Down the M4

Theme:

Within this poem there is the sense of journey, old age and death as well as religion too.

Analysis:

First Stanza:

The persona is going back to South Wales because of some news (death of an elderly relative maybe). He's afraid of the news he might hear, and is surprised to be returning. He talks about his mother's friends and aunties and uncles who are also dying 'one by one' and all 'too often'. 'Go into the hole' implies death, a grave to be buried in and his mother is in the 'ninth decade' so it's a reminder that she could go at any time soon.

Second Stanza:

'Monotonous story of clocks' is a focus on the mother's memories of time, with an emphasis on being old and time progressing. The persona makes it sound boring and repetitive, that he's heard the stories many times. 'Perishable one two hundred times' means to decay in short time, and reminds the persona that he's also getting old. 

Third Stanza:

In this stanza he talks about his grandmother and her influence on others. She's 'geniune' and 'tells the truth' as a honest woman who's experienced lots over her lifetime. He compares her accents to stones, but stones last forever.

Fourth Stanza:

This last stanza links to the title of the poem and the journey of M4. The bridges 'leap' a metaphor and personification but also 'shrink into the mirror' suggesting that you only move forward in life and can only reflect on the past. 'Farther than smoke' is a long distance, that smoke stays there for a while before it disappears altogether, like life. Abse talks about a tune him and his mother sing, however knows it 'won't keep', that it will be forgotten, that his mother will go and he will too. The tune will be lost like them.

Links to Larkin:

Here - journey of thoughts and surroundings, isolation and being alone with thoughts. Abse doesn't focus on surroundings and doesn't take much in

Reference Back - old age, the elderly woman in this poem wants to go back but Abse's elderly look forward and the others are scared to lose them