Critical appreciation of the poem, At Grass -

Philip Larkin is a Movement poet who makes a protest against obscurity, complexity, excessive romanticism and use of rhetoric and prosody found in the poetry of 1930s. Actually he is very much realistic and again used the 18th century approach of Poetry. Larkin's "At Grass" (1955) belongs to his 2nd volume of poems, "The Less Deceived". The very title of the poem suggests freedom, specifically the freedom of the old, retired race-horses.

          In the poem, "At Grass", Larkin describes the present and past condition of the race-horses. There horses are now too old and aged and they now lead their life leisurely under the shadow of tree and now they have no work to do. The people are now unable to do. The people are now unable to identify a horse individually among the horses. They are now become 'anonymous'.

                He again describes the life of the horses before fifteen years when they were young and won honour and prizes. They were then identified by the people even from 'two dozen distances'. Actually the poet fancies that those horses might have won distinction by their individual performances and became almost legendary. Their magnificent races drew large crowds, including fashionable women. Loud cries and large wagers were made for them.

                 But that grand past was no more. The port wanders whether those horses yet that great past or have passed into total oblivion, forgetting all -
   "Do memories plague their ears like flies?/ They shake their heads."

                 In fact, they are at ease with their ignorance present and awaiting simply coming of their grooms and their assistants to take them back to their stable -
      "Only the groom, and the groom boys / With bridles in the evening come."

              As a movement poem, the poem is simple, but underneath the seeming simplicity, readers may read out different meanings according to their choice of interpretation.

               Larkin here does not give only the life of race horses, the horses actually symbolize the life of human being on their youthful age and old age. An active person is very much honoured and respected by the other people of society. But I'm the old age, when he becomes unable to work, he has no value, no respect like before. Though the horses symbolize the human being, there is a big distinction between these two - the former has no care about honour and respect about their last story, but the later is not willing to consider their disrespect. Here 'evening' also indicates the lady stage of human being and 'groom boys' suggest death.

               In this poem, Larkin shows his masterly poetic technique. The poem well bears out his mature poetic style that and harmonies diction, structure, imagery, metre, rhyme, syntax in the right proportion. The postures of the retired horses at grass well marks that -
       "Then one crops grass, and moved about/ -The other seeming to look on -/ And stands anonymous again."

                 Larkin's intellectually, individuality and mature craftmanship are here very vividly evident. Larkin shows his masterly quality in representing the different stages of human life by the life of the race-horses before and after their retirement.