The poem 'Ambulance' Expression of Philip Larkin's Concept of Death

The concept of death in Ambulance

Death is a distinctive feature of all of Larkin's poems and is a key quality that is frequently suggested in Larkin's poems such as Ambulances and Mr. Blainey. A certainty, an end, something to be feared but ultimately a part of everyday life. This is also shown in Mr. Blainey as he is gone. Mr. Blainey does not tell us why or how. Death is also indicated by the name of the body. Death is a fundamental quality of Larkin's poetry that is referenced in all of his poems.

The poem represents death. The ambulance is death. In stanza 1, Larkin mentions how the ambulance can rest on any crib. This reveals the randomness of the ambulance and thus also mentions the randomness of death. Larkin mentions how "all the streets are visited in time", Larkin means that death is inevitable, because the day you die an ambulance will pick you up, you cannot escape death, Larkin also presents the idea that people in general forget about death, Larkin forgets how death comes once, once. Being fascinated with it because it seems so strange. Larkin then mentions how these "spectacles" "feel the emptiness that lies beneath us all" and understand for a moment that there is only one certainty of life, death. Larkin then begins to describe the idea that after you die, your body is just an ordinary object. Larkin describes a body being carried away by an ambulance with the word "it", explaining how Larkin feels that the body has no meaning as it is being "laid out" like an ordinary inanimate object, which makes Larkin feel like the body is like a piece of a vehicle.

The emergency clearly takes place at lunchtime, perhaps Larkin decided that the poem should be set during school holidays because it refers to children playing in the streets. The reference to children playing in the streets gives you an immediate sense that this poem was written a few decades ago, the streets are no longer a safe place for children to play, the patient is clearly very distressed, Larkin describes his face as “wild and white faced”, but life goes on as the frightened and distraught patient is laid out on a stretcher covered in the blood of the street’s residents. In great distress but the pots are still lying on the stove and it immediately reminds me of wartime when women refused to go into air raid shelters because their food would burn. We still have no idea whether the patient is male, female, young or old. Larkin is keeping us in the dark.

Keywords: 

• Philip Larkin
• Ambulances Poem
• Theme of Death
• Inevitability of Death
• Mortality and Human Life
• Death as Certainty
• Symbolism of the Ambulance
• Dehumanization in Death
• Emptiness of Existence
• Isolation and Loneliness
• Finality of Life
• Existential Philosophy
• Human Condition
• Imagery of Blood and Colour
• Fear of Death
• Ordinary Life vs Death
• Spectators and Indifference
• Death as Final Journey
• Universal Truth of Mortality
• Philosophical Reflection on Life

Stanza three conveys an air of utter despair Larkin says, “And feel the emptiness that we all do” It seems that Larkin means that life is futile, he may also be thinking that death takes precedence over life. And complete it for a second, then permanent and empty and true death is final lesson, it is constant Larkin makes sure we know that the neighbours are upset by the scene and the patient is finally pushed inside the shiny grey ambulance and only then are they able to empathise with the whole situation. It seems that the neighbours watch but none of them want to get involved, we are supposed to assume that the patient travels to hospital, there is no mention of anyone else there.

The next two lines give us great insight into how serious the situation is, Larkin talks about “dead air”, “sudden closure of loss” and “something close to an end” so from these words we can infer that the patient is taking his final journey. Only then do you see the word “family” but Larkin seems to be referring to a previous life. Life is slowly slipping away and the tone of the verse has stopped but in the fifth, the next few lines there is great sadness and that sadness is so tangible that it could make you think that Larkin was thinking about his own death.

“Death is near, the patient lies alone and there is no one to share his last moments with.”

The ambulance is more of a symbolic poem I believe that the ambulance is a symbol of illness, disease and death. It says in the first stanza that in time all the streets are visited? This is a very realistic statement because an ambulance will eventually come to every street, as illness, disease and death will come. As the sirens sound and the ambulance approaches the hospital entrance the traffic senses the emergency and the racing car pulls up to pass in a hurry The last line is “Brings near what is the life to come” Does this mean that Larkin believed in an afterlife? For me, those few words give me a sense of hope, but in the final line, “And we all are,” my hopes hit the rocks. Philip Larkin’s “Ambulances” is a very astute observation of life.

Philip Larkin reveals in all his work the emptiness that we all experience. The way we travel through life, riding the wave of superficial things, is also to see in the moment what is really happening. Larkin’s goal is to remove the blindness that arises from our deep involvement, and to try to draw the reader to see the bigger picture. In Ambulances he recognizes death as a powerful tool that allows people to see beyond themselves and the things around them. The idea of his impending demise, 'so permanently empty and true' allows him to 'complete it' and see the truth, the sheer enormity of death makes the things we worry about in everyday life irrelevant, but this feeling is a curse, as once you see it fully, see life for what it is, it 'leads to a slowness to distance ourselves from all that is of importance to us'. This can be seen within Larkin as he attempts to fill the void left by his separation from life and society, it is not a work that stands on its own but rather supporting evidence designed to live with the messages he creates in his other works, although it does create a reaction that he begins to take as truth within his reader. "Pain." This is his use.

The undeniable truths that make Larkin’s work so powerful are that he creates a situation where the reader sees something within themselves and is compelled to feel it. He does not propose a fully formed interpretation, because that would be quite ‘reproachably perfect’ like the closed interpretation offered by society that he hates. Instead he points to an understanding without explicitly stating what it is. This means that the interpretation depends on the reader and that is why Larkin’s works relate to so many people. He bases his works on the things that make us fundamentally human.

This poem gives you a chilling insight into death and its inevitability for all of us. The imagery evokes a great deal of emotion and depth, far deeper than words can convey, a complex, yet haunting poem, once understood, the ambulances are a metaphor for the inevitable fate, death, that befalls us all, further emphasised by the line “they rest on any suffocation”. The horrific descriptions of the “wild white face” against the “red” blanket, the contrasting colours of red and white skin/bones and blood, emphasise the horrors of death, the horrors of rotting flesh. What is being carried away dehumanises ‘it’ the patient, our body after death is just an object. It is important to note that we say ‘poor soul’ symbolises our selfish retreat into our own problems as we wallow in self-pity in the ambulances.