the ferryman's arms

• "magnetised"

  has connotations of uncontrollable, forced and attractive. This conveys how the pool table draws his attention in, is alluring and mysteriously appealing to the poet. This suggests how he is fascinated yet fragile and can do nothing to stop the inevitable and highlights the ambiguity surrounding the pool table
• "remote phosphorescence"

  has connotations of alien, strange and transcendental. This conveys how attractive, captivating and consuming the back room is despite it being faraway and in distance. This implies that there is something otherworldly about it.
• "and drawn, like a moth, to the darkened back room"

  simile - just as a moth is attracted to light so too is the poet mesmerised, intrigued and compelled, however, it is ironic as the poet here is engrossed by the dark. The irony is heightened as light is something that can kill moths, which would imitate souls being drawn to the underworld
• "pool table hummed to itself in the corner"

  The pool table is being portrayed as a predator, lurking in the dark. The menacing personification emphasises the silence as you can hear the "hum" - has connotations of murmur, whisper and mumbling suggesting how indistinct, unusual and peculiar the events are
• "kill", "deserted" and "hell"

  has connotations of underworld, isolation and afterlife. The words together convey the sense of the overwhelming thought of death in the poets mind, suggesting how the environment he is in is contributing to these thoughts and endeavour to explore death
• "abrupt intestinal rumble"

  just as someones stomach rumbles to show hunger, emptiness and starvation so too is the pool table in need for something/someone, longing and waiting for. The pool table is described in such a way that it is almost predator-like, waiting for its prey, but it could also suggest deaths anticipation for someone to visit. It is personified which highlights the sudden eruption of sound just as death is sudden. There is an idea of threat and hunger perhaps for a soul
• "parched" and "threadbare"

  has connotations of neglect, abandoned and worn out this conveys that the table has been well-used, busy and frequently played. This is parallel to the concept of fighting against death, or the many visits death pays as if playing with someone. It also brings to mind a sense of thirst for survival against death
• "immaculate clearance"

  has connotations of miraculous, wonderful and divine. This conveys the god-like, skilful and powerful move the poet makes. This suggests how the poet inhabits another realm that seems to have knowledge higher than his mortal sensibility allows him to possess
• "the black did the vanishing trick while the white stopped"

  "vanishing trick" has connotations of deceitful, playful and teasing which conveys how the black ball (perhaps representing death) is abrupt, unpredictable and sudden. This suggests how death teases us multiple times. Black could also represent death and white could represent life; if life ends we disappear forever.
• "shouldering its way through the unpotted colours"


  just as people eventually accept, overcome and slowly are unaffected by the grief death causes so too the white ball is moving through the other colours. This gives an idea of family members, perhaps during a funeral, moving through the crowd of those still "untouched" by death. It suggests how death affects all of us, yet how we must still carry on despite the challenges