Cricket Ball - Dannie Abse

From this poem we see that the key theme is based upon memories of the persona. This poem is about looking back at a cricket match Dannie Abse went to when he was a boy and portrays his thoughts and notions of the game whilst watching.
From the poem we see that he describes the game and how the ball curves and flies across the grounds and once hit a window pane of a hotel. After this description we then see that the persona begins to describe their desire of it rising higher than ever before. From this long stanza we are able to see that Abse is portraying to us the rise to fame and fortune and how easy it is for us to imagine this.
We see from the first stanza however, there is more freedom shown due to there being no fame towards the players of the cricket team giving us a more positive aspect to the game.
Also within this poem we see that the whole surroundings during the game are placed as being positive and show a much more enjoyable experience with the phrase, "applauding ground".
Continuing through this poem we see that Abse begins to show us the notion of life choices as the ball flies much higher suggesting the ball could be portrayed as a metaphor to the audience to indicate greater things in life are possible to anyone.
The key themes within this poem would be memory, life and sport. Larkins poem Love Songs in Age is a good example of memory due to how the music sheets provide a hint for the persona to bring the memory back. This cricket ball is a reminder for Abse and another one of Abse' poems which would link into it would be the poem Two Photographs for this also triggers off the memory.
Another poem would be For Sydney Bechet for it shows a memorable figure just like this game that Abse has informed us about. From Larkins poem we see that it shows us great passion on a specific topic, music being his, whilst for Abse we see throughout the positive passion for sport shown.