use of irony in ambulances

use of irony in ambulances 

Irony in Ambulances

Irony is a figure of speech in which the speaker says something that is radically different from what they mean or what the situation actually is.

'Ambulances,' by Philip Larkin, is a poem that describes an ordinary or daily scene. 'Ambulances' is about an ambulance taking someone away while the rest of the neighborhood looks on. It depicts the inevitability of death and the curiosity that every human being possesses. This essay will look at how the poet uses an ordinary scene to convey a larger universal issue and make it noteworthy. The article will also demonstrate how Larkin's use of poetic techniques transforms a mundane or commonplace scene into something more significant. Larkin decides to employ strategies to pique the reader's interest in the ordinary situation that will be discussed in further depth later in the poem at the start of stanza 1:

“Closed like confessionals, they thread”
Larkin employs an analogy to illustrate how the Ambulance is viewed from the inside out. A 'confessional' is a tiny space in a church where a person can confess their sins and become closer to God. This comparison of the ambulance to a confessional suggests that the inside of the ambulance is a very confined space, and that if someone is going to the hospital, it is because something bad has happened to them, and that comparing the ambulance to a confessional connects it to god and living rather than dying. Larkin evokes a sense of carefulness from the ambulance by using the word 'thread,' and the way it goes through city traffic provides the impression that it's weaving through the city.

In the first stanza, Larkin depicts the public's fascination with an ambulance and the number of attention it receives:

 “giving back none of the glances they absorb”

'none of the' is a phrase that can be translated as "none of the This shows that residents in the vicinity are paying attention to where the ambulance is going and are curious about why it is needed. This also shows how a sad event like an ambulance or fire engine piques everyone's curiosity since they want to know what happened. 

In this scene, Larkin introduces a public curiosity backdrop motif. In this scene, Larkin has also employed personification to give the ambulance a human dimension by hinting that it could look back if it so wished, despite the fact that this isn't realistic. 

At the end of stanza 1, Larkin introduces two of the primary topics and simultaneously strikes a chord in the reader's imagination:

“They come to rest at any kerb:
all streets in time are visited”

By utilizing the words 'any' and 'all,' Larkin emphasizes the enormity of the issue. Everyone dies at some point in their lives, and you can't pick when or where it happens. As a result, the poem's theme, the inevitability of death, is introduced, and the reader is reminded that it will happen to them at some point. This also connects to the concept of death, which Larkin delves deeper into later in the poem. Also, the phrase 'any' implies that no one will be singled out by death because they are of a different race, regardless of their social class, race, or age.

In stanza 2, Larkin introduces theme of death.

“wild white face that overtops
red stretcher-blankets momently”

Larkin used imagery to demonstrate how powerful the issue of death is in 'Ambulances.' When Larkin describes the person's appearance, he uses imagery; for example, saying "wild white face" gives the idea that the guy or woman is dead, their blood has been drained. It also affects the reader by reminding them of our tenuous hold on life and the fact that people are not immune to death, reinforcing the notion that death is unavoidable. Larkin's word choice here is strange; labelling the face as "wild" is odd because it is anything from wild. The face is lifeless and lacks any kind of ferocity. The contrast between the 'wild white face' and the'red stretcher-blankets,' the contrast between the colours red and white, is also striking. Both colours are associated with a hospital or an ambulance.

 To summaries, Larkin has done a fantastic job of examining the bigger topic of death and its inevitability through the use of a common or daily circumstance, such as an ambulance being summoned to a house in a small neighborhood. Larkin accomplishes this by using literary devices like similes, imagery, and personification to describe the scene in the poem. 'Ambulances,' by Philip Larkin, is a terrifying poem that forces the reader to confront something that we as a culture want to avoid thinking about. As a result, the reader will find this poem to be incredibly eye-opening.

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