On shallow straw, in shade less glass,
Huddled by empty bowls, they sleep:
No dark, no dam, no earth, no grass -
Mam, get us one
But it soon wears off somehow of them to keep.
Living toys are something novel,.
Fetch the shoebox, fetch the shovel -
Mam, we're playing funerals now.
In this poem Larkin is criticizing
parents for buying their children pets which they will then treat as toys and
mistreat; like living toys. The themes in this poem are parents, judgement,
children and cruelty; this poem is strange as it shows Larkin to be caring for
something; this differs from a lot of the other poems in the Whitsun Weddings
collection in which Larkin shows complete cynicism. Take One Home for the
Kiddies holds very strong images for one that is so short; for example, the
animals lying 'On shallow straw, in shadeless grass' and then at the end of the poem the 'shoebox' and
the 'shovel'.
The poem is a short one that it set out in two stanzas, the first stanza is set in the pet shop where the child pesters their mum to buy them a pet.
This first stanza shows that even in the pet shop the animals life is a miserable one; Larkin portrays this by showing that the pets aren't meant to be in that environment 'No dark, no dam, no earth, no grass-'. The children in the poem just see the pets as 'Living toys' that will bore them after a while 'it soon wears off somehow', Larkin sees that the parents know that the pet won't get treated well but will do anything to stop their children pestering them. This shown by the way that the children get the final line at the end of each stanza, the parents never go against what the children say.
In Take One Home for the Kiddies Larkin uses devices in a satirical manner to portray just how stupid buying pets for children knowing full well that they will mistreat them is. For example the sibilance in the first stanza 'sh' sounds like they are trying to keep it a secret that they are there so they won't get picked and have awful lives in somebodies house.
The rhyme scheme of AB AB makes the poem seem cheerful, symbolizing the callous nature of the children who see the death of their pet as 'playing funerals' rather than a sad event. The short, direct nature of this poem could be seen to reflect the short insignificant lives that the animals live.
The poem is a short one that it set out in two stanzas, the first stanza is set in the pet shop where the child pesters their mum to buy them a pet.
This first stanza shows that even in the pet shop the animals life is a miserable one; Larkin portrays this by showing that the pets aren't meant to be in that environment 'No dark, no dam, no earth, no grass-'. The children in the poem just see the pets as 'Living toys' that will bore them after a while 'it soon wears off somehow', Larkin sees that the parents know that the pet won't get treated well but will do anything to stop their children pestering them. This shown by the way that the children get the final line at the end of each stanza, the parents never go against what the children say.
In Take One Home for the Kiddies Larkin uses devices in a satirical manner to portray just how stupid buying pets for children knowing full well that they will mistreat them is. For example the sibilance in the first stanza 'sh' sounds like they are trying to keep it a secret that they are there so they won't get picked and have awful lives in somebodies house.
The rhyme scheme of AB AB makes the poem seem cheerful, symbolizing the callous nature of the children who see the death of their pet as 'playing funerals' rather than a sad event. The short, direct nature of this poem could be seen to reflect the short insignificant lives that the animals live.
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