afternoons

• 'summer is fading'


  slightly ominous as summer ending brings darkness of winter
• 'new recreation ground'


  reflective of Larkin's dislike to technology, symbolising children finding their was, mirroring Larkin's frustration having to learn about new technology
• 'hollows'


  seeming like motherhood is making their lives empty and meaningless
• 'young mothers assemble'


  almost regimented, lost their identities so this is their duty now
• 'setting free their children'


  connotations of being trapped, Larkin reassuring himself that his life choices are correct and he doesn't want or need a family
• 'behind them at intervals'


  they aren't always there, the husbands get breaks
• 'stand husbands in skilled trades'


  suggesting father's roles are more passive, undermining the work of the mothers
• 'our wedding lies near the television'


  enjambment of lying suggests Larkin's distaste to marriage, and how technology overshadows our lives
• 'lovers are all in school'


  people are getting married young
• 'unripe acorns'


  society expects people to find love young, but they aren't ready
• 'something is pushing them to the side of their own lives'


  society is pushing them aside, forcing them to grow up quicker, they almost become a side character in their own lives as their lives depend on their families more than their own