"Next, Please" appears in Philip Larkin's 1955 collection The Less Deceived. Bluntly pessimistic, the poem offers an extended metaphor for human beings' unrealistic hopes and dreams: our "bad habits of expectancy." It imagines the bright "promises" of the future sailing toward us like beautiful ships, only to pass from our lives without ever "anchor[ing]" and fulfilling all our wishes. Ultimately, the poem reminds readers that life brings only one certainty—death—and warns against placing any hope in the afterlife, either.
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The Full Text of “Next, Please”
The Full Text of “Next, Please”
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“Next, Please” Summary
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“Next, Please” Themes
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Hope, Expectation, and Disappointment
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-24
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The Certainty and Permanence of Death
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 17-24
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Next, Please”
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Lines 1-4
Always too eager ...
... we say, -
Lines 5-10
Watching from a ...
... Of disappointment, -
Lines 10-15
for, though nothing ...
... turns to past. -
Lines 16-20
Right to the ...
... we are wrong: -
Lines 21-24
Only one ship ...
... breed or break.
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“Next, Please” Symbols
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The Ships
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 5-24
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“Next, Please” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Extended Metaphor
Where extended metaphor appears in the poem:- Lines 3-24
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Alliteration
Where alliteration appears in the poem:- Line 10: “balks”
- Line 11: “big,” “brasswork”
- Line 13: “Flagged,” “figurehead”
- Line 15: “present,” “past”
- Line 21: “seeking,” “black”
- Line 22: “Sailed,” “back”
- Line 23: “birdless,” “silence,” “wake”
- Line 24: “waters,” “breed,” “break”
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Imagery
Where imagery appears in the poem:- Lines 5-7: “Watching from a bluff the tiny, clear, / Sparkling armada of promises draw near. / How slow they are!”
- Lines 9-10: “Yet still they leave us holding wretched stalks / Of disappointment,”
- Lines 11-14: “Each big approach, leaning with brasswork prinked, / Each rope distinct, / Flagged, and the figurehead with golden tits / Arching our way,”
- Lines 21-24: “Only one ship is seeking us, a black- / Sailed unfamiliar, towing at her back / A huge and birdless silence. In her wake / No waters breed or break.”
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Repetition
Where repetition appears in the poem:- Line 1: “Always”
- Line 3: “always”
- Line 7: “How,” “how”
- Line 11: “Each”
- Line 12: “Each”
- Line 18: “All,” “all”
- Line 19: “so,” “so”
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Caesura
Where caesura appears in the poem:- Line 1: “future, we”
- Line 3: “approaching; every”
- Line 5: “tiny, clear”
- Line 7: “are! And”
- Line 10: “disappointment, for, though”
- Line 11: “approach, leaning”
- Line 13: “Flagged, and”
- Line 14: “way, it”
- Line 18: “lives, all”
- Line 21: “us, a”
- Line 22: “unfamiliar, towing”
- Line 23: “silence. In”
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“Next, Please” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Expectancy
- Bluff
- Armada
- Make haste
- Stalks
- Balks
- Brasswork
- Prinked
- Figurehead
- Heave to
- Devoutly
- Unfamiliar
- Breed or break
- Wake
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(Location in poem: Lines 1-2: “we / Pick up bad habits of expectancy.”)
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Next, Please”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Next, Please” Speaker
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“Next, Please” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Next, Please”
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More “Next, Please” Resources
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External Resources
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The Poem Aloud — Listen to Larkin's recitation of "Next, Please."
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Larkin's Life and Work — Read a biography of the poet at the Poetry Foundation.
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Larkin and "The Movement" — Some context on the mid-20th-century poetry movement with which Larkin was associated.
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Larkin on "The South Bank Show" — Watch a 1982 TV special about Larkin's life and poetry.
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A Larkin Documentary — Watch a short film about the poet, courtesy of the UK's Channel 4.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Philip Larkin
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