Olivia Ansdel l & Georgia Punchard.

A WALL

o In this poem Abse descr ibes a wal l . He gives the wall no purpose as the wall is “ just there”.

o At f i rst glance the wall appears to be a useless wall as “ i t begins for no reason” and is “seemingly unremarkable” but “seemingly” implies that the wall only looks useless and that there is actual ly a purpose for i t .

o In the f irst stanza i t ’s clear that the wall is not spoken of highly, but in the second Abses opinion seems to change.

o In the second stanza the wall suddenly has a purpose as i t “exists for golden l ichens to sett le”, “ for butterf l ies” and “ for huddl ing sheep in a slant ing rainfall .”

WHAT THE POEM IS ABOUT.

o In this poem Abse tel ls us that things aren’t always what they appear and that their purpose, or the appearance that there isn’t one, can be mistaken. This means that this poem can be l inked to Larkin's Arundel Tomb.

o In Arundel Tomb it gives the message to not judge something on appearance, and how easi ly things can be misinterpreted, l ikewise with how people view the wall in this poem.

o Another theme shown in this poem is lonel iness. As “no other wal ls are adjacent” to the wall . This creates an image that the wall is lonely and isolated from everything else, this can interpreted as how Abse is feel ing. This personif ication is also found in Larkin's poem Home is so sad.

o In this poem Larkin tel ls us how sad and lonely he is by portraying himself as a house l ikewise to Abse with the wall in this poem.

LINKS TO LARKIN

o With this poem Abse tel ls us that even though something seems useless, that to someone else or through a different perspect ive everything can have meaning.

o There are a lot of things which goes unrecognised and there’s a lot of people who seem unimportant and invaluable but Abse shows us that just by looking at i t in a different way you can see i ts potential.

o He tel ls us to not judge a book by i ts cover and to give people/ things a second chance.

o Abses opinion of the wall changes quickly from the f irst stanza to the last, this implies that i f you al low yourself , your opinion of things could change quickly and i f you al lowed yourself to you could see the good and the purpose in everything.

A MESSAGE

A wa l l i n a f i e l d i n t he Coun t r y o f G lamorgan . You won ’ t f i nd i t names i n any gu idebook . I t l i es , p lonk , i n t he m idd le o f t he r i s i ng g round , Fo r t y - f ou r paces l ong , h igh as you r eyes , I t beg ins f o r no reason , ends no p lace . No o the r wa l l s a re ad jacen t t o i t . Seem ing ly un remarkab le , i t ’s j us t t he re , S tones o f d i f f e ren t s i zes , d i f f e ren t g reys . Don ’ t say t h i s wa l l i s use less , t ha t t he g rass On t he shadow s ide i s much l i ke t he o the r. I t ex i s t s f o r go lden l i chen t o se t t l e , Fo r bu t t e r f l i es t on t he i r obs tac le r ace Chas ing each o the r t o t he w inn ing pos t , Fo r hudd l i ng sheep i n a s l an t i ng ra in f a l l , Fo r you t o say, “Th i s wa l l i s beau t i f u l . ”

- Dann ie Abse A WALL