Broadcast

Broadcast 

Broadcast is a personal poem to Larkin for his close friend Maeve Brennan. Larkin is at home listening to the BBC symphony orchestra while Maeve is there in person.

Stanza 1
 The musical instruments in the orchestra become personified as they start to play "giant whispering and coughing". We are also told that Larkin is thinking about Maeve because he thinks of her face "among all of those faces". A lot of the personified sounds are not typical of an orchestra, for instance the whispering and coughing and sniveling could imply that the music is unwell in some way. It could also imply that Larkin is unwell without Maeve with him.

Stanza 2

We know realize that the music is now unimportant to him he is desperately trying to imagine her there among the crowds so he can be with her mentally. It is also mentioned about her shoes which is explained by Maeve Brennan that it was a private joke between them because he liked her new shoes which were in fashion at the time.

Stanza 3

The next stanza has a desperation feel to it. Larkin's imagined picture of Maeve is fading and he is desperately looking for her as the music turns violent and overwhelming. "the rabid storms of chording".
The last line emphasizes this idea "leaving me desperate to pick out your hands , tiny in all that air, applauding