'Closed Like Confessionals': Larkin on Mortality in 'Ambulances'

 Explore how Larkin presents mortality in ‘Ambulances’

By Margaret 

Larkin’s poem ‘Ambulances’ presents themes of mortality and the meaning of life through death. The grim tone of the poem is set in the first line when Larkin describes ambulances as ‘Closed like confessionals’. This religious element seems very bleak in this context, giving an impression of intimacy and truth, both things which are present at the moment of a person’s death. This immediate yet subtle introduction of the theme of mortality chills the atmosphere of the poem, which uses the image of an ambulance to embody the reality of mortality.

         Inevitable and unpredictable reminders of our mortality are also emphasised in this poem, using the ambulance metaphor. In the first stanza, Larkin states that ‘All streets in time are visited’ by the ambulance, and that they could stop at ‘any kerb’, presenting mortality as an ominous, lingering presence which is perhaps often forgotten. 

         Likewise, the poem also puts mortality in the context of everyday life. Larkin describes the ambulance in the second stanza passing ‘children strewn on steps’, ‘Or women coming from the shops’, people who might not think of death as they go about their day. Mortality is simultaneously contrasted with ordinary, innocent life, while also presented as constantly present and inescapable. 

         The tone of Larkin’s poem then shifts in the third stanza to explore the more complex meaning and connotations of mortality. He describes ‘the solving emptiness/That lies just under all we do’ and the way it may only be sensed when we suddenly and randomly witness death in our every-day lives. This idea also introduces the idea of people’s fear and ignorance of our own mortality- what do we live for, if we will ultimately die?

         The underlying truth in this question is reinforced when Larkin observes how ‘permanent and blank and true’ mortality is. This language is also connected with the corpse itself, and the poem focuses back on the ambulance metaphor when describing how the ‘fastened doors recede’. This strengthens the reader’s impression of the unchangeable reality of death, creating an image of the ambulance driving away irretrievably down the street, carrying the body with it.

         Furthermore, Larkin focuses again on the contrast between mortality and ordinary life in the fourth stanza. He mentions ‘the unique random blend/Of families and fashions’ which make up each person’s life. The alliteration of this phrase makes the idea seem trivial or silly, as if we are no more than just that. This concept also emphasises the fact that mortality is something which affects every single person, no matter their personality or lifestyle. 

         In addition, the enjambment from the fourth stanza to the fifth highlights the inevitability of death; the suspension of the natural flow of the poem helps the reader feel the jarring nature of mortality, as well as read about it. The fabric of life described in the last stanza ‘At last begins to loosen’, as the reality of mortality is brought home to the reader through Larkin’s words. 

         Larkin dwells on the ambulance metaphor once again, introducing the image of the body ‘Unreachable inside a room’, now ‘Far/From the exchange of love’. There is a physical as well as an emotional distance emphasised here- our mortality takes us away from our lives and the people in them in more ways than one. Larkin intentionally dehumanises the body in this poem, both here and earlier on when using the pronoun ‘it’; this strengthens the idea of the truth that death is final and unalterable. Mortality takes our humanness away from us in death.

         Finally, the poem ends by establishing the truth which has underscored every theme and idea in ‘Ambulances’. Larkin states that death ‘dulls to distance all we are’, meaning that, for all of our hopes and dreams and emotions, our mortality will eventually end all of it. The idea that the meaning of life is death is eminent throughout Larkin’s poetry and is made particularly clear in this one. Larkin presents the idea that it does not matter who we are or what our ‘families and fashions’ may be, as death ‘dulls’ it all in time. Even the ordinary picture of the ambulance carries the symbol of our mortality within it, as we will all be the one under the ‘stretcher-blankets’ sooner or later.