Toads

"Lots of folk live on their wits:
Lecturers, lispers, losels, lobolly-men, louts-
They don't end as paupers;"
"Toads"
Philip Larkin


The poem "Toads" was in fact, not about toads. The central purpose of this poem was to convey a sentiment of many people in the world today. The speaker in this poem is unhappy with the way his life has turned out. He is stuck in a boring job he doesn't really enjoy;  he only works to pay the bills. Meanwhile, the rich and even the poor, as seen in the above excerpt, lead a happier life than he. Larkin uses alliteration to describe the different groups of people: the lecturers and lispers are most likely the 'witty' ones, while the losels, lobolly-men, and louts are the less witty people. (Maybe?) The speaker feels like he is stuck in the middle, while the others have "their unspeakable wives," "with fires in a bucket," and "eat windfalls and tinned sardines." I'm not exactly sure what "fires in a bucket" or "eat[ing] windfalls" refers to but he is trying to show how much better off that those people are than him, because "They don't end as paupers."

The speaker also seems to be torn between spiritual truth, and material goods, and how to attain both of them. He cannot understand why the world around him is filled with these two toads that unfairly influence his life. The two toads are his work life, as well as internal conflicts he experiences--like "The fame and the girl and the money." This man speaks in a bitter tone regarding work, with "its sickening poison." His point may be that he feels trapped in a life of work he isn't particularly fond of, and he is realizing there is no way out, because he's too far in, it's too late. He also has conflict internally because he feels like he's unable to succeed in getting the girl, or being the rich guy, on top of all his other troubles. He constantly feels bogged down by these two toads.