Days, Larkin

Days: Days focuses majorly on philosophy, and how the free mind is challenged with both ‘facts’ and ‘faith’ and how that can disallow people to draw their own opinions. It uses comedy, with the image of “the priest and the doctor… running over the fields,” identifying a satirical outlook which Larkin holds towards people who try and answer his questions.

 Days begins very thoughtfully, becoming almost a monologue of Larkin’s internal thoughts only to be cut off by the image stated above. He asks “What are days for?” and concludes the first stanza with “Where can we live but days?” drawing religious beliefs into it with the idea of death, a theme featured in Larkin’s poetry a great deal.

 All major religions speak of some sort of life after death, whether it may be spiritual in a heaven/hell setting, or being reborn or reincarnated, and Larkin’s general questions about days, almost dozily daydreaming and writing down thoughts which come into his head. The lack of rhymes details this, making this short poem seem almost like a journal entry, personal and unstructured.

 In order to exemplify his sarcasm and irony, stanza 2 begins with “Ah, solving that question,” the tone of relief being a dry one. Larkin proposes that the people who try to solve questions such as “Where can we live but days?” is pointless, and impossible at the very least. We’re presented with a juxtaposition of “the priest and the doctor in their long coats”, highlighting the desperate similarities between science and religion in that it tries to solve everything, and yet the battle that they both go through in order to prove whether faith or facts are more reliable. 

Water, Larkin

Water: water uses irony to emphasise Larkin’s disbelief in religion. He begins by saying “If I were called to construct a religion,” the phrase “called to” and “construct” working together to imply that Larkin regards religion as a creation – something man-made, like a myth or tale. He sounds judging and complacent towards the topic, making his atheism obvious from the offset.

 He “should make use of water,” linking in major religions such as Christianity and Judaism which involve water in their baptising/cleansing processes, suggesting the oncoming opinions symbolised towards religion in the next few stanzas.

 He then goes on to create something of a list of ‘rules’ about his “constructed” religion, explaining that attending “church would entail a fording,” the word “entail” making the work done for his belief is extraneous and almost business-like, mocking the extremities people go through for their beliefs.

 There’s a strong connection with Christianity, perhaps because Larkin grew up in a community centred mainly on that particular religion and that had become a driving force for his own atheism. The “entailing” leads his hypothetical followers “To dry, different clothes;” an unpleasant sounding reward, “dry” and “different” sounding unnatural for the body, detailing the uncomfortable ‘uniforms’ religious people wear during their visits to church.

 In order to describe the things involved with his religion, he uses the word “employ”, again identifying the tiring and business-like side of following a particular religion. In fact, the use of water itself links to almost all religions in some sort of procedural way, giving the impression that Larkin believes all religions are similar, and therefore should not be battled over so.

 The “images” of water take a more dramatic turn in stanza 3, going from “fording” to “sousing,” followed by a “furious devout drench.” This build of intensity becomes apocalyptic almost, again relating mainly to the Bible story of Noah and his ark, though focusing on the destructive side to the story of cleansing. We see a change in the poem, despite Larkin’s opinions towards religion remaining consistent throughout. His choice of words and proposed actions towards people becomes violent, perhaps getting across his views that religion is destructive and to view it in a beautiful manner is detrimental, a shared view of many philosophers and atheist scientists of this time.

 The tension is broken off immediately in stanza 4, where Larkin “should raise a glass in the east A glass of water”, a dramatic contrast between the “furious devout drench” set upon the rest of the people on the earth, exclaiming the luxuries and power which people who “construct” religions hold. The poem ends on a somewhat relaxing note, expressing symbolism of communities, different people and cultures (“any-angled light”) “congregat(ing).”

 With the cynical theme Larkin has created surrounding religion within Water so far, we can draw the conclusion that that last line is not supposed to be a symbol of coming together in harmony, but rather people coming together to war and conflict due to their religions. “Endlessly” connotes a unfathomable passing of time for Larkin, suggesting that he believes that as long as religion is around, war and unrest will be too.

 The poem also focuses ironically on change which these acts of “sousing” “fording” and “drenching” will bring about to a person, only identifying that by making the person more self-righteous and selfish, with the act of “raising a glass in the east” sounding ignorant to the past tremors explained in the poem, a suggesting of Larkin’s belief that religion can turn people worse, though they think they are being ‘cleansed’ and ‘rebirthed.’ 

Self's the Man

Self's the Man

 Self’s the Man takes a look at Larkin’s view on marriage through comparing a married man and a single one, and focuses intently on the sexism in relationships and his own predisposed negativity towards women.

