Wires Poem by Philip Larkin

‘Wires’ encapsulates the gruelling and unforgiving limitations that ensnare living beings on this earth. Electric fencing prevents the cattle from roaming beyond their field and, although the older ones are now wiser, the younger steers are willing to venture at the cost of painful experience. The mind can roam endlessly but the body is a prisoner within the confinements of a relatively claustrophobic existence, where the only escape is through death. The ‘old cattle’ representing the mature and experienced individuals ‘know they must not stray’