After the Lunch
In the poem “After The Lunch” the narrator is crossing Waterloo Bridge on a cold day, after having lunch with an unnamed person, contemplating whether or not they have fallen in love with that person.
In the first stanza the narrator has just said goodbye to their lunch date and tries to concentrate on the cold weather instead of their potential romantic feelings for the other person.
In the second stanza the narrator is walking across the bridge while trying to rationalize why they are having these romantic feelings in this precise moment.
In the third and final stanza the narrator, now halfway across the bridge, finally gives in and acknowledges that they are indeed in love.
The New Regime
In the poem “The New Regime” the narrator is sitting in a restaurant with their partner, talking about switching to a healthier lifestyle before abandoning the plan again.
In the first stanza the narrator is agreeing with their unnamed partner that they should adopt a healthier lifestyle (implying that it originally was the partner’s idea). In this stanza they focus on their diet, exclaiming that they will eat more sensibly and drink less alcohol and how this will affect their relationship. In the last line of the stanza however, the narrator is already beginning to backpedal on their resolution by stating that they shouldn’t “be sensible all the time” (l. 8).
In the second stanza the narrator is hypothetically going through a few situations of how they are going to change their lifestyle, like beginning to go jogging. However, in the last lines of the stanza one can already see their determination declining when they exclaim how difficult it is going to be before repeating the sentiment from the first stanza that one shouldn’t overdo it.
In the third and last stanza the narrator is subtly masking their critique of their partner’s lack of attention by stating how a healthier lifestyle would change their behavior for the better. In the second part of the stanza however, they are finally abandoning the entire plan and ask their partner to order them another drink.
Orange
In the poem “Orange” the narrator is delighted to find an unusually big orange and proclaims how it brightens their entire day.
In the first stanza the narrator reports how they bought the orange for lunch and that it was big enough to even give parts of it to two other people (most likely co-workers).
In the second stanza the narrator reflects on how even the most trivial things have lately had a positive influence on their mood, just like finding this particular orange.
In the last stanza the narrator describes the rest of their day as very happy and positive and ends the poem with the exclamation that they are glad to be alive.
