Aubade Literary Elements

The identity of the speaker isn't clear, but he's loosely implied to be nearing the end of his life (in the second stanza, he says death will come "soon.") He's gloomy, lonely, and obsessed with death. He's also implied to have a bit of a drinking problem—in the first line, he gets "half-drunk" alone at night, and later in the fourth stanza he mentions feeling particularly glum without "people or drink."

Five stanzas of ten lines, generally in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme is ABABCCDEED.

Metaphors:
"the dread...flashes" The speaker is completely wrapped up in his dread, like how a flashing light might seize someone's attention.
"it rages out/In furnace-fear" The speaker's fear burns as vibrantly and actively as a fire in a furnace.

Similes:
"it stands plain as a wardrobe" By comparing death to the speaker's wardrobe in the slowly lightening room, Larkin suggests that it's readily apparent, impossible to ignore.
"postmen like doctors go from house to house." This line suggests that like doctors, postmen have the capacity to heal people, perhaps because they transmit messages from loved ones; but, by representing the continuation of worldly affairs, they can also (again like doctors), bring news of death.

Alliteration: "to hold and horrify," "specious stuff that says," "furnace-fear," "whined at than withstood"

The poem's title, Aubade, is ironic, since an aubade is a type of poem that generally focuses on lovers parting at dawn. Instead, the speaker of "Aubade" is thoroughly alone.

Poetry

In the speaker's bedroom

Dark, pessimistic, gloomy

The speaker serves as the protagonist, while death, which he fears deeply, is the antagonist.

The major conflict occurs in the speaker's mind, between his desire not to die and the inevitability of death.

Dawn ("Slowly light strengthens...")

"I work all day..." foreshadows the final stanza's focus on the working world.

"an only life can take so long to climb," "telephones crouch, getting ready to ring"