Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The speaker of this poem is quite pessimistic, questioning the common association between spring and hope.
Form and Meter
This is a free verse poem.
Metaphors and Similes
The speaker uses a simile to compare himself to a child who has witnessed a reconciliation between two adults.
Alliteration and Assonance
"It will be spring soon."
Irony
The speaker presents spring in an ironic way in this poem, subverting traditional expectations.
Genre
Nature poetry
Setting
The setting of this poem is in Spring, and the speaker describes a natural landscape at the beginning of the poem.
Tone
The tone of the poem is pessimistic.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist of this poem is the speaker and there is no clear antagonist.
Major Conflict
In this poem, the speaker is trying to work out how he feels about the season of spring.
Climax
The climax of the poem is when the speaker compares himself to a child witnessing a reconciliation between two adults.
Foreshadowing
There are some hints of the speaker's pessimism about spring at the beginning of the poem. For example, he describes the garden as being "bare."
Understatement
The speaker is perhaps quite pessimistic about spring in this poem, understating many of the season's symbolic meanings.
Allusions
The speaker alludes to typical and symbolic depictions of spring in this poem.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
The houses are described as having "foreheads."
Hyperbole
Larkin uses hyperbole to describe the lark as "astonishing" the brickwork.
Onomatopoeia
N/A
