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.’