Toads Revisited

'Toads Revisited' is a follow up to 'Toads' by Philip Larkin. Both poems explore the hardship of having a full-time job; in 'Toads', Larkin describes employment as 'the toad work', portraying it straight away in a negative, unappealing way. He goes on to question why he should let it 'squat' on his life - the word 'squat' makes his job soiund unelegant and far from intellectual, as well as unpleasant. The poem tells of how Larkin is only working for money, and not because he enjoys his job; it is not fullfilling or interesting, but his fear and doubt of the future prevents him from ever quitting and becoming, in a sense, free. The first stanza of 'Toads Revisited' begins with: 'Walking around in the park / Should feel better than work' - the word 'should' is stressed by being placed at the beginning the second line, and the reader realises straight away that it does not in fact feel better. It appears that Larkin has become used to being a slave to the world of work, and having a break just doesn't suit him.
     He goes on to list a group of people who are unemployed, and these work-avoiders are described as being 'stupid or weak'. This is cruel and offensive, and straight to the point; he makes it brutally apparent that he believes those who avoid work are worse than himself for doing so. This contrasts to 'Toads' as he used irony when describing the unemployed: 'Lots of folk live up lanes / With fires in a bucket'. This refers to the homeless, and he is not really envying their lives free of work. Larkin describes this list of work-avoiders as 'All dodging the toad work' - 'dodging' sounds judmental, and this is unfair due to some of the listed, such as 'Waxed-fleshed out-patients', having no choice about their lack of occupation. 'Think of being them! / Hearing the hours chime' - before Larkin appeared to wish for unemployment, whereas now the prospect seems to be unappealing to him. Time appears to go by with nothing much to do, and he narrates as if those who do not work are more aware of the bleakness of life; he seems to think that there is nothing else which could be used to bide time other than employment. This point is strengthened by Larkin telling the reader of how they will sit 'Turning over their failures' - if he is working, he has no time to consider negative thoughts, and in this way work acts as a distraction from reality.
     In this poem, as in many others from 'The Whitsun Weddings', Larkin narrates with an external personna; he is outside looking in on the unemployed, pondering over a world that 'doesn't suit [him]'. This gives 'Toads Revisited' a lonely, isolated tone. The personna which Larkin has created appears to be stuck in the habit of things, suffocated by routine, and it is with his final line that we realise just how hopeless the idea of change is: 'Give me your arm, old toad; / Help me down Cemetery Road'. This could be due to the 'something sufficiently toad-like' thats 'hunkers are heavy as hard luck, / And cold as snow'. This phrase implimented towards the end of 'Toads' seems still to be of clear relevance in 'Toads Revisited', almost worsened, as Larkin depicts the fact that he can no longer see any future without his occupation (which at the time was that of a Librarian), and decides that he will be led to his death by 'the toad work'.