Theme

Love and Relationships

The Poem

Since we agreed to let the road between us

Fall to disuse

And bricked our gate up, planted trees to screen us,

And turned all time’s eroding agents loose,

Silence, and space, and strangers - our neglect

Has not had much effect.

Leaves drift unswept, perhaps; grass creeps unmown;

No other change.

So clear it stands, so little overgrown,

Walking that way tonight would not seem strange,

And still would be allowed. A little longer,

And time would be the stronger,

Drafting a world where no such road will run

From you to me;

To watch that world come like a cold sun,

Rewarding others, is my liberty.

Not to prevent it is my will’s fulfillment.

Willing it, my ailment.

Analysis

Since we agreed to let the road between us

• Collective pronoun - suggests that the breakup was mutual.

• The ‘road’ was a metaphor for their relationship.

Fall to disuse

• Symbol of the end of their relationship. Suggests abandonment.

And bricked our gate up, planted trees to screen us,

• Metaphor - reveals that they have become distant with each other and have shut each other out.

• Collective pronoun - suggests that the breakup was mutual.

And turned all time’s eroding agents loose,

Silence, and space, and strangers - our neglect

• Use of syndetic list, makes it seem exhausting.

• Use of sibilance.

Has not had much effect^^.^^

• End-stop line

Leaves drift unswept, perhaps; grass creeps unmown;

• Metaphor - suggests neglect.

• Personification - reveals that time has past, but both the narrator and their ex-lover haven’t gotten over the relationship and have no intention to rekindle it.

No other change^^.^^

• End-stop line - suggests finality.

So clear it stands, so little overgrown,

Walking that way tonight would not seem strange,

• Volta - there’s a shift in tone, which is typical of Larkin’s work.

And still would be allowed. A little longer,

And time would be the stronger,

• Metaphor - suggests that time will either heal them and allow them to rekindle or that time will cause them to grow further apart and will prevent those feelings from ever rekindling.

• Regular rhyme scheme - suggests that there will be no change.

Drafting a world where no such road will run

• Metaphor - he is imagining if there was a world where they never were in a relationship together.

From you to me;

• Use of personal pronoun - reinforces the separation between the ex-lovers.

To watch that world come like a cold sun,

• Simile

• Oxymoron - suggests that their relationship not occuring is unnatural.

Rewarding others, is my liberty.

Not to prevent it is my will’s fulfillment.

• Links to Larkin’s goal to be less deceived about relationships and societal expectations.

Willing it, my ailment.

• Allusion to illness - he is suggesting that he is preventing himself from loving/being loved, causing him to be hurt. He is suggesting that being less deceived is a blessing and a curse as it is damaging to know the truth.

Context

Phillip Larkin had multiple failed relationships, causing him to never be married.