 He first explains how “Arnold”, the persona’s friend, is “less selfish than” him, justifying this comment through the fact that he “married a woman to stop her getting away” – a poor justification and a hint into the selfishness character of the persona we’re reading from.

 The rhyme scheme is AABB, mostly ‘half-rhymes’ which connote a lack of commitment to one another, a symbol for the true relationship that Arnold and his nameless wife have.

 There’s a sense of entrapment in the relationship, with the male marrying the woman to “keep her,” rather than marrying for love. Though it first appears the focus of the poem should be related to the harsh characters of the men, it actually takes focus on the women being mindless and selfish themselves.

 Though Arnold has, as Larkin proposes, ‘trapped’ his wife, the woman “takes” “the money he gets for wasting his life on work” “as her perk.” The poem has Larkin’s usual sarcastic tone when it comes to describing the lives of others around him, viewing them as lesser than him and more forgettable.

 His implication towards romance in this poem expresses his belief that in this relationship there isn’t much, a sad take on love for his friend, one who he sees as being the trapped one in the relationship.

 Throughout the poem, Larkin’s sarcastic tone resembles a childish cockiness to cover the emptiness Larkin feels towards his own unmarried life – “So he and I are the same” – only he is single in his entrapment, more selfish to keep feelings to himself and less open.

 He’s open about comparing their lives, too, but still hints towards the fact he might feel some guilt and shame for doing so. “Makes me feel a swine,” as though his life should be placed above Arnold’s because he hasn’t given his control to a woman.

 He concludes, “He and I are the same, only I’m a better hand at knowing what I can stand!” like most of his poems, this one ends with Larkin consciously agreeing with himself that he’s in a better position to his friends and the people around him, because he hasn’t conformed to the idea that you need a “woman” – a nameless woman – in order to make him happy. 

Dockery and Son, Larkin

Dockery and Son

 Dockery and Son is a poem detailing Larkin’s persona thinking about the route his life has taken through revisiting old friends and colleges.

 The poem is written through monologue-style, with the persona losing track of though and diverting from topic and a consistent use of “…” throughout. He’s depressed, regretful and ashamed of his life, immediately explaining he’s “Death-suited, visitant,” perpetuating his own belief that he doesn’t belong at the college he once attended.

 He’s uninterested in what the speaker is saying, at first they inform him his old friend’s “son’s here now,” a child being a symbol of success to the protagonist, something he doesn’t have, and his mind starts to drift elsewhere. “’do you keep in touch with-’ Or remember how,” the information given to him allows his mind to begin churning through the achievements of his own life, comparing them to “Dockery and Son.”

 The title of this poem highlights the trigger that allows his mind to wander, deliberating whether he’s truly happy with what he’s done. It’s particularly business-like, symbolising the family-establishment his friend has set up and his admiration and jealously he holds against that. On the other hand, Dockery and Son being seen as a business-styled name can represent Larkin’s resentment over the commerce and business that is life, seeing having children and conforming to regular routine followed by most people, a running theme in Larkin’s work.

 The poem itself follows a traditional ABAB rhyming scheme, giving it a regular rhythm which pairs ironically with the glum undertone and depressing theme.

 Age ties in with the themes of life and death in this poem, from the offset Dean describing Dockery as Larkin’s “junior,” which sparks memories of his younger life – tying in words and phrases such as “used to” “remember” and “when I was 21.” The focus on time passing becomes a central subject for Dockery and Son, emphasising Larkin’s view on the lost time passed since he was at College, causing his thoughts to spread melancholy on his train ride home.

 The first stanza ends with enjambment, linking to the beginning of the next which deflated cuts off with “Locked.” It then goes on to explain his train journey, “ignored,” he says. The train seems to open up the world to him, making it become privy to question, with “Clouds and canals and colleges” which “subside” before him, the use of alliteration representing the passing time though on a small scale, and the slow build up eventually giving Larkin a lucid, sleepy state, “How much… how little… Yawning, I suppose.” As in The Whitsun Weddings, the train provides a sanctum place for Larkin to observe the outside world and see things go by, a symbol of passing time and journeying through life itself. Before he sleeps, the world is beautiful, relaxing; an abyss, a “lawn spreading dazzlingly wide,” but when he’s awoken, it’s “at the fumes and furnace glares of Sheffield,” the mention of England being a reminder of reality for our protagonist.

 As in the poem Ambulances, being on the train presents a feeling of distance from the outside world, just like the ambulance makes the outside world “unreachable,” representing a loss of connection from the outside world. The act of passing by everything he sees as wonderful, or beautiful, and being rudely awakened by the smells and spoils of Sheffield can symbolise his detachment from the wonderful things of life, or his own sense of inability to reach it.

