First Sight

'First Sight' is different to the majority of Larkin's poems; he turns something gloomy into something optimistic, when usually it is the other way around. However, optimism does usually manifest in nature within Larkin's poems, especially the cycles of nature (seasons, what goes around comes back around). The poem revolves around lambs in the snow, and how the miserable surroundings of winter will always be met with spring. This piece of knowledge provides a sense of comfort and hope.

     The first stanza appears gloomy and miserable, as Larkin describes 'Lambs that learn to walk in snow' and how they 'Meet a vast unwelcome, know / Nothing but a sunless glare.' The imagery of the lambs' surroundings is dismal, and Larkin creates a pessimistic tone of never being met with anything new, always awaking to the same cold, uncomfortable landscape. 'All they find, outside the fold, / Is a wretched width of cold.' - this suggests that there is nothing more to find than what greets you, that life is just the way it is and there is no changing it. The words 'vast' and 'width' convey the feeling that these dismal surroundings are never ending; they will be there forever, stretching out with no end.

     However, this pessimistic and slightly depressing first stanza is followed by one of optimism and hope. Larkin uses the changing of the seasons to change the tone of his poem: 'Earth's immeasurable surprise' (spring). He describes how the spring is 'Hidden round them, waiting too', and it is 'Utterly unlike the snow.' This fills the reader with a sense of hope and a belief that there is an end to the dismal times - you just have to wait for change. This natural arrival of sun, warmth and the blossoming of flowers promises hope and overshadows the snow and the cold which has made the animals' lives so miserable. I believe that, through this poem, Larkin is portraying the message that things will get better, and time and the natural cycle of life can change something from being dismal to delightful. This is strange from Larkin as he usually ends his poems on a pessimistic note with a cynical message.

     The rhyme scheme of 'First Sight' is 'a b a b a c c' in both stanzas. This could be interpreted as depicting how life is monotonous and the same ('a b a b a') but then suddenly changes and brings something new ('c c').