A Winter Visit

A Winter Visit appears to be a particularly emotional and personal poem for Abse. It describes himself walking through the park during winter with his old mother, who he mentions is ninety-years-old.

As he walks through the park he notices the peacocks; it says, “one pale dot of a peacock’s sperm spring forth all the colours of a peacocks tail”, which is meant to symbolise new life. Another interesting observation is the fact he says the peacocks do not screech – this could symbolise the fading of life, or that during the winter life seems to fade. 

When he mentions this, she says like the ‘sybil’ that she would die and that she’s half dead this winter. Abse says he wants to cry but he can’t, as he states “I inhabit a white coat not a black even here – and am not qualified to weep.” This is because he is a doctor by profession and that he cannot cry, even for his mother, since he is so used to working with death. It is interesting that he called his mother a ‘sybil’, as a sybil is a woman who speaks the prophecies of God. Since this adjective precedes ‘I would die’, it could indicate that her death, or the death of others, is predetermined.

The rhyme scheme is a simple, recurring A-B-A structure and is sustained throughout each stanza of the poem. A Winter Visit is very similar to a couple of Larkin’s poems. The first being Reference Back, as it shares the theme of having a relationship with their mother. The second being Home Is So Sad, as it echoes the theme of grief of losing one’s mother.