'For Sidney Bechet' by Phillip Larkin

This poem is addressed to the jazz artist Sidney Bechet by the speaker, vividly describing his experience whilst listening to the music.

The speaker goes straight into describing the music, the "note" Bechet plays which is "narrowing and rising" and it "shakes like New Orleans reflected on the water", suggesting there's something magnificent about what the speaker is hearing. Also, New Orleans is the place which Sidney Bechet was born and is where blues and jazz music emerged, reinforcing the theme of love for jazz music. However, in the final line of the first stanza the speaker says that "falsehood wakes", this could suggest that the joy and emotions felt by the audience are only temporary as they are only felt for the art/creation of music, not for the real things in their life. This may suggest that music for the speaker is like an escapism for the other things in life, as it is a creation which you can lose yourself in, possibly creating only a false/temporary sense of happiness?

The speaker goes on to describe the different ways in which Sidney Bechet's music affects different types of people:

For some, the music builds a "legendary Quarter of balconies, flower-baskets and quadrilles", they're "making love" and saying "Oh, play that thing!". This suggests that for these people, the jazz music is simply something they enjoy to listen to whilst socialising/ The sounds created by the music are exciting  and fun for these people, it's suggested that they may not see or be looking for a deeper meaning behind the music, they appreciate the music on a superficial level whilst sharing excitement and happiness with those around them. This creates quite a romantic reaction to the music.

Other people are "grouping", "sporting-house girls" who are "like circus tigers", creating a more of a dark and dangerous image. Sporting house girls is referring to prostitutes and them being like "circus tigers" emphasises how they are there to entertain other people and their feelings maybe ignored or made to be irrelevant because what's important is their job. The girls being like "circus tigers" suggests to me that they're trapped and what they're going through may not be out of choice - sympathy is created for the prostitutes. Also, the simile of "circus tigers" suggests that the tigers that are naturally wild and obviously animalistic, are now tame and controlled. This being a simile for the prostitutes emphasises how what happens in sex should come naturally and stem from the people genuinely wanting to be having sex with one another and intimately expressing their feelings and desires. However, the prostitutes are like "circus tigers", suggesting that the sex they're having with their clients isn't how I just described, and instead is controlled, meaningless and like a chore to them, just something they have to do to get by and "pretend" they're happy to do it, to please their client.

Others are "scholars manques" that are "wrapped up in personnels like old plaids", this doesn't show any sign that these people are enjoying the music, and instead they are focused on their work.

In the fifth stanza the speaker describes his own feelings about Sidney Bechet's music. From this stanza we can tell that the speaker feels very passionate about the music, as Bechet's voice falls on him "as they say love should". To the speaker, the music is "like an enormous yes", suggesting that it is orgasmic to the speaker. Obviously the speaker isn't having an actual orgasm, the "enormous yes" doesn't mean the speaker is sexually thrilled in any way but it suggests that the music brings him ecstasy and intense feelings, the music is so amazing to him that it can't compare to anything else - a musical orgasm perhaps.

Sidney Bechet's music is the "natural noise of good" for the speaker, suggesting again that music is one of the speaker's passions. "Scattering long-haired" could suggest that the speaker had goose bumps listening to the music. The "grief and scored pity" suggests that behind the cheerful sounds of the jazz music, the speaker can understand and feel a deeper meaning behind the music which sometimes expresses pain. This suggests that the music can make the speaker feel emotional from understanding the grief that Sidney Bechet has gone through and creates an image of the speaker being mesmerised by what he's hearing, showing how the speaker feels truly connected to the music.