The School in August
The School in August - meaning Summary
Summer Empties the School
The poem observes a deserted school in late summer, noting empty cloakroom pegs, dusty desks and silent instruments. Small traces of pupils—graffiti, sewing, practiced piano—remain as evidence of recent life. Larkin meditates on transience: the routines and groups dissolve over the holiday, juniors become seniors, and staff age. The mood is quietly elegiac, registering how everyday places record human passage and change.
Read Complete AnalysesThe cloakroom pegs are empty now, And locked the classroom door, The hollow desks are lined with dust, And slow across the floor A sunbeam creeps between the chairs Till the sun shines no more. Who did their hair before this glass? Who scratched 'Elaine loves Jill' One drowsy summer sewing-class With scissors on the sill? Who practised this piano Whose notes are now so still? Ah, notices are taken down, And scorebooks stowed away, And seniors grow tomorrow From the juniors today, And even swimming groups can fade, Games mistresses turn grey.
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