his status quo. He first acknowledges his adamant of changing his life out of fear in the poem ‘Toads’, and now in ‘Toads Revisited’, he makes a choice of sticking to his job because he accepts his fate and makes peace with his status quo. (Although Philip Larkin has not really overcome his rooted fear, as a poet, his focus is now on writing something that people can relate to and enjoy. He has become successful as a poet, but personally, I do not admire him (this is just my opinion)) However, there are two things making him worthy of being remembered. One, he does not give up finding the meaning of his life and figure out who he actually is doing and what has to happen to remove himself from his dissatisfaction with life (which he could have done better on self-reflection and his action), which he does show this side of him in his poetic work. Another one is his compassion towards people who are reading these two poems, mostly the educated and the working-class. And the good thing about writing these kind of poems is that they are approachable and are actually showing empathy and love to others that their suffering can be understood, and they may find this poem synchronising and leading them to a sense of connection and understanding that are hard to come by someone without similar situations .

Kam Chak Fai, Jack In “Toads” Larkin holds a pessimistic view on his everyday life, he feels trapped by his work and his obligation to do it just to pay a few bills, and he reckons that a jobless life would be way better for him, even if he may fall into poverty. However, the line “No one actually starves“ tells us that he doesn’t know anything about the poor, so he has this misconception that being jobless will grant him the freedom he wants and make him happier, which he will realize it’s not that ideal when revisiting this poem. The poet also has another toad within him that is the inability to move away from the capitalistic society that he’s living in, he can’t give up the government pension, he concludes that he’s discontent of being a part of the system and is depressed that he can’t change because of those two “toads” weighting on him, trapping him at the bottom, unable to get himself up and change his life into the way he wants. In “Toads revisited”, the poet walks around the park and claims it to be quite nice, yet it doesn’t suit him. The people he saw in that park at that time period are mostly people who can’t hold down a job, patients and kids, and then he saw the horrific truth about those who live without a job which he previously couldn’t see, he could only look down on them “by being stupid or weak”, living without purpose and wasting their lives away as life’s losers, perhaps he realizes that there is no freedom or happiness this way. He then looks at the “toad” in him as something more pleasant, because the work and the responsibilities that follow it give him an identity and purpose in life as well as what little power he has in the job, and his timidity saved him from a life of potential poverty. He no longer wishes to chase after that “dream” he had described in “Toads”, he no longer wants to change from the way he is now, he’s now content with his life and wants to continue until he’s 6 feet under, it’s way better to work in a job he doesn’t like and stay in the system than being outside of it and suffering at the bottom of the society.

Chick Karen Tsz Yu Regarding conclusions made about himself and the difference of his self-assessment in the two poems, the “toad” depicted in the poem does not refer to a physical animal; rather, it represents the correlation between the pressure of the work and his obligations metaphorically. From the poem “Toads”, with the use of rhetorical question in first stanza, “Why should I let the toad work Squat on my life?”, it indicates his unhappiness and the overwhelming pressure as he encounters a life-struggling whether get rid of the toad work or not. The toad itself symbolizes work and financial pressure, and he imagines that if he were in destitute, it aroused his curiosity that his life would become much happier than now. Following the next stanza, he has to work for six days a week, but his wages just meet the bare expenses of living, which is heavily afflicted on him, as suggested by “Just for paying a few bills!”. After that, the lives of the poor who struggle to find shelter and food are portrayed. Despite no dependable source of income, he believes that they are happier than he is. However, he acknowledges that he is not courageous enough to relinquish the pensions given to him by the government. To illustrate, he is seized by a feeling of frustration that there is a possibility for him to determine his fate and destiny, and yet he doesn’t know how to accomplish it. Because of a second toad, it is one of the reasons that forces him to maintain this job. From the sixth stanza, he hopes that he can muster the courage to throw off the toad and not be subservient to the government. All in all, what he pursues is that he does not want to depend on government subsidies, finding his own freedom. He wonders if he can escape from the ‘toads’ or tiresome routine of work one day. Sadly, he understands that it is just a pipe dream that is unfeasible for him to achieve. On the contrary, from the poem of Toad Revisited, he changes his perception that it would be ideal to be working in a hard job. The poem commences by observing an ordinary scene from a contemporary moment and he is rambling in the park. Although there is sunshine, grass, a lake and the sound of children playing which makes people feel relaxed, he would not want to be one of the crowds wandering in the park. It is perceived as the tedious mundane lives and not economically active. What’s more, it suggests that he feels pity towards them, as found in the repetition of “think of being them”. In this seventh stanza, it reflects his loneliness, as demonstrated from “Nowhere to go but indoors” and “No friends but empty chairs'', where the juxtaposition is adopted in a bluemanner, denoting he is in solitude, whereas he values and cherishes the career under the circumstance. In other words, he still wants to maintain his current position in preference to being one of the people in the park. Overall, Larkin’s sudden subtle changes in terms of his ideas of work are mainly because of these experiences. Nevertheless, in “Toads Revisited”, he begins to realize that work which involved an arduous effort over his life is not that bad. Without the toad, he would have been like the people ambling in the park, whereas this type of lifestyle is not suitable for him.

