The Concept of Death In The Ambulance

Death is a distinctive feature of all of Larkin's poems and it is a major quality that is frequently suggested in Larkin's poems such as Ambulances and Mr. Blainey, through death and dying in his poems Larkin creates a sense of loneliness and views human life with a grim eye and about death as a thing that exists. Certainly an end, something to be feared but ultimately a part of everyday life. This is also shown in Mr. Blainey as he is gone from Mr. Blainey but we are not told why and how death is alluded to as "body death" is a fundamental quality of Larkin's poetry that is mentioned in all of his poems.

The poem is representative of death, the ambulance is death. In stanza 1, Larkin mentions how the ambulance can rest on any crib.  This suggests the randomness of the ambulance and thus also mentions the randomness of death. Larkin mentions how "all the streets are visited in time" meaning 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 death comes. With this, the narrator pays attention because it seems so strange. Larkin then mentions how these "spectators" "feel the emptiness that we all do" and for a moment realize that there is only one certain death of life. Larkin then begins to describe the idea that once you die, your body is just an ordinary thing.  Larkin describes a body being carried away by an ambulance with the word "it", this shows how Larkin feels that the body has no meaning as if it is being "laid down" like an ordinary inanimate object, Larkin feels that the body is being locked up, just like a piece of cargo.

The emergency clearly takes place at lunchtime, perhaps Larkin decided that the poem should be set during school holidays because of its reference to children playing in the streets. The reference to children playing in the streets immediately makes you realise that the 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 panicked patient is put on a stretcher covered in blood.  One of the residents of the street may be in deep distress but the pots are still 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 paternet is male, female, young or old. Larkin is keeping us in the dark.

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 to top it off for a second, then permanent and empty and real death is final.

 Bob, this is constant Larkin makes sure we know 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 show sympathy for the whole situation. It seems the neighbours watch but none of them want to get involved, we are supposed to assume the patient makes the journey to hospital, no one else is mentioned there.

The next two lines give us great insight into how dire the situation is, Larkin talks about "dead air", "sudden closure of loss" and "something nearing its 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 hinting at a past life and hinting at some slowness.  The verse has everything but to stop. The next few lines in stanza five have 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 deviant poem. I believe that the ambulance is a ensign of illness, disease and death. The first stanza says that all the streets are visited in time? This is a very realistic statement because an ambulance will eventually come to every street, as illness and death come, as the siren sounds and the ambulance approaches the hospital entrance, the traffic senses the emergency and rushes to pass the racing car with the last line "brings near what is the life to come" Does this mean that Larkin believes in the afterlife?  For me those few words create a sense of hope but the last line "And dulls to away all we are, my hopes dashed to the rocks" "Ambulances" by Philip Larkin 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, in order to see what is really happening in the moment. Larkin aims to remove the blindness that arises from our deep involvement, in Ambulances he recognizes death as a powerful tool that allows people to see the things around them.  The idea of his impending demise "so permanently empty and true allows him to 'get it all' and see the truth, the sheer enormity of death diminishing the importance of the things that worry us in everyday life. But this realization is a curse, as once you see it fully, see life for what it is, it blurs the distance from us all, the things that see its importance in the struggle that makes it lose its importance. Within Larkin, as he tries to fill the void left by his separation from life and society, Ambulance is not really a work that stands on its own but rather a supporting evidence designed to live with the messages that arise in his other works, although it does evoke a response within the reader, as they begin to realize this reality.

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 forced to realize it.  He does not propose a fully formed interpretation, as would be reprehensibly perfect like the closed interpretation offered by the society he hates, instead he points to an understanding without explicitly stating what it is. This means that the interpretation is up to the reader and this 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, much deeper than words can. A complex, yet haunting poem, once understood, the ambulances are a metaphor for the inevitable fate, death, that comes to us all, further emphasised by the line "they rest on any crib" against the "red" blanket, the terrifying descriptions of the "wild white face" against the contrasting colours of blood.  They depict death, decaying flesh. What is taken away after death dehumanizes the patient, our body is just an object. It is important to note that when we say 'poor soul' it is a sign of our selfish retreat into our own problems as we wallow in self-pity in the ambulance.