Talking in Bed’ by Philip Larkin
Read through ‘Talking in Bed’ on page 192 of Seasons Come to Pass, and then work through
the guidelines provided below.
1. Look at the title of the poem. Does this give you any clue as to what the poem is about?
Does what the title suggests occur in the poem? Write a paragraph in which you give
reasons for your answer.
2. Identify an example of repetition in line four and explain its effect.
3. Read the definition of ‘tone’ on page 47 of Introduction to English Literary Studies. What
is the tone created in lines 4 to 7? Identify words in this section that helped you in
determining the tone. Write a paragraph in which you describe how these words relate to
the title of the poem.
4. What is the setting of lines 8 to 12? How do you know this?
5. Look at the last three lines of the poem. What kinds of words does the speaker want to
speak to his or her partner? Why is this difficult?
2.3 ‘In the shadow of Signal Hill’ by Essop Patel
Read through ‘In the Shadow of Signal Hill’ on page 208 of Seasons Come to Pass. Also read
the brief biography of Essop Patel given above the poem and the explanatory note underneath.
Work through the guidelines given below.
1. The explanatory note below the poem gives you a clue as to the title’s significance.
Imagine that you are standing below Signal Hill. Write a paragraph in which you explain
what you see.
2. Read the definition of ‘connotation’ and ‘denotation’ on page 32 of Tutorial Letter 501.
Explain the denotation and connotations of the word ‘Shadow’ in the title of this poem.
3. Look up the word ‘lamentations’ (line 7) in a dictionary. When the speaker instructs the
reader to listen to ‘the lamentations of slaves’ (line 7), does he or she expect the reader
to hear real slaves in the present time of the poem? Why or why not? Write a paragraph
in which you describe what it is that the ‘children of colour’ (line 4) hear.
4. The first three lines of each stanza are the same. What does this tell you about the
setting of the poem? Why is this important?
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5. What image is created in line 14? Write a paragraph in which you describe what this line
means.