At the Concert

The persona, in this poem, is at a concert. Whilst listening to the music, he thinks about his walk to the concert and how he saw a bored sheep and horse. He also thinks about the “pretty Miss” that he is sat next to and wonders is she is just as bored with life as the sheep and horse. He then thinks about his cat that he left at home. Throughout the concert, he is distracted and thinking about everyone in the world and the cycle of life.

The poem is told non-chronologically which doesn’t reflect the meaning of the poem. The persona is explaining that life is boring and everyone is tuck in their own routine that they desire to break free from. However, the non-chronological order of events suggests that the persona is trying to interest himself about life and break away from the routine.

He talks about a sheep, a horse, the pretty Miss and his cat whilst listening to a boring song. The fact that the persona describes the concert as “yawn-fecund” shows that his boredom made him think of others and their boredom. He thinks about the sheep who is eating the “same old grass” with its “same old flavour”. The repetition of the phrase ‘same old’ shows that boredom and the fact the everything is the same every single day. He thinks about the horse who “stays utterly still” and is compared to a statue. This shows that the horse has no purpose and no reason to move. The “pretty Miss” who could be called this to convey lack of identity, is bored at the concert and doesn’t react to the music until the last note. The last note is described “like a prince’s kiss”. The use of the similie shows that life is plain and needs to be compared to things to add depth and colour. The similie shows that the last note brought the woman to life – like Snow White was brought to life when her prince kissed her. His cat, who “squats in [his] chair” isn’t being played with and carried around. The cat is just sitting there, blinking “now and then”. The cat is described as ‘squatting’ which shows that it is watching the world pass it by. The lack of blinking shows that it is the only thing for the cat to do. It is unamused watching the “blank TV screen”. Blank could reflect on the lifestyles that the animals and the woman live.

To the woman, the persona asks (in his head) if her life is “static too”. Static suggests that the life she lives is still and rigid which shows that it is unmoving and is trapping her into routine. The use of the word ‘too’ shows that the persona believes that he and everyone is living a life just like her. People don’t go out and make something with their lives – they wait “for something to happen”. “Join the queue” also shows that there are many people in the same situation and the boring life people live stays with them “all the way to the Old People’s Home”. This suggests that the persona believes that a simple, plain life is lived every day until we die.

The persona doesn’t want to be at the concert. He wishes he was “staring through the garden window at a pear tree blossoming a masquerade of snow, an epiphany”. This shows that the persona doesn’t want to waste his life anymore. The tree blossoming a masquerade of snow suggests that as it grows it conceals things – like epiphanies for people to find. The persona has found the epiphany (not to waste life because everyone is living a boring life) through watching the sheep grow and live its life and watching the horse do the same. Now that the persona has found the epiphany, he feels there is a reason now for the pretty Miss to be clapping and people yelling ‘Bravo’.

‘At the Concert’ can be compared to ‘Broadcast’ by Larkin. Both poems illustrates the listening to music. Both personas are distracted. Larkin’s wants to find the clapping of his loved one and Abse’s is reflecting on life. However, Larkin’s poem shows the love of someone who yearns to be with someone but Abse’s poem shows disappointment in life. This disappoint for life is shown in ‘Self’s the Man’ by Larkin. Arnold is stuck in a routine with no money for himself as it goes towards things for his family, he has no time for himself because he has to do chores for his wife and is miserable.