Love Songs In Age

This poem presents the life of a widow who re-visits some old sheets of music from her past, which remind her of the love she previously experienced. The woman appears to have many memories connected to these sheets of music; a happy past is linked to the memories, much happier than the present. This is shown in the first stanza through Larkin's description of the sheets: 'One bleached from lying in a sunny place, / One marked in circles by a vase of water, / One mended, when a tidy fit had seized her, / And coloured, by her daughter'. These visual markings represent cheerful memories; they hold connotations of jolly weather, flowers and new life (her child). The fact that one of the sheets was 'mended' portrays a sense of faith, and it could be argued that Larkin is depicting the woman's determination to not give up on her relationship, that she believed it was not to just be thrown away when the going got tough. The sheet would have held a sentimental value for her, a meaning beyond what it would seem, and for this reason she could not have just got rid of it. Towards the end of the first stanza, Larkin describes how the songs had been left untouched until 'in widowhood / She found them, looking for something else'. This presents the idea that it was by mistake that the woman re-discovered the songs, and it was at a time that she was vulnerable and lonely.
     Larkin uses many poetic devices in line seven. He tells the reader of how the sheets of music 'had waited' - this use of personification makes the sheets appear as an even clearer representation of the woman's loved one, and gives the illusion that they hold the ability to make her feel emotions, just as a person could. The caesuras used create a pause, depicting a sense of waiting, complimenting the word 'waited'. By using alliteration with the words 'waited' and 'widowhood', Larkin creates a sense of repetition, possibly echoing the way in which the woman is repeating the past in her mind.
     In the second stanza, Larkin contrasts the woman's past - which is linked to the songs - with her present, and how her view of love has been altered over time. As she looks over the songs, she 'Relearn[s]' the emotions which came with the music, such as the 'unfailing sense of being young' and the 'certainty of time laid up in store'. These memories are presented in a optimistic manner; the feeling that the two lovers had their whole lives ahead of them, that they had so much yet to come. These feelings come rushing back to her, and she can still remember them and feel them as clearly 'As when she played them first.'
     In the third stanza, Larkin presents love as a 'glare of... much mentioned brilliance'; the word 'glare' makes love seem overwhelming, painful and negative. Larkin is also using sarcasm when he talks about how much love is mentioned - he presents it as an over-done idea which is discussed too much. The word 'glare' is contrasted with the word 'sailing' in the third line of the second stanza. This word is peaceful and calm, the area of love which 'promis[es] to solve, and satisfy'. Love holds the elusive promise that it can solve everything, make everything better, but Larkin claims this to be untrue. He narrates to the reader how hard the woman finds it to 'pile [the songs] back, to cry' and eventually admit to herself that love 'had not done so then, and could not now'. Larkin's use of cadence in this final line gives certainty to the statement; his view on love appears unchangeable, and the tone of the poem ends in a pessemistic, hopeless tone, contrasting to the joy shown at the beginning. It seems that he is saying love cannot resolve anything, and the experience of youthful love that the woman is now reminiscing are gone. With age has come realisation and disappointment, and although she wishes to relive the past, she can't, as she has learnt now that love does not 'solve' nor 'satisfy', and it cannot live up to it's impossible expectations.