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For Sidney Bechet
This document provides an analysis of Philip Larkin's poem "For Sidney Bechet" through six paragraphs that discuss different aspects of the poem: 1) It analyzes the structure of the poem and how Larkin uses an unusual rhyme and stanza scheme to mimic the style of a jazz song. 2) It discusses each of the six stanzas in detail, describing the imagery and themes Larkin conveys in each. 3) It notes two comparisons between this poem and two of Larkin's other works that also involve themes of music, memory, and love. The document analyzes key elements of Larkin's poem like its form, imagery, and themes to understand what the
For Sidney Bechet
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- 3. What is thepoem about? • Larkin writes about the Jazz composer Sidney Bechet who he was a big fan of. • In the poem New Orleans (birth place of jazz) is described, filled with happy people and music. • There is a posiPve reflecPon of memories, reminded by music, about love and happy Pmes.
- 4. The Structure • Larkin makes the poem have a jazz beat, and the rhyme scheme and stanza scheme is unusual and unexpected like a jazz song. • The poem is an apostrophe because Larkin talks to someone as though they were present.
- 5. The First Stanza • In the first stanza the music is described with the ‘shakes like New Orleans reflect in the water’. This simile is split over two lines, the word ‘shakes’ put at the end to ripple onto the next line. There is a theme of water in this stanza. • The poem is set up as a cause and effect, how the music causes people to imagine different places.
- 6. The Second Stanza • The first scenario of love and beauty is described in the second stanza. • ‘Balconies, flower-‐baskets and quadrilles’ are romanPc and pre"y features. A quadrille is a square dance for couples. • Everyone is ‘making love’ and ‘going shares’ which means taking it easy. This is a calm, relaxed and fun atmosphere.
- 7. The Third Stanza • The third stanza is about the darker side of New Orleans. ‘Storyville’ is the red-‐light district. • Larkin describes the ‘sporPng-‐house girls’ (prosPtutes) as ‘like circus Pgers’. Larkin places women in a negaPve, degrading view that’s quite sexist. He compares the ‘girls’ as animals, however they are tamed because they are being controlled. Before this the ‘Pgers’ were wild and dangerous. • Larkin refers to the bible that states ‘who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies’. • If women were priced above rubies this could mean that they were expensive.
- 8. The Fourth Stanza • In this stanza Larkin describes the wannabes, that sit in the audience. ‘Manques’ are would-‐be scholars. The word also meaning ‘to lack’ in French, the scholars unfulfilled of their dreams. • Larkin uses a simile ‘like old plaids’ to describe the audience. Plaids could mean they are interwoven and engrossed into the music as its close to them.
- 9. The Fifth Stanza • This stanza describes how music affects Larkin himself. He uses the pronouns ‘me’ and ‘’my’. • The music makes him feel the way love is said to make people feel. However this could be a paradox because he thinks he loves music, but doesn’t know because he’s never loved. • ‘Like an enormous yes’ is a caesura, this making an emphasise on Larkin’s posiPve view.
- 10. The Sixth Stanza • Larkin says that music understands him, and speaks to him like a person; it is the ‘natural noise of good’. • ‘Long-‐haired grief and scored pity’, implies that when Larkin listens to music he forgets his problems. This relates to the African Americans, how jazz music was based on their music and ‘scored pity’ is a pun on a musical score, referring to the pity felt when listening to this genre.
- 11. Comparison – LoveSongs In Age • Larkin wrote the poem about an elderly widow who finds the sheet music of some songs she used to play when she was young, and the cello plays a version of Bechet’s blues as a nostalgic song making her relive memories. • Both poems are about music and how they relate to memories and love.
- 12. Comparison – AnArundel Tomb • In this poem Larkin has a posiPve view on love and life, with a happier a^tude compared to his usual themes. • Love lasts through Pme, whether this be as a sculptural tomb or in the form of music.