Whitsun
Popular abbreviation of the Whit Sunday, the seventh Sunday after Easter. In the 1950s, the Whitsun week was exempted from marriage tax, making it an opportune moment for common people to marry. It usually falls in spring.
Get Away
Escape. It is a phrasal verb of "to get." As the phrase is also used to express skepticism about something someone has said, there is a pun in its use in this poem.
Sunlit
Illuminated by sunlight.
Cushion
A stuffed cloth bag for comfortable seating.
Windscreen
The glass in front of a motorized vehicle allowing the driver to see through while protecting him or her from air and dust; a British term for windshield.
Thence
From the place. Archaic or poetic usage.
Lincolnshire
A county in the East Midlands region of the United Kingdom. The city of Lincoln is its administrative headquarters.
Froth
A mass of small bubbles in a liquid. The ‘industrial froth’ that the poet talks about refers to the fermented bubbles of chemical waste in industrial sewage drains.
Hothouse
A greenhouse with a heating system to produce plants and crops that need warm weather, and protect them from cold.
Hedge
A boundary formed by bushes or shrubs that is both pretty, and useful to fence off cattle and intruders from the garden or farm.
Reek
Stinking smell or odor.
Dismantled
Taken apart, fragmented.
Whoops
Sounds expressing dismay.
Skirls
Shrill sounds.
Larking
Fooling around, enjoying in a playful and mischievous way.
Grinning
Smiling broadly, smirking, being all smiles.
Pomaded
Perfumed. Pomade is a waxy, scented substance for styling hair.
Smut
Filth or dirt. In urban colloquial usage, smut refers to obscene and often sexually explicit language.
Perms
Styling hair in a long-lasting curled, wavy fashion. The word is a colloquial abbreviation of "permanent."
Confetti
Streamers of paper thrown at the bride and her groom by the guests after a wedding.
Odeon
A leading cinema in the UK and Ireland. During Larkin’s time, there were already over 250 Odeon cinemas across the country, thus making the brand name almost synonymous with a cinema house.
Cooling Tower
A tall, cylindrical concrete tower, mainly seen in industrial zones, used for condensing steam from a factory or cooling water.
Pullman
A particular railway carriage, or a train consisting of such coaches. Founded by George Pullman, the Pullman Palace Car Company was popular in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century America and Europe.
Moss
A small, flowerless, rootless, dark green plant that sprouts in damp areas, like damp walls.
