Toad Work

Recently I have been enjoying the British television series “Down Cemetery Road.” It is a brilliant mystery drama with first-rate acting, and it can be found on Apple TV and Amazon Prime in Canada.

I discovered the source of the show’s title only when one of the key characters, played by Emma Thompson, recited some of Philip Larkin’s poem “Toads Revisited” which mentions Cemetery Road.

I found the poem on The Poetry Hour website and read it through three times until I felt as though I was in tune with the author’s meaning. I was especially taken by the last stanza which reads:

When the lights come on at four
At the end of another year?
Give me your arm, old toad;
Help me down Cemetery Road.

As I write this post, it is 4:05 PM, and the sun has just gone down behind the buildings that I see from my windows. My blinds have closed automatically already; they are set to close at half an hour before sunset. The lights that my neighbours have placed in the community gardens have been on all day, but the Christmas lights that I have strung around my patio came on at 3:40. Not four o’clock exactly, but pretty close to the poem’s imaginings.

The verses refer to working people of various kinds, and I wondered what was meant by “toad work” so I Googled it. This is how Google AI explains it:

“The toad work” in Philip Larkin’s poem “Toads” symbolizes the heavy, unromantic, and burdensome nature of daily work and societal obligations, a persistent, ugly pressure that squats on one’s life, forcing the speaker to trade days of freedom for money and a pension, even as he grudgingly recognizes his own “toad-like” participation in this system. It’s a metaphor for the monotonous 9-to-5 grind that stifles personal passions, contrasting with the dream of living by one’s wits, yet the poem concludes that both internal and external “toads” (work and creative duty) are inescapable, says Interesting Literature and All Poetry. 

My days of toad work are over, but the lights still come on at around 4 PM in winter here, and I enjoy them. It would be nice to have someone to take my arm as my aging body takes walks, but I am grateful that I have the strength to walk alone.

I heartily recommend both the TV show and the poem. They will give you lots to think about.

#aging #christmas #downCemeteryRoad #lights #philipLarkin #poetry #sunset #television #toadsRevisited #winter

🎵Jazz tracks mentioned by poet Philip Larkin in his famous collection of reviews, All What Jazz #jazz #philiplarkin #music #playlist #Spotify #poetry #larkin #poem

🎧 Click here to listen to the playlist 👉 https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2AFE5cnK4h3FDvGCtnqcEE?si=q28-NWk1Syy2qPNGtXlcHg&pi=e-B7QlTkzxQV6D

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This Be The Ditty

They buck you up, your mum and dad
They really mean to, yes they do.
They fill you with their malts, they’re glad
Stir in some extra just for you

#ThisBeTheVerse
#PhilipLarkin

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The punk rock, alt rock and indie music on my Fire Red Sky newsletter takes a break* for some books in the sun

*not counting Punk USA and its oral history of Lookout! Records

https://open.substack.com/pub/tangleofwires/p/holiday-reading

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