 The final stanzas of the poem highlight Larkin’s realisation of his life passing him by, and how he’s stuck – “Locked.” – in his existence which he’s questioning profusely. 

 We get a strong sense of Larkin’s persona as he begins openly explaining his values – “To have no son, no wife, No house or land still seemed quite natural.” He’s conflicted, explaining the “numbness” which “registered the shock,” explaining his emptiness as a result of learning of Dockery’s son.

 We see a change of thought pattern throughout Dockery and Son, “and had been capable of… No, that’s not the difference,” which shows Larkin’s struggle to find meaning in his life, until he eventually concludes that his life shows more prosper than Dockery’s himself. “To me it was dilution,” he writes. His view has spiralled up and down until eventually becoming more content, though not completely. He still writes of the “only end of age,” meaning death, and uses the inevitability of death to justify his beliefs of children and business are a waste of time, the industrial “fumes” of Sheffield bearing people away from the admirable lawns and lands he passes by. 

The Whitsun Weddings, Larkin

The Whitsun Weddings

 The Whitsun Weddings describes a train journey on a hot day, upon which the protagonist, written from first person, comes upon a wedding, describing how “at first” he “didn’t notice what a noise the weddings made.”

 Like a lot of his poems, The Whitsun Weddings includes admirable depictions of nature, even in the “tall heat” that surrounds him. He describes the train itself as being an impermeable room, much like the ambulance in Ambulances, relating himself as though they’re connected in some way, explaining “we ran behind the backs of houses,” and using the rhythm and rhyming scheme of ABABCDECDE to mimic the actions of the train, with the shorter stanzas used occasionally to show the alternating speed.

 The language used in this particular poem places focus on the senses, particularly at the beginning where we are exposed to the “cushions hot,” “smell of grass” and the “blinding windscreens,” and creates a setting and atmosphere for the readers to become indulged in. It seems yellow, sleepy and warm, and would reason for why the train is described in an admiring manner by the protagonist, as it acts as a shield from the outside, a screen to on look the scenes they go by “for miles inward” - the length of the journey relating to this also.

 Much like the rhythm of the poem, the language used throughout gives a sense of flow and calmness, and so when the “noise” of “the weddings,” it seems a disruption to the character and his journey, a reason for his change of attitude towards a time of celebration.

 The build-up this disruption is foreshadowed by the depletion of nature and the entry of more industrial scenery, such as the “acres of dismantled cars,” making the wedding itself seem related to this modern lifestyle in that Larkin shares the same disgruntled view towards it.

 Again, relating to many of Larkin’s poems in which he describes women, they play a predominant part in him noticing the ceremony, describing the “girls, in parodies of fashions,” “grinning” in awe. His focus on their wear makes the people featured in the poem seem of a lesser class, a more simple-minded group of people, perhaps due to or a cause for their endorsement in such activities.

 Very bluntly, the mothers are described as being “loud and fat,” and the “uncles shouting smut.” He uses these simplistic and cruel words in order to present an undignified set of morals here, as well as an endorsement of a modern way of living. Usually, Larkin presents his own self as being above people who follow certain ways of living and The Whitsun Weddings is no different, with the ceremony being used as a symbol of consumerism on a large scale.

 Eventually, the newly-married couples join the train, once “three-quarters empty,” a delightful amount for the relaxing journey it’s taken, now crowded and annoying. It’s a cheap mode of access for a wedding too, perhaps relating with the demeaning manner that Larkin looks onto lower-class people as whole.

 The action of moving away from the families and “frowning children” on a train, a long and warm journey for Larkin himself, can be seen as a symbolic gesture of people leaving their home-lives to pursue something bigger, with marriage being a gateway into different opportunities for people. He even begins to relate the wedding to a funeral, remembering how “the women shared the secret like a happy funeral,” giving the act of “moving on” a glum undertone of a passageway onto death.

 Cynical people tend to view weddings as ‘the end of happiness,’ and Larkin certainly presents his views in this way, mocking the “girls, gripping their handbags” staring “at a religious wounding,” a scornful way of presenting their sadness at not being married themselves, particularly after he describes it so unpleasantly. In a sense, he sees the world around him as predictable when it comes to modern-living. Unlike nature, which can be explored and experienced by all of the senses, Larkin sees weddings, for instance, as a fake ‘key’ to happiness.

 In the last two stanzas, Larkin’s language becomes more metaphorical and symbolic, representing his struggle to accept the route that humans have taken to respect what he views as pointless ceremonies. Passing by the many settings of adventure and prosper, the married couples “watched the landscape,” “and none thought of the others they would never meet,” Larkin juxtaposing the journey they take to his, making theirs seem pointless and a waste of time whilst his was a calming trip of comfort.

