Reference Back - Larkin

From within the beginning the audience begins to see that the poem starts off with a mother and son listening to music together in their home. From this we instantly get the impression of this mother and son bond and music holds them together. From the first line the audience gets the sens that the song they are listening to is actually mournful and that the mother is able to remember this for she is just listening to the music. From this we see that this reminds her on the thing she loves most and she remembers this every time she hears this song played. As we continue through the first stanza we see that there is repetition of the word "unsatisfactory" and informs us that the son is needing to move away from his mother and is torn between the choice of staying and moving out. This word also reflects a negative image of the house towards the reader also.
From within the second stanza we see from the line "Our of Chicago air into" informs us of the vivid memories that are brought back from being in Chicago for Larkin. We are also given the repetition of "unsatisfactory" once more but this time having a different meaning to it. This time in this stanza it is implying to us readers that for the persona it has brought back memories of how much his mother has aged and that in reality his mother is getting old and he does not like this.
As the audience moves onto the final stanza we then see from the first three lines in this stanza a link towards one of Larkins poems. The poem Dockery and Son links into this for it shows the notion of choices and not thinking of what to do next in life. It gives us the feeling that within this poem we are not able to look back on ourselves. Within the line, "They link us to our losses" we are able to think of the people we have lost and as we continue through this poem to the end we see that we are told that music is able to bring us back into these memories that have been forgotten about within the past. From the last line we are able to see that the point being made is that if we made different life choices then everything would be the same. This is untrue and is clearly stated within the final line. The difference is that the record/music within this poem will always stay the same and from this we see a philosophical shift as it reaches the end.
Other poems that link to Reference Back would be Larkins' Broadcast poem for the experience music provides us even when apart and also the poem Talking in Bed for experience also but with the added theme of isolation. Reference Back has the key theme of isolation, time and bonds.