1) Aside from the sneering comments that the persona gives us throughout about the people, the poem has a beautiful deeper meaning to it. The persona, as an outsider and observer, shows the different interpretations about marriage. The happy, positive idea what that it has the potential for great things - though it has a negative idea behind it. The persona suggests that no one, once married, interacts with people and won't do anything with their married lives. They sit and watch the world go by - just like they do whilst sitting on the train. The train is sending them ahead and into their future. They cannot see what's ahead but the persona realises that it's up to them what will be there; but they don't seem to be thinking about it. The couples also don't think about the 'religious wounding' or the advice that was being thrown at them. The wounding is almost like a scar that the church provides them and acts like a sacrifice, they won't be able to do what they want to do when they are married because they have to think about each other. It can also show the fear within marriage and the uncertain future. Sex would not have been something the couple did until marriage which would scare a lot of young women. This is seen when the persona describes his imagination of the unmarried girls 'gripping their handbags tighter'. The advice is from those who are married but aren't listened to because they are hiding the truth of disappointment.
2) This poem shows the journey home to Hales. The persona negatively describes the manmade, industrial view and positively describes the beautiful nature of the countryside. This is suggesting that in order to appreciate life, understand human existence and think about the world, you need to escape the manmade and look around for the wonderful thing that is nature and get away from everything – become ‘out of reach’ to the world.
3) The persona talks of life from a middle-aged person’s perspective and shows a negative view on it. It describes how as you grow older, you are limited with what you can do because of the choices you’ve made in the past, and you can’t go back and change what you picked. That part of life is gone and it can’t be brought back. The persona reflects on talking about Dockery and his son. He is aware that he is childless and that it is the better way of life in his opinion. Having children weakens you and doesn’t allow you to do the things you want. But, he made that decision without realising it. He believes that there isn’t any such with as free will because everyone is a product of their life decisions. Everyone lives their life knowing what they think they have picked but life goes very quickly and is soon gone. It is obvious that this is a non-religious persona because he talks of death being the ‘end’. This adds to the dramatically negative view of life and creates a depressing feeling – especially because it ends with death; the ‘end’.
