How would I answer the exam question: Explore Philip Larkin’s portrayal of time in ‘Next Please’ and one other poem. You must discuss relevant contextual factors.

The first thing you need to do is flick to this poem in your anthology to remind you of its content and how the theme – in this case time – is presented. Ask yourself - how is time presented in this poem? Is it a positive force, or a negative one? Is it talking about the future, or the past? Is it talking about time in general, or time in a specific person's life? I would jot down in a plan everything you think could be relevant to ‘time’: start by identifying the key themes, then work out how the form and language techniques support this, using the correct technical vocabulary. Once you’ve done this, you can start to think about which other poem might make an interesting comparison.So what is ‘Next Please’ saying? It deals with our rush to always be getting onto the next stage of our life - 'Always too eager for thefuture.' This means we don't get satisfaction from our achievements, as symbolised by the ship with 'the figurehead with golden tits' which 'never anchors.' The only thing which is approaching is death, as symbolised by a much darker ship: 'Only one ship is seeking us, a black-/ Sailed unfamiliar, towing at her back / A huge and birdless silence.' Look at the language, and what this could mean for these themes. Larkin contrasts the two metaphorical ships – the humorous “golden tits” followed by the “black-sailed unfamiliar” – so the second one seems even more unexpected and threatening. Think about the sounds used in stanza 4 compared to stanza 6 – both use alliteration, but to what effect? Both ships are characterised as women – this is a normal description of a ship, but what effect does it have in this context?Examine the form and structure. The poem is written in regular rhyming couplets, so we never have to wait too long for a word to find its rhyming pair. This could indicate that even they themselves are rushing towards resolution. However, the irregular line lengths and meter mean this resolution feels unsatisfying, mirroring the unsatisfaction described in the poem. Larkin plays around with enjambment and enstopped lines, both within verses and between them – what effect does this have on how we read the poem? Now, think about which other poem might make an interesting comparison. Look for a poem which also deals with time, where you can draw both comparisons and differences with the poem they have given you. "Lines on a Young Lady's Photograph Album,”“Maiden Name” and “Whatever Happened” also all deal with the passing time. How is time characterised differently in these poems? Once you have picked your second poem, add to your plan with any similarities and differences in the language, narrativevoice, structure and form you can think of. Finally, think of why Larkin might have dealt with this theme in the way he did given the time he was writing. As you will have learnt in class, Larkin was writing at a time of great social change – it may have felt that time was passing very quickly. Does he seem positive about this in the poems, or negative? Larkin often uses religious language, though he was writing at a time when many people were ceasing to believe in religion. What effect does the religious language have in these poems? Pick your strongest points and make sure each one has Point, Evidence, Explanation then write up your full essay, starting with anintroduction and ending with a conclusion. Make sure to keep comparing the twopoems with one another throughout.