Musical Moments 1. His Last Piano Lesson (1933)

I believe that this poem is about the persona's father forcing music upon his by making him take piano lessons as a young child and throughout this poem we see the boredom that this boy is put through as he does not enjoy his music lessons. I believe that the main themes in this poem are music and identity as I believe that music has become part of his identity.
One of the things that interested me about this poem was the phrase "numbly bored" as it suggests that the persona was incredibly bored of the piano lesson that he was in that his body had become numb which could suggest that he had no feeling towards music at this young time. This feeling of boredom can also be supported with the quote "pointless cries of children" as it suggests that he wants to be elsewhere with the other children rather than being in his piano lesson. I also found the use of the word "coffin" interesting as it could emphasise even further his boredom as it could link with the phrase bored to death.
The piano lesson has been forced upon by his father and this has therefore led him to lose interest in music as after his first piano lesson his father declares "That's his last piano lesson". This could suggest that the child found it hard to become interested in anything so sophisticated at such a young age and would have rather been with the other children.
I believe that this poem links in with 'A Study of Reading Habits' as this shows Larkin's boredom towards reading whilst 'Musical Moments 1' shows Abse's boredom towards music.