Mr Bleaney by Philip Larkin

Structure of poem
7 quatrains
very regular rhyme scheme : abab throughout poem
this rigid pattern emphasizes the monotony of the life described in poem and impossibility to escape it even
after death they moved him suggests his lack of choice or apathy
no fragmentation at all in the poem, enjambment used throughout shows how life unfolds and flows past
man until, in a very negative ending line, he asserts his ignorance and doubt : I dont know
3 movements
1. the landlady makes the persona visit Mr Bleaneys room
2. the persona takes the room and gets to know Mr Bleaneys habits
3. the persona wonders about Mr Bleaneys thoughts
Message of poem / Main themes
atmosphere created is one of monotony, sadness, hopelessness and poverty, almost absence of life, because of
the words used and list of items chosen to describe Mr Bleaneys life
Mr Bleaney is dead they moved him
He did not own anything : hired box is the metaphor for his room, also makes us think of a coffin
His room itself is empty and old and uncomfortable showing his material poverty and intellectual emptiness :
frayed / bed / upright chair / sixty-watt bulb / no room for books or bags / fusty bed
The new tenant takes is place, and involuntarily starts acting like him: stub my fags on the same saucer-
souvenir even though he tries to drown the jabbering set he egged her on to buy, metaphorically the
landladys endless talks about her former lodger
Or even starts thinking like him (last two stanzas)
May convey the idea that old age is the same for everyone, that even if man tries to forget and become deaf to
the noise / life around (stanza 4), man cannot escape this daily, yearly routine
Irony pervades the whole poem :
o Name of place the Bodies : people reduced to bodies, not very attractive name either
o in stanza 2 : the bit of garden is a building land and took it properly in hand results in tussoky,
littered : either he wasnt a good gardener at all or his departure left the landlady without a gardener,
well never know
o last two stanzas, now that the persona has started acting like the previous lodger, he sits on his bed and
starts thinking about what the other one could think, ending the poem by an I dont know which
proves to be, by its very position, a desperate I do know
pessimistic undertones as to life and the passing of time, its uselessness, emptiness and lack of pleasure (frigid)