At the Concert

'At the Concert' is about the persona being at a concert but his thoughts are elsewhere. Within this poem, Abse also portrays his views about life and how we all live our lives for the same purpose. I believe that the main themes in this poem are observations as Abse comments on his interpretations of life but also music as his thoughts take place whilst he is at a concert which could suggest that the music reminds him of a certain aspect in his life.
One of the things that I found interesting about this poem was how the first few stanzas present normal life and everyday tasks. This can be seen in "Only yesterday while walking" and "same old grass".This could suggest that Abse is observing towards life and even whilst being at a concert his mind is wandering to what he would normally be doing. Another thing that can be seen in this poem is that it shows how we all wait for something to happen in our lives rather than making something happen. This can be seen in "Do you wait, as I do". This could suggest that everyone is stuck in their lives whilst they wait for what we want. This sense of being stationary in life can be seen with the choice of words that Abse chose to use such as "motionless", "static" and "numb". This could also show that the persona is stuck in the moment due to the fact that he is at a concert and cannot do the things he has been putting off from doing. This can be supported by the fact that there is no rhyme scheme used suggesting that there is no regularity in his life and that nothing is going anywhere for him.
I also found the line "someone shouts bravo" quite interesting as it shows that the persona was in a daydream and only this has managed to take him from that daydream. He seems to be in a daydream as whilst he is at the concert, his thoughts seem to be somewhere else. This can be seen in "While my cat back home". This links in with Larkin's poem 'Broadcast' as it is two people listening to the same music but in different places whilst this is him listening to music but his thoughts being elsewhere.
There are also rhetorical questions used in this poem which relates the poem back to the reader. This can be seen in "And how's your life?". This makes you question your own life and whether or not it is going anywhere or if your life is stuck like the persona.