AMBULANCES CRITICAL ANALYSIS

It is truly said that:

Death is the crown of life.

Lark in is one of the best post war poet. He digs the theme of death and emptiness of
modern man. He has chosen the most appropriate title for his poem. The poem is highly
symbolic. He uses suggestive imagery. The tone of the poem is melancholic. The poem
appears to be objectively subjective where the poet is pessimist. The poem has
dramatic opening. He uses mocking and cynical tone for a modern man. The poem is a
master piece of Larkin efforts and talents. As Robert Hughes said,

My name is death and the last best friend

Apparently the meaning of the poem becomes vivid and crystal clear before our eyes.
Larkin paints the picture of an ordinary urban neighborhood where children are
scattered on the steps. Ambulances move through the crowded noisy city of streets at
noon. They stop at every kerb and pick up the sick people. Women can be seen coming
from various shops and eating rooms. They are also attracted towards the red blanket
carrying a sick man with bloodless face. At this the woman might think of futility of
human life. The feeling of sympathy would arouse like a wild fire as they imagine
themselves on the stretcher. But as soon as the ambulance will disappear the sense of
loss will come to an end. That sick man had to give away his realities, his culture, his
fashions. The sick man is away from all the worldly lies. The traffic on the street makes
room for the approaching ambulance to pass. So as to bring the sick man to an
experience which he still had to undergo and for which the ambulance narrows his
distance which we the healthy still keep.

On the outset, the poem is highly symbolic that is about death takes. Ambulance is a
journey from this world to the external world. The poet has in fact referred to the
hollowness, shallowness and emptiness of modern man. The Death does not knock
but it enters without permission and intimation. Hence death can grab us anywhere and
at any time. The Children present ignorant people who are busy in their lives and are
taking life as a playful toy.

The children strewn on steps on road.

He gives the psycho analysis of human mind when one encounters death. It has a
sudden solemnizing effect. Larkin peeps in to human brain and tells us that modern
man is bothered by nothing. Death does affect us but for very short period. Modern man
has become immune to everything. Modern man does not realize the thread of life that
unites all the relationships and binds the strings of fashion and life style tend to loosen

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when death approaches. The fabric of life disintegrates. The poet points out the fever of
the materialistic worldly pursuits on the part of the modern man womens actually
present the only business of human life. The modern man merely thinks of the near
future. He seems to be either too much busy in his life or takes life non-seriously. The
fascination of life is depicted when he says,

Post smells of different dinners

The pity feeling and the fear of death vanishes from our mind soon. The poet takes
death positively though death takes human beings away from any exchange of love and
emotions, relations and friends but it gives man an eternal place and is the final
destination of man. Man may forget his death nut cannot escape from it. The emptiness
of thoughts and spirit is well conveyed when poet says,

A wild white face that over stops

The poet has magnificent quality of selecting the most appropriate words for presenting
his bent of mind. There are a lot of words reflecting three dimensional meanings. He
uses the word white face for lack of emotions. Blankets represent protection. The word
poor soul has been used in ironic essence .It is actually irony upon the modern man
because according to Larkin modern man who needs to be sympathized. Women
present modern mans busy life and children for the care free attitude of modern man.

Larkin has coined variety of themes and has packed them up in one poem. Emptiness
of modern man, Death theme, fakeness of modern life has been brought forth in this
poem.

Larkin delivers the theme of Death in all of his poems. This is the reason why he is
known as the grave yard poet. Death gloom overshadows the whole poem. Ambulance
moving throughout the city and on the roads is actually death running through the city.
The journey in an ambulance can be compared to the last voyage towards final
destination where one departs alone the life, the relationships and all the life styles are
left behind. Larkin also points out that the death of a man is just not a loss of life. It is
basically a loss of life time. It is not just one person that dies but a whole pattern of life
style, of relationships and a precedent of existence all lost with him. All streets in time
are visited .On one hand by delivering the theme of death he tells us about eternal
peace that man will enjoy after death.

They years, the unique random blend of families and fashions, there

He points out the poem with the theme of nothingness. Modern man is fascinated by the
charms of life, Past smells of different dinners are. But he will have to leave all the

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relations, the treasures here in this world. At the end, what he will exactly get is nothing.
Lack of emotions is also present in this poem.

A wild white face that over tops

Mans business and his carefree nature is evident in this poem. Man only thinks about
his own self forgetting that he will have to go one day.

The poet has been very choosy in selecting the title of his poem Ambulances. This
word has nowhere else been used but though its concept is dragging throughout the
poem. The word Ambulance absorbs the death theme in it. It is the most suitable title
and it is through the title we come to comprehend the whole poem. The title suggests
something saddening. Ambulance symbolizes illness, disease around accident and
possibly death.

The poet has inserted suggestive imagery in this gloomy poem. He has used the image
of dinners for mans fascination. The image of women and children present business
and playful attitude respectively. The image of closed like confessionals suggests the
tightly closed sides of chambers with in which a priest listens to the confessions of men
to absolute them of their sense of guilt. The image of blanket stands for protection
stowed signifies a lifeless thing.

The poet has used colloquial and lucid language, where as its tone is melancholic. The
words threads, streets permanent clearly show lucidity.

At last begin to loosen far from the exchange of love to lie

The poem has dramatic opening. The poet begins the poem abruptly without long
invocations of introduction. He begins,

Closed like confessionals, they thread

Loud noons of cities, giving back;

The poem is enveloped with the gloomy shade of pessimism. Larkin seems to be
repress by the deaths supremacy over life. Death and darkness prevail throughout the
poem. He tells us about mental working of human. On the other hand his touch of
optimism comes through his approaches of eternal peace.

For borne away in deadened air

The poem is objectively subjective. He points out the modern mans the natural
phenomenon of death has its dreadful effects on everybody nobody can escape it. It
comes without any notification and leaves with the gloom. He tells the futility of life
whose end is but death which makes the poem objective. On the other hand the poem

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becomes subjective as these are the analysis and thoughts of Larkin. So the poem is
amalgam of both objectivity and subjectivity. A critic comments:

Like Larkins all poems modestly collect evident of ordinary life to create a truth
which can be universally acknowledged.

The poem seems to speak with timeless and universal wisdom. The curve of the matter
is that Larkin has an awesome skill in handling the death theme. He makes men ponder
at their lives. He lucidly covers up his ideas under the most appropriate title. His efforts
need a great applause.