How Does Larkin Use Juxtaposition In Mr Bleaney

Explore the ways in which Larkin in ‘Mr Bleaney’ and ‘Home is so sad’ and Abse in ‘Leaving Cardiff’ depict a sense of belonging.
In the poem ‘Mr Bleaney’ Larkin uses ordinary and mundane objects, for example the ‘bed, upright chair, sixty-watt bulb’ are typical everyday objects yet at the same time could be suggesting how they and Mr Bleaney are not so very different and thus go hand in hand with one another. Also Larkin depicts a semantic field of confinement when we are told of the ‘one hired box’, which maybe a metaphor of how Mr Bleaney had so few possessions and achievements that he could fit them all in single box. ‘The fusty bed’, which appeals to the readers imagery senses as repulsive and the fact that there was ‘no room for books or
bags’ shows the lack of organisation in his life yet perhaps Larkin is trying to tell us that Mr Bleaney does not belong in his ‘one hired box’ which could even be interpreted as his apartment.
For example there is the application of juxtaposition in stanza two which contrasts how ‘Mr Bleaney took [his landlady’s] bit of garden properly in hand’ before immediately relating to the boring and mundane objects of his room which when described as concrete common nouns deprived of any adjectives and delivered in a negative context suggests that Mr. Bleaney felt he did not belong in his room rather he felt more comfortable in a natural state of mind. Similarly to ‘Mr. Bleaney’ ‘Home is so sad ‘also makes use of a semantic field except in this case it is to depict feelings of loss through the lexis. ‘Sad’ ‘left’ and ‘shaped to the comfort of the last to go’ could mean that although the home belongs to the owner it is mistreated and despite its attempts to ‘win them back’ we cannot help but feel sorrow via the use of negative emotion. However, in contrast to ‘Mr. Bleaney’, ‘Home’ makes use of the imperative ‘look’ in the final stanza which leads our attention to objects about the house. The direct command brings objects that had previously been in the background to the foreground and although to
a stranger the objects might appear as pointless and mundane perhaps Larkin is trying to imply a more personal aspect of home life. The ‘cutlery’ might be a reference to a meal which in turn could be suggesting how each family member has a place at the table, in addition to this the use of other personal items such as ‘the pictures’ and ‘that vase’ is perhaps a way of showing how sentimentality gives people as sense of belonging. Another method Larkin employs in ‘Home’ are his past and future tense references to ‘how it was’ and how it ‘ought to be’ which may be proposing ideals of change in that the current state of the house has no place in the lives of the owners and thus to acquire the significance of belonging, modifications are a necessity in our lives. This idea of change allowing people to find their place could even be interpretable in Abse’s ‘Leaving Cardiff’ as he uses rhetoric devices by saying ‘when who sailing made no choice?’ which could be a way of telling the reader how he belongs in neither ‘Cardiff’ nor ‘Penarth’ but on his sailing boat. Yet at the same time the use of the simile ‘eyes like spaces fill’ finished off with ‘pump to my eyes and spill’ tell us how both the physical and mental aspects of the journey are affecting him nevertheless we are told he can ‘be the same man twice’ which could he hinting at how his place on the boat enables him to be a stronger person through freedom. However, this contrasts with Mr. Bleaney’s description, as the connotations of his ‘yearly frame’ when he visits ‘his sister’s house’ each Christmas suggests how routine his life is. Unlike Abse’s persona whose life is directed by both the wind and the waves which is even noticeable this in the structure of his poetry. For example ‘Leaving’ has an ABAB rhyming scheme up until stanzas four when the rhyming technique turns to half rhyming, for example when ‘air’ is made to rhyme with ‘where’ in stanza one ‘choice’ is half rhyming with twice in the fourth. This could be a method of showing how the waves are becoming uncontrollable and that Abse has finally belongs to the sea.