Welsh Valley Cinema, 1930's

Introduction

This poem is about Abse remembering a trip to the cinema. The poem also talks about the idea that the cinema is in a poor area and is filled with working class families. As well as this is talks about  how the films portray the ideal lifestyle for the audience, however when the film has finished, the audience is brought back to reality and away from the ideal lifestyle.

Themes 

• Dreams/Ideals- This theme is presented by the speaker talking about hot the film being shown is like the life they want to live. "it sank to disappear, as dream, underground". 
• Memories-  this is because the poem is about the speaker recounting a time when they went to the cinema. "I remember it".

 Structure

the structure of the peace is four stanza's each with a different amount of lines. The first stanza has ten lines, the second stanza has 5 lines, the third stanza has 8 lines (including 2 bracket lines) and the fourth stanza has 9 lines. There is no rhyme scheme to the poem.

What each stanza is about (Quotes):

1. This stanza highlights the poverty of the people. " the thrill". This suggests they are exited about watching the film and also suggests their poverty because they are really exited  just to watch a film 
2. This stanza talks about what the films show."sank to disappear, a dream underground". This supports the idea that the audience are being shown their dreams through the films and when it is finished their dream to disappears.  
3. " poor ragged Goldilocks". The idea of a fairy tale being introduced  makes the dreams of the audience/ the film more fake. " Observed a miracle". This highlights  how they are seeing  their ideal life  because they think they are seeing a miracle. " dab away her glycerin tears". The fake tears emphasis how the film only talks about the dreams of the audience. 
4. "till THE END- of course, upbeat". This shows that the film has ended, their dreams have disappeared. The last few lines of the poem become negative e.g. dreary, glum damned ect. 

Extra context

The poem refers to Wales in the 1930's. Abse would be 17. "The Palace"  could be the name of the cinema and there is a Welsh cinema in Haverfordwest called "The Palace". The speaker could be Abse because he is young.