Love Songs in Age by Philip Larkin
This poem presents the life of a widow who re-visits some old song books full of love songs from her past, which remind her of the love she previously experienced.
The woman kept her songs as they "kept so little space" suggesting she wouldn't have kept them if they took more space, which could imply they didn't mean much to her anymore. Nevertheless, ot could mean that she couldn't face getting rid of them because they had a a great amount of sentimental value.
The song books were "bleached from lying in a sunny place", "marked in circles by a vase of water", "mended" and "coloured, by her daughter". This shows that the books were forgotten about and not cared for, they had become part of the furniture. However, this could suggest that the books were not purposely damaged, they decayed due to age with enforces the idea that love can also decay with age. However, these visual markings represent cheerful memories; they hold connotations of warm weather, flowers and the birth of her daughter. But the fact that one of the sheets was 'mended' portrays a sense of faith. Larkin is depicting the woman's determination to not give up on her relationship although times may be tough.The sheet is a representation of her relationship, it was broken at one point, but eventually was 'mended.'
As the widower looks over the songs, the emotions which came with the music, such as the 'unfailing sense of being young' and the 'certainty of time laid up in store' are presented in a optimistic manner. The two lovers felt that they had their whole lives ahead of them, that they had so much yet to come. The feelings come rushing back to her, just like 'when she played them first.'
Larkin presents love as a 'glare of that much-mentioned brilliance.' The 'glare' could be suggesting that love is blinding and that when you're in love you lose sight of the other things in life which you should appreciate. Nevertheless, the 'glare' could also indicate that love is both the cause of physical and emotional pain, therefore love is portrayed in a negative manner.
The word 'glare' is contrasted with the word 'sailing' which conotes tranquility and peace. Love 'promis[es] to solve, and satisfy' which suggets it holds the elusive promise that it can solve everything and makes everything better. However, this is contraditced as the woman "pile(s) them (the songbooks) back" and cries as love "had not done so then, and could not now". This is stating that love doesn't solve everything and it never will, the promises that are made will always be broken.
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