 The final stanza builds slowly, bringing Larkin’s view to a climactic end. The language used represents time passing, perhaps over centuries, in order to exaggerate the emptiness he feels life has, or human’s own insignificance. The train’s journey comes to an end, sadly using the words “done,” “blackened,” “slowed,” “swelled,” and “falling” to symbolise an upcoming end, all negative.

 “A sense of falling,” he says, “like an arrow shower.” It is as though he feels sympathetic for those married, and this display set before him has allowed him to explore the meaningless of living and doing these shamed activities. A life which he views a pointless, the train journey eventually being used as a symbol of being, a process of evolution and change, only to be terminated into “blackness,” explaining the inevitability of death, and therefore the pointlessness of consumerism. 

Take One Home for the Kiddies, Larkin

Take One Home for the Kiddies

 Take One Home for the Kiddies is one of Larkin’s shorter poems, and details childhood innocence as being a detrimental thing for people to not challenge.

 The rhyming scheme is ABAB, a simplistic style designed to symbolise childish minimalism. We get a feel of the representation Larkin attaches to the animals compared to human life. They're own way of living – “Shallow straw, in shadeless glass” “empty bowls,” “no dark, no dam, no earth no grass” – is pitiful and discontent, and what is usually shown as an exit for the animals’ miserable lives actually becomes a direct way to their “funerals.” Larkin suggests that there is no way out for the animals, and this can be linked to a hierarchical representation of society.

 The children, with nothing much to lose by the deaths of the meaningless pets, can take and “keep” what they want, just through asking. They have power although they have not earned it, perhaps an inclination into Larkin’s dislike of children, or perhaps a representation of a higher class of living, whilst the animals are the lower class, with “empty bowls,” and a constant focus of their lack of resources, the word “no” being repeated 4 times in one line.

 In a sadistic manner, Larkin uses the words “living toys” to describe the relationship between the animals and the children. Pets are supposed to be ‘apart of the family,’ and are bought, generally, to be loved and bring enjoyment. In Take One Home for the Kiddies, Larkin presents the children as viewing the animals as discarded objects, fun for a moment and boring the next, and mocks this point of view through the light-hearted tone of the language and rhythm of the poem. Whilst in a lot of his other work, he pays delicate attention to smaller things and descriptions, here he takes a more casual, humorous look on the situations at hand in order to highlight and ridicule the negligence that children possess due to what would otherwise be described as their ‘innocent ignorance.’

 The fact that the children are getting their “living toys” from a woman pairs two ‘characters’ Larkin generally represents as being less intelligent to the protagonists.

 Despite this, however, this poem can be an example of Larkin’s more caring personality towards animals, an insight of the same connection he has with nature.

Talking in Bed, Larkin

Talking in Bed
 Talking in Bed is a short poem demonstrating the decay of love in a relationship of many years, making it harder as time goes on for the couple to "find words at once true and kind."
 The poem highlights Larkin's outlook on, not so much the negativity of love, but the negative things being in love brings with it, and his view that nothing is eternal. His focus on the fact that they are alone and cannot communicate proposes that he feels this should be the easiest time for them to be together, without awkwardness, but in each other's company. Talking in Bed immediately enters with the line "Talking in bed ought to be easiest," straight away informing the reader that the poem has a dull undertone, and that the relationship is comfortable.
 Larkin writes "Lying together there goes back so far," allowing lying to have two underlying meanings which could connote both sleeping next to one another or lies told to one another over a long period of time. In the latter's case, he suggests that even in the days where they would speak of kindness to one another and enjoy each other's company, there would still be lies told in order to with-hold their relationship.
 Instead of there being a relationship built upon years and years of knowing each other, learning and travelling and being together, there's simply an "emblem of two people being honest," meaning that them sharing the same bed acts as a facade of their true feelings for one another. It seems almost ironic that they'd share a bed together, Larkin writes about the other person so disconnectedly it almost feels as though they are strangers, "two people" sharing a bed because that's what expected of them from the "dark towns."
 There's also a sense of disconnectedness from the city, and a longing to be there. He describes the "winds unrest" as though it's building up to a storm, symbolising their inner feelings building up eventually exploding and causing a huge break up.
 The town is described as "heaping on the horizon," making any feeling of security in numbers further away than comfortable for Larkin and the person sharing a bed with him, and only adding to the numbing sense of isolation he feels, almost as though their bed acts as a trap, a lonely room with only the two of them in there.
 Talking in Bed is structured to 4 stanzas, following an ABA CAC DCD formatting, only breaking it in the last stanza where it becomes EEE, showing a lack on continuity in their relationship, and closing the poem with a sense of definity and ease, symbolising an end in their relationship and their words becoming "not untrue and not unkind."

