Toads

I'm going to admit right now that I really struggled with this unit of poetry. Most of these poems were over my head the first time I read them and it wasn't until the group discussions that I actually got something out of them. The poem "Toads" by Philip Larkin is a great example of one. I honestly have no idea why the author even mentions the toad in this poem. I felt like central theme of the poem was about all the negative things in a persons life. I think the best support for this idea could be found in the second stanza "Six days of the week it soils With its sickening poison- Just for paying a few bills! That's out of proportion." I took this to mean that the speaker is unhappy with his job that he works six days a week just to get by. Another stanza that stuck out to me was the seventh one. It says "For something sufficiently toad-like squats in me, too; Its hunkers are heavy as hard luck and cold as snow." From the word "squat" I got the impression that the speaker is saying that he is holding something back- something that bothers him and weighs him down. It almost seems like the speaker is envious of other people. He mentions the lives of other people a lot by saying "Lots of folk live..." which to me seems like he is longing for something they posses. Another possible support to this idea is in lines 29-32 where the speaker says "And will never allow me to blarney My way to getting The fame and the girl and the money All at one sitting." Im not really sure if thats on the right track or not so i would like to go over this poem in class together!