The School in August
The 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.
Philip Larkin
The title of and inspiration for, my next series. Which I am working on at the moment. Looking at the history of The Whitworth Street School which was founded in 1900 and is still going today as The Shena Simon Six Form Collage. Using typology to explore that history. I'll put up a link when it's on my homepage.
No comments:
Post a Comment