Ambulances, Larkin

Ambulances
 Ambulances is about fear of death, and Larkin's views on dying. He slightly mocks what people view as a 'life well spent' and contemplates the meaning of living if we will all end up in an "unreachable" room, leaving him with "solving emptiness" which "lies under everything we do," symbolising death as an eminent being which hovers in everybody's mind always - it's something we cannot ignore completely, only forget about sometimes to be hit with the reality that death is in everybody's future.
 Larkin highlights the irony of people ignoring their fate, "so permanent and blank and true," through "whispering at their own distress" at the sight of a body being taken away in an Ambulance. His angst against modern living also comes to light in this poem, with him spiting those who waste time on life when we're all one "unique random blend" of people. Here, he's suggesting that life mightn't have any one purpose, and "women coming from the shops" and "children strewn on steps" are simply fiddling with their thumbs until death becomes their actuality - much like the body before them in this poem.
 The ambulance room plays a large part in this poem, and symbolises a sense of isolation from "families and fashions" cherished throughout life, acting as a carriage to the grave. Larkin's own views on death seem to be matter-of-factly, and he explores the fact that in essence everybody is leading to the same destiny, numbing the meaning behind placing importance on things which might fade - "from love to lie" being the words he uses in order to explain the journey of life - compared to something eternal. Saying "From love to lie" also perpetuates the idea that Larkin believes life only goes downhill, rather than being a 'rollercoaster' many speak of.
 There's a sense of one man's death bringing another closer here, too. Larkin writes "The traffic parts to let go by, Brings closer what is left to come," again, focusing on the human's instinct to ignore inevitable death and lump it as another man's problem, but tallying up humans like cattle - suggesting that this outlook could be negative on people's life, causing ignorance.
 In the second stanza a reflection on the usual goings-on in town are explained, before "a wild white face" is "stowed" in the ambulance, as though saving the death of the patient for somewhere more private, not to ruin the days of the women and children looking on to the scene.

Here, Larkin

Here

 Here is a short piece detailing a protagonist's journey through the countryside and his inability to accept the neglect humans give Mother Nature as a whole. He compares the lifestyle of a busy, crowded town to the serenity of a gorgeous sunset, and talks glumly of the people living in a place which endorses in modern day commercialism. 

 The poem doesn't follow specifically to a rhyming scheme, only at the beginning does it follow ABAB CDDC before moving into the swarming city centre where all sense of control and flow leaves Larkin’s mind. There’s still a large use of alliteration which is consistent from beginning to end in the poem, first extenuating the beauty of nature compared to the industrial town he came from, where “rich industrial shadows” loom and the fields “too thin and thistled” to be meadows sit.

 He explains the mud as being “shining” and “gull-marked”, and the clouds as “piled gold” making obvious, from the off-set, his admiration for the delicacies of the earth and the importance of appreciating it.

 Using “gold” to describe clouds could also relate to the desperation people endure throughout their life to achieve impossible goals, always floating away, just out of reach, with each “piled” cloud representing another man’s inability to achieve.

  At first notice, Larkin describes the town indifferently, not having any inclination to have negative feelings towards it and even notes some of the historical “domes and statues, spires” before describing the “cranes” which “cluster.”

 There is a direct contrast between the words associated with historic elements that appear in his vision to the modern structures built to develop and change the society and village surrounding him, which he particularly disagrees with, saying the town is “Facing the sun, untalkative, out of reach.”

 “Facing the sun” sounds almost disappointing – he exaggerates the importance of appreciating the natural world we’re living in, not becoming obsessed in a culture that is obsessed with “cheap suits, red kitchen ware” and “sharp shoes”, and the positioning of this town, on the brink of “wheat-fields, running high as hedges” and a lonely, serene beach.

 He even describes the edge of the town as being “mortgaged, half-built edges” in order to ridicule the townspeople who are living in these areas and engaging in a community so down-trodden from his own, superior class.

 Throughout the majority of the poem, Larkin is degrading and insulting to people who follow modern culture rather than his own, appreciative, intelligent outlook on life, presenting a tone of resentment towards modern living. He highlights the downsides of the developments happening around him - the "residents from raw estates," "stealing flat-faced trolleys," and "electric mixers, toasters, washers, driers" all denoted as crowding the beautiful city and tainting it with their "tattoo shops" and "consulates."