Take One Home For The Kiddies

Theme:

There is a morbid theme to this poem about pet shops, especially children wanting a new pet to have. The poem is about loss, death and fickle life, as well as highlighting families and children and how children behave.

Content:

The pets are lonely, and described waiting to be selected. Larkin is sarcastic with the children, and the poem is based on his walk past a pet shop.

Structure:

The simple ABAB rhyme scheme of the short poem suggests the simplicity view of life in this poem.

Analysis:

• 'Kiddies' implies immaturity and youth, almost harmless and affectionate. This also makes it sound sarcastic, parents calling their kids a nickname.
• 'Shallow straw, shadeless glass' - the pets are kept like stock and have a meaningless existence. Larkin is anti-confidement of animals and the cruelty of keeping pets is unpleasant and depressing.
• 'No dark, no dam, no earth, no glass' - the light is always on, taken away from their mothers too young, no earth to dig and no glass, no welfare
• 'Mam' - italics means another voice, common and of a working class who is ignorance and careless.
• 'Living toys' 'novel' - new and exciting, the children are uncaring, fickle and only have a short care for the pets until they get bored then neglect them. The animals are easily forgotten.
• 'Fetch the shoebox, fetch the shovel' - afterwards the children aren't even upset by the death. They had no devotion or care for the animals.
• 'Playing funerals' - new games, heartless, resilient