Leaving Cardiff - Dannie Abse

Within the first stanza the audience is able to see a wide range of language that Abse has used throughout the poem. We firstly see the use of alliteration from the phrase, "dock's derelictions" and get the appearance of it being an empty place and is empty of him once the persona has left. The persona provides the reader a sense of him telling an autobiography to us with the words "I wait". From within this first stanza we clearly see that Abse has used concrete description to provide the audience with a setting to form the poem.
Within the second stanza Abse provides us with a metaphor from the first line where the persona is looking out into the open. This metaphor implies to us that perhaps he is looking out to the horizon or the horizon of life. From the third line we then see an intense description of the place being brought up and shows us that the structure is negative within this stanza.
In the third we can see that this whole stanza is filled with emotional impact that Larkin lacks within his poems. Throughout this stanza we are provided with emotional and powerful words that suggest to us the significance of life and change and making decisions. Sadness is shown also and also portrays the sense of emptiness for he is leaving through the line, "my eyes, like space, fill". It is all dramatic and upsetting unlike the first two stanzas.
Within the forth we see that the persona is unable to live two lives with the final line in this stanza. We see a link occur to Larkin for it is a depressing aspect. When he moves he knows that he will be different and shows this epiphany that holds a philosophical meaning towards it. Poems that are similar to this would be Dockery and Son for the choices he has to make as well as Mr Bleaney.
Within the final stanza we are informed of the rhyming that is used within this poem. Within this poem it represents the change of leaving and moving on and is also represented with symbolism throughout the poem. Throughout the final lines we see that it is all about moving on in life and movement and we get the image of the personas life being like boats that come into harbour to unload their cargo before moving on to the next.