ENGLISH - First Sight

ENGLISH - First Sight by Philip Larkin

Lambs that learn to walk in snow

When their bleating clouds the air

Meet a vast unwelcome, know

Nothing but a sunless glare.

Newly stumbling to and fro

All they find, outside the fold,

Is a wretched width of cold.

As they wait beside the ewe,

Her fleeces wetly caked, there lies

Hidden round them, waiting too,

Earth's immeasureable surprise.

They could not grasp it if they knew,

What so soon will wake and grow

Utterly unlike the snow.

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ENGLISH - First Sight by Philip Larkin

Content/Theme

An optimistic poem concerning the passage of the time and the changing of seasons, as based around lambs taking their first steps into the world.

Analysis

'First Sight' refers literally to the lambs' first sight of the world as they are born. It is a hopeful and positive time.

The lambs are symbolic of youth and innocence and have many opportunities ahead of them. Though they are "stumbling" and lost, they will gradually learn the necessary skills and find their way. However, they are born into winter (the season of death), which Larkin describes using negative imagery. The oxymoron of "sunless glare" emphasises that the cold is chilling to the bone and that there is no sun to warm the lambs as they adapt. They are born into a harsh and unforgiving season- "unwelcome".

Despite this initial bleakness, there is a sense of anticipation in the second stanza as the lambs "wait" for something that they perhaps can sense will come. "Earth's immeasurable surprise" is the changing of the seasons from, in this case, winter to spring. Whilst the lambs may not be able to "grasp" what is to come, a surprise has positive connotations and suggests that they will soon receive a gift. "Utterly unlike the snow", spring brings with it light and hope.

As a whole, the poem is oddly positive and hopeful for Larkin, with the depressively bleak winter landscape being contrasted with the prospect of forthcoming winter that is to unfold. Larkin is suggesting that though life may appear bad at times, there is always hope and things are not as bad as they seem.

The rhyme scheme of ABABACC is somewhat melodious and the rhyme at the end suggests optimism and serenity.

Despite this, many would like to think that there elements of pessimism in the poem and that the surprise is death. After all, lambs are bred to be eaten and surprises are not always welcome. The image of the ewe "caked" in mud/snow is strongly negative and suggests that the lambs too will be soiled by their harsh lives, however, I would take the poem at face value.

Academic link: http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/englisch/larkin.html

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Links

Days, Nothing To Be Said- occupy our time to distract us, all drawing closer to death

Days, Toads Revisited- better to do something with your time

Ignorance, First Sight- lack of knowledge about what is to come, contrast- can be a positive, hopeful future

Ignorance, Water- overcomplicating life, wanting something to believe in

Overall

Larkin understood that people wanted security in their beliefs yet he forces them to question this. He himself was uncertain about what he believed in and was searching for answers just like so many others, hoping for a positive future like that in 'First Sight'. He knew that beliefs could be comforting but he did not want to believe in something fake, overcomplicated or untrue.

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Links with other poems in the collection:-

-Dockery and Son - everyones lives are heading the same way no matter what we do

-Ignorance - we push death to the back of our minds

-First Sight - from the beginning we are doomed

- Toads Revisited - we need work to procratinate until we die

-Days - what's the point in life?