Vocabulary in Afternoons

Gradually losing strength, brightness, or vitality — here suggesting that summer, and by extension youth and possibility, is slowly but surely coming to an end.

Running along the edge of something, forming a boundary. Here the trees line the outer edge of the recreation ground, framing the scene.

A British term for a publicly maintained outdoor space — typically a park or playing field — set aside for leisure and children's play.

Become heavier or fuller in body; used here to suggest that the women's youthful slenderness has subtly changed with age and motherhood, without calling them old.

Short for perambulators — British English for baby carriages or pushchairs used to wheel infants and very young children outdoors.

Empty, sunken spaces; in the poem these suggest the vacant, unfilled stretches of afternoon time that feel meaningless or lost to the mothers.

Bound books of photographs kept as keepsakes; here specifically wedding photo albums that record a moment of hope and identity now shelved and left behind.

Inscribed or printed with words; here the albums have the words 'Our Wedding' written or embossed on their covers, marking them as relics of a former self.

Shallow enclosures filled with sand where young children play; a standard feature of British parks and recreation grounds.

Being gradually moved away from the centre of one's own existence — made marginal in one's own story by the demands of children, marriage, and social expectation.