Toads- Philip Larkin

      This poem is about envying other people who live carefree and don't worry about money or jobs or responsibilities. The toad represents this work, that most people base their lives around to pay bills and support their family. Larkin views himself as the type where this "toad" controls his life and stops him from living how he would prefer to. In the end he says, "I don't say, one bodies the other, one's spiritual truth; but I do say it's hard to lose either, when you have both." This is the conflict that he desires to live his life day to day, yet also can't get the future and preparing for it out of his mind. This can be found in most people, and like he says, it's hard to choose just one, when you have the desire for both. They are both so contradictory that it is also hard to balance them out and live both ways. I really enjoyed this poem because it's relatable and uses descriptive and symbolic words that definitely made me think.