MCMXIV - Larkin

From this poem that Larkin has created we are able to see that it is about the enlisting of men for the First World War.
From within the first stanza we get the imagery of these young men and how they appear to look towards the enlisting. From the phrase, "The Oval or Villa Park" we see that they are not aware of what they are allowing themselves in for. They do not know what the whole consequence of war is and from this line we see that they are waiting as though it was a mere cricket or football match. They are acting brave but are secretly scared of what is to come and their mood appears to be quite and silent. They are putting on an act in front of all the other men and to them they think that is to merely be a holiday and shall be home in time for christmas, although that is not the case in 1914. We also see that it is presented as a bit of a laugh and a performance due to the final line in this stanza.
Within the second we see what it was like within that time of the war with more imagery from Larkin. We see how much things have changed due to the war such as the pubs being opened all day every day but changed due to the soldiers returning home and drinking. From this we are able to picture a traditional english country pub and we see the use of the currency within that time.
The third stanza we then get more imagery of how the countryside appears within the summer and the time of the harvest. Throughout this description we see the notion of how the upper class continue to live within their houses with little thought of the war occuring. From the line, "Shadowing Domesday lines" we get the thought of a depressing and mournful scene and how the countryside has been left unattended and unloved for now that the men have gone to fight in the war. "The place names all hazed over" begins to also shows us how cautious people became with removing signs so incase of invasion they were unable to know where they were.
From stanza four we see from, "Never such innocence, Never before or since, As changed itself to past Without a word" that a change in society has occured. Things will never be the same again due to the war and we also see the notion of how different the upper and working class are from each other. From the war ending however we begin to see the equality occur from these two classes and the notion of what the men have witness is a great deal horrific when they return back from the war. From the final lines within this stanza we then see that love and marriage was able to last a bit longer for the women felt it best that the men thought there was someone that loved and cared for them whilst they were away at war, giving them more of a reason to try and come home. Although many women might not of loved their men, they still wanted them to try and fight and return home safely showing us a different kind of love from Larkin. Finally from "a little while longer; Never such innocence again" we see that in all what ever happens we are all going to die anyway and also the notion that the war has destroyed more then what we have expected it to.