'Dockery and Son' is a thoughtful, thoughtful and uncertain poem in which Larkin produces a sense of life adrift and considers "how much of life is gone, / How far from others." While the narrator cannot be assumed to be Larkin, the poem's tone, ideas, and reflections support a biographical reading. The poem begins with Larkin returning to his former university and talking to the "Principal" who mentions that Dockery who "was junior" to Larkin now has a son who attends the same university. As Larkin returns to the train, he considers how young Dockery must have been when he had his son, which leads him to his next thoughts on the consequences of their different choices in life. The ambiguity at the beginning of the poem, such as the precise purpose of visiting the "Dean" and being "dressed fit for death, visitor," sets the tone for personal uncertainty of emotions as Larkin considers the purpose of his life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The narrative details end with the fourth stanza as Larkin conflicts with the central tenet of the poem: an attempt to understand “Where do these innate assumptions arise “where do you come from?” –obsessive attachments and belief in personal purpose in life as our emotions “harden into all we have.” Larkin juxtaposes himself with Dockery, “embodying / To Dockery a son, to me nothing, / Nothing” which is the most uncertain notion in the poem as it could show how the his choices in life do not "embody" "adding". However, Larkin's dark tone and repetition of nothingness seem to reflect an awareness of the negative consequences of believing that “adding […] is dilution”. clouds of sand, thick and close” although a familiar purpose concludes the poem by suggesting that life, “whether we use it or not, goes”. The language is that of an 'everyday' lexicon and contemplative register, almost colloquial but with tones of thought defined in sentences such as “But Dockery, good sir,…”. The rhythm is irregular and often disjointed at the beginning of the poem, much like the sudden in medias res beginning that immediately brings the reader into the situation. The second verse begins abruptly, “Stuck.” and the images of “The Canal and the clouds and the colleges subside / Slowly to the sight” – emphasized by the euphony of the hard alliteration of the 'c' and the consonance of the 'l' – are abruptly interrupted by “And ate an wrong pie” . The initially broken rhythm contrasts with the subsequent accumulation of enjambments and long sentences that show a deeper immersion in the thought “of discovering how much of life is gone”. The thoughts seem to begin as Larkin “walked along / The platform to the end” and saw: The joining and parting of the lines reflect a strong, unobstructed moon. Having no children, no wife, no house or land still seemed completely natural. The symbolism in these lines is moving and the “lines” (similarly to the “bright nodes of the track” in The Weddings of Pentecost) could be choices and potentialities in life and different paths of opportunity (with the present participle of “join and separate” which adds to the flow of the poem). The “Unhindered Moon” is a powerful image that suggests certainty and a sense of destiny in the range of “lines” of life. However, the juxtaposition with the repeated “no” presents an undertone of uncertainty that is also slightly connoted in an alternative sense of “moon” as constantly changing when juxtaposed with “natural.” The continuous enjambement used in the final stanzas reflects the contradictions and complexity of Larkin's thought: At only nineteen, he must have taken stock of what.