Analysis of "First Sight" by Philip Larkin and links to Abse poem

1. First Sight
(And A Wall)

2. What is the poem about?
‘First Sight’ is a poem focusing on young lambs taking
their first steps into the big wide world.

3. What is seems to be about
themes/ideas
The poem is about new beginnings in harsh
environments and survival against all odds. It is also
about the passage of time from the cold ‘death’ of
winter into the warm growth of spring.

4. What’s “Earth’s
immeasurable surprise”?
• The immeasurable surprise is the wonders of spring.
The lambs only know the coldness of winter so to be
faced with the complete opposite (Spring) brings
surprise that cannot be comprehended by new
born lambs.

5. Poetic literary devices which
contribute to the mood
• The lambs are a symbol of innocence, which evokes sympathy as
they are young and vulnerable.
• The “bleating clouds the air” is a metaphor to describe the clouds.
The lamb’s bleating could be cries of anguish in their harsh
situation.
• A “Vast unwelcome” shows how the lambs are surrounded by
snow, further showing that this is all they can see and understand,
so spring would be a surprise to them.
• “sunless glare” is an oxymoron for how the snow is white and
glaring at the lambs, but isn’t a light source.
• The “wretched width of cold” reflects the difficulties the lambs
have to face.

6. Poetic literary devices which
contribute to the mood cont.
• “Her fleeces wetly caked”. This is intense description of
the baby lambs first being born, this links to this idea of
nature and how all of life is born from it.
• “They could not grasp it if they knew” links to how
babies, toddlers, children, even adults will never fully
grasp the next stage of life until it comes.
• “What soon will wake and grow, Utterly unlike the snow”
is referencing the coming of springtime. The poem ends
in hope, from the season of death into the season of
grow.
• “What soon will wake and grow” could also reference
the lambs, as they will wake up into spring, and will soon
grow up into adults.

7. The Abse Poem- A Wall
Similarities to First Sight Differences to First Sight
Both talking about nature Talking about a wall as opposed to lambs
Both have ‘negative’ first stanzas “its just
there, stones of different sizes, different
greys”; and “vast unwelcome”
The wall is ‘man-made’ whereas the sheep
are a part of nature
Both have positive second stanzas (mainly
the last couple of lines)
A Wall has no clear rhyme scheme except
the last two lines “rainfall and beautiful” –
links to positivity
Talks about things adapting to nature, the
wall and the lambs
Second stanza mainly features poetic
devices as it is talking about the nature
being beautiful “ golden lichens”