Chu Tsz Ki Fred The poems "Toads" and "Toads Revisited" by Philip Larkin depict his internal conflict over finding a balance between work and leisure. In "Toads," he acknowledges that work is a necessary evil that he must endure to maintain his livelihood. He realizes that he is not immune to the allure of leisure and how it might cause him to become preoccupied with his responsibilities. However, in "Toads Revisited," Larkin realizes that his aversion to work is not merely a matter of personal preference but a deep-seated fear of failure. He acknowledges that his attitude towards work is rooted in his insecurities and anxieties. By confronting these feelings, he is able to find a way to reconcile his desire for leisure with his need to work. In "Toads Revisited," Larkin comes to the realization that his struggle with work is not unique to him but a universal human experience. He recognizes that everyone is searching for a method to balance work and play and that this process requires effort and time. In contrast, in "Toads," Larkin focuses on his struggle with work and how it affects his life. He is more self-absorbed and less reflective, seeking to find a solution to his own problem rather than recognizing its broader implications. Through these two poems, Larkin discovers that his struggle with work is a manifestation of his inner conflicts and that he needs to confront them to find a way to live a fulfilling life.

I couldn't agree more . . . and yet I'm not convinced that he really did "bewail" his existence. Is the person who says "It's raining" bewailing the rain? I supposed to the person who says "The sun is going to come out soon," they may be. While I can certainly imagine him as a moaner in life I don't read it so much in his poetry. I think he tends more to say "This is the way life is!" And as you say he had the luxury and freedom to write. And used it well. The two poems I talk of here I still think are great, but "Aubade" and "Church Going", are two of the masterpieces of the language.

@@mycroftlectures Sir, can you please do a lecture video on church going? And your lecture videos are great help so please keep uploading new content. Thank you

By the time you knew him he may have advanced considerably from his early postwar living standard.

We certainly can't deny that he "got the poems" from the experiences, or lack thereof.

Glad you like them!

Yeah, fear too. That is also apparent in this poem, a little. He fears them because they're tougher than he is, maybe he's even a little in awe of them.

I blame kittens, for being so cute.

cave webster It's perhaps perceived as elitist, boring or requiring too much concentration. Hey mainstream digital platform viewers! Analyse Hamlet's suicide soliloquy or watch someone playing a video game (with commentary)? Unfortunately, for most, we both know what the answer would be, according to viewing figures anyway.

All too true.

Quite probably. It's an equally valid reading to the scatalogical one. Of course, I'm sure we've all felt the truth of both. On reflection I find the imagery in your's better. More "real".

Scatological: Relating to or characterized by an interest in excrement and excretion. I honestly didn't know that. It is. Many thanks.

I tend to agree with you there. Whenever I've taught this and suggested it's possible to read both Toads, and a lot of Larkin, with a wry smile at the way life is this has not been easily accepted. For me it's in the tone.

All true. But the point about Larkin's work that I think is so admirable is that when we make comments on it I don't think we are saying anything he does't realize himself. He knows exactly how whiny he sounds and is fully aware of the effect on his readers. But he also knows that what he is writing about is the truth of his situation. He is not, at least in the way I read his work, trying to glorify his situation. He knows exactly how uncool he sounds. But he is able to write about a situation many people relate to.

your remarks about whining are appallingly simplistic.

Winnie Yau you really haven't got a clue. Get another job he liked? Pension? Just imagine he saw everything as clearly as you, we'd have no whiny poetry to read.

The last sentence is not actually correct. He thinks he can't get them because he has already succumbed to the poison of the toad.

Thank you~