Ambulances Philip Larkin

Stanza One The first stanza describes ambulances threading their way through a busy city. The ambulances are ‘Light glossy grey’ in colour and the badge of the ambulance is painted on them. The ambulances attract a lot of attention as they pass through the streets.

Stanza One People can’t help gazing at them, yet it is impossible to see into the ambulances because their windows are made of unreflective glass. Nowhere is safe from illness and death. An ambulance can be called to any street at any time to deal with a sick or dying person. ‘They come to rest at any kerb:/All streets in time are visited’.

Stanza Two The poet imagines an ambulance collecting a patient. He imagines the patient’s face as ‘wild’ and ‘white’ with sickness when he is placed in the back of the ambulance. He describes women and children as fascinated by the sight of the patient being carried away.

Stanza Two The smells of cooking come from the surrounding houses, bringing to mind normal, everyday existence. The patient has been torn from this world of everyday routine and placed in the terrifying space of the ambulance, a place from which he may never return.

Stanza Two When the onlookers see the patient they realise that death is always present, that it lurks under everyday life. It ‘lies under all we do’. For a split second they fully realise that they themselves are going to die and are horrified.

Stanza Two The onlookers pity the patient and themselves, for they realise that one day they will face the ‘solving emptiness’ of death. The poet suggests that there is no life after death. Death is an emptiness that leaves us as nothing, a ‘permanent’, endless blankness.

Stanza Three and Four The poet imagines someone dying in the back of the ambulance. The person’s life is nearly over and in death the person will lose everything. The poet says that our different experiences come together to make us who we are. However as the person lies dying in the ambulance, the tapestry of his life begins to ‘loosen’.

Stanza Three and Four When we witness an ambulance race through parting traffic, we are filled with bleak thoughts. Our deaths seem very real and very close. For a moment, the stuff of everyday life appears dull and unimportant. Our lives, ‘all we are’ seems nothing more than a journey towards death.

What is this poem about? Death The poem makes a number of points about the nature of death: Death is everywhere. Death, like ambulances, will eventually come to every street and every house. Death can strike very suddenly. One moment you are living your life, the next you are dying in an ambulance.

What is this poem about? Death The poem suggests that there is no life after death. Death is an emptiness that will dissolve all that we are. Death is something people don’t usually like to think about but are confronted with it when they see an ambulance.

What is this poem about? Ambulances The poem offers a very grim view of ambulances. They are not seen as life- saving but as something menacing. The ambulances appears sinister with their grey colouring and shaded windows. They are seen as messengers of death, coming to rest at any kerb.

What is this poem about? Ambulances The ambulances are frightening closed- off spaces: ‘Closed like confessionals’. When a sick person lies inside one, he is cut off from everything he knows and loves and is trapped.

Questions What view of death is described in this poem? Would you agree that this is a bleak and depressing poem? Why or why not? Do you think this poem presents a realistic portrayal of ambulances? Does it fit with your impression of ambulances?