Mr Bleaney

The poem addresses the key themes of loneliness and the shallowness of human life from the outset. The name Mr
Bleaney as the title evokes the emotion of insipidness as the word conjugation is very monotonous with no strong
syllables. Similar to the nature of the room Larkin describes, the name has little stimulation.

CONTENT

A man is being shown his new flat by a landlady, who tells him about the man who used to live there who recently
died. The flat isn't a place in which you would want to stay long and the man being shown the flat is continually
described as living a replicate life of Mr Bleaney (the deceased man), leading us to believe that he is soon going to
end up with the same fate as him. The themes that are discussed in this poem are those of death, the point of life,
boredom and the cyclical nature of humanity. The key image for me within the poem is that of the flat itself that
reveals a lot of things about the life of the inhabitant, for example; 'Fall to within five inches of the sill'. For me the
description of the flat as 'one hired box' is one that leaves a lasting image because, it portrays the flat in a similar
way to a coffin.
ANALYSIS

Stanza One
The poem begins with the land lady speaking and introducing us to the character of Mr Bleaney, 'This was Mr
Bleaney's room' the way in which the persona doesn't speak first already shows that he doesn't have much of a
personality, which allows us to believe that he will follow the same path as Mr Bleaney. This also shows that the
persona isn't important, this happens to different people over and over again. The way that the land-lady starts the
poem is similar to Dockery and Son where the dean introduces the character of Dockery, 'Dockery was junior to you,
Wasn't he?' the people that are spoken of and the personas have no actual links with each other; other than their
circumstances. The fact that Mr Bleaney was dying, or died, whilst he was in the flat is shown in this first stanza
'They moved him.' this shows at the very beginning of the poem that anyone staying in the flat isn't living a very good
life. The description of the curtains in the first stanza are a metaphor for the inhabitants life, 'Flowered curtains, thin
and frayed, Fall to within five inches of the sill' they represent a life of missed opportunities, the flowered pattern
demonstrates that life was once full of optimism; however, now they fall short of expectations.

Stanza Two

The second stanza shows how Mr Bleaney would have watched the world industrialising through the window,
'Whose windows shows a strip of building land' the world was changing around him, leaving him behind in the flat
which was in effect a coffin. The final line of stanza two further shows how the furnishings of the flat and it's dcor
are a metaphor for the inhabitants lives, 'Bed, upright chair, sixty-watt bulb, no hook Behind the door, no room for
books or bags-' the one upright chair represents the loneliness and isolation of the flat, and the sixty-watt bulb paints
a picture of a dim, dank place and the fading light of Mr Bleaney's - and possibly now the persona's - life. The lack of
space for personal belongings also shows that no one was expected to stay or settle for long; it is meant to be a
place for passing through rather than living in.
Stanza Three

In stanza three the persona finally speaks, showing his unimportance and back-seat in his own story, 'I'll take it.' the
persona obviously doesn't care about the dishevelled appearance of the flat, indicating that he has learnt to accept
life's vast disappointments. He then goes on to describe how he ended up '[lying] Where Mr Bleaney lay, and stub
my fags On the same saucer-souvenir,' this is showing the similarity between the persona and the late Mr Bleaney,
and plants the seed into the readers head that the persona is heading in the same direction as Mr Bleaney was. The
'saucer-souvenir' isn't even a proper ash tray and the fact that it is a souvenir suggests that it used to hold a precious
memory of a happier time; though now that doesn't matter as all happiness has blurred into monotony.

Stanza Four

Stanza four carries on with enjambment from stanza three, 'Stuffing my ears with cotton-wool, to drown' the persona
is attempting to cut off the only bit of life that he can hear from his isolation. The persona also seems to have a deep
understanding of Mr Bleaneys life, 'I know his habits' I took this to interpret that the land-lady has had a chain of Mr
Bleaney's, all waiting to die, live in the flat and has enforced the same routine upon them all. This symbolises a
chain of Mr Bleaney and the portrays the cyclical nature of life.

Stanza Five

This idea is continued into stanza five with the description of Mr Bleaney's 'yearly frame' showing that his life was on
a boring, monotonous, loop. This description of his life shows that he didn't really have anyone who cared for him,
even though the Frinton folk 'put him up for summer holidays' this sounds begrudging, as if they were having him
only because they felt sorry for him.

Stanza Six

At stanza six there is a change of structure and tone in the poem, this is where Larkin takes it out from his usual
specific subject matter or object; into a wider philosophical concept. The persona now begins to speculate on what
Mr Bleaney did 'But if' maybe projecting his own thoughts into the character he has learnt of Mr Bleaney, to make
them less daunting. The last two lines of stanza six create an unsettling image for the reader as everyone has the
same fear of death; 'Telling himself that this was home, and grinned, And shivered, without shaking off the
dread'. These lines link with both Nothing to Be Said, which talks about the human fear of death, and how we try to
bury it underneath our pointless day to day meanderings. Furthermore, they link with The Importance of
Elsewhere in which Larkin talks about not feeling at home, or fitting in, anywhere. Stanza six appears to be showing
how Mr Bleaney is waiting for death.

Stanza Seven
Stanza seven shows Larkin give a contrasting view to that of many of his other poems such as The Whitsun
Weddings, Dockery and Son, and Self's the Man. 'And at his age having no more to show' by this Larkin means no
wife, no children and no family to speak of, Larkin seems to be saying by this that is you haven't done this in your
life, you have missed the point of life. In the penultimate line the flat is referred to as 'one hired box' which portrays
that the flat is merely a pre-curser to the coffin. In the final line Larkin takes one last dig at Mr Bleaney, 'He
warranted no better,'indicating that he deserved what he got in life because that's all he tried for. This is a similar
idea to Wild Oats where the persona doesn't go for what he really wants in life because it's too much effort, and
ends up unhappy.