For Larkin, hopes, dreams and ideals are ‘relentlessly diminished by the realities of life.’ (Peter King). How far do you agree with this statement in relation to Mr Bleaney? In ‘Mr Bleaney’ Larkin explores thematically the nature of failure, finality and misery. The poem tells the story of two characters, bound together by their connection to the same lodging room. Larkin draws focus to the material articles in the poem to form a representation of failure. Larkin notes the ‘same saucer-souvenir,’ this use of alliteration emphasises the fact that it is more than a tacky memento of day out at Frinton, but a symbol of disappointment. The ‘saucer’ is a reminder to both Mr Bleaney and the reader that he lives in a world where all he can do is go to Frinton and all he can buy is cheap and worthless. The fittings of the room itself serve up the perfect metaphor for this constant dampener of ‘reality.’ The curtains are described as ‘thin and frayed.’ It is as though Mr Bleaney’s own existence is ‘frayed’ around the edges, that his own life has suffered the attrition of reality, that he has been warn down by failed expectations and dreams unconquered.
This metaphor is carried within another, however, as Larkin uses assonance to highlight the ‘thin’ curtains falling to ‘within five inches of the sill.’ An obvious metaphor for the idea of ‘falling short.’ It represents further the failure to achieve expectations or desires and also expresses the ‘falling short’ of reality, that it is not the fault of the individual, for failing to attain their dreams, but they are bound by a the world in which they live. Though Larkin then comments that having ‘one hired box’ as a sum of one’s possessions is a facet of the character of Mr Bleaney himself that he ‘warranted no better.’ In this final stanza Larkin alludes to the idea that financial success is linked to self worth. Though it may be read as an irony, mocking those who think that Mr Bleaney is deserved the surroundings he found himself in. Larkin uses form and structure to aid in his depiction of this dystopic world, as they help him to show that each man is trapped within a societal structure of their own, forced down a set path and also to show this continuation between the world of Mr Bleaney and the narrator. His choice of iambic pentametre acts as though a ticking clock, showing the continuation between the worlds of Mr Bleaney and the narrator. The iambic pentametre represents the on going nature of existence and reality, suggesting that Mr Bleaney and our narrator are merely operating within a set framework.
This is further emphasised through the alternate rhyme scheme, which also offers further comparison between the narrator and Mr Bleaney, as though each rhyming couplet complements the other, as both characters live through the same realities, part of the same cyclical life pattern, trapped, by fate, with no escape. Larkin also makes use of enjambment throughout the poem to demonstrate this cyclical nature of life and how our narrator is being forced through the same patterns as Mr Bleaney, that Mr Bleaney’s existence has merely flowed into that of the narrator. Larkin rarely uses end-stopping within ‘Mr Bleaney’ either. This creates an image similar to that created by enjambment, that Mr Bleaney and the narrator do not have any real determination over their own life at all, that they are merely following their own fate. This continued theme of lack of control and the cyclical nature of life seems to be understood by Mr Bleaney as he ‘grinned then shivered, shaking off the dread.’
There is a note of desperation in this smile as Mr Bleaney understands the dreadfulness of his situation, but ‘shaking of the dread’ seems to show that he also understands that there is nothing he can do about it, as though Bleaney realises that he has just received a bad deal. And within that there is an air of acceptance, Mr Bleaney does not try to fight against his own situation, but takes it as it is. Thus this theme of continuation helps support the idea that Mr Bleaney’s own dreams have been diminished, that he realises that he cannot achieve them as he is only acting within a pre-determined continuance.
