Aubade Death Quotes

Death comes up right from the get-go in this one. This first mention of death gives us some clues that should prepare us to see death come up throughout the poem. Take a look at the word choices Larkin makes when referring to death. Death is "always there." Death is "unresting." Death makes thinking about anything else "impossible." We don't get the sense that a subject change is in the cards any time soon. We shouldn't be surprised to see death hanging out throughout the whole poem. Death is like that guy that shows up early for the party and then stays too late. You know who you are.

Our speaker knows that all these questions about death—the how and where and when—are nothing new, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with. Each time he thinks about it, he gets freaked out all over again. The fact that the speaker acknowledges that the questions are nothing new gives his argument a little more strength. We can't just remind him that death is part of life and something that we all must come to terms with. He knows that. He tells us so. His point is that logically death just isn't something that we can come to terms with.

Here we start to get a sense of what it is about being dead that really bothers the speaker. It's the whole nothingness of it: "Not to be here, / Not to be anywhere." The repetition of the word "nothing" in line 20 emphasizes the point. There's nothing more terrible and true than the fact that we are going to die.