Arundel Tomb

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'Larkin's vision of life is bleak and depressing.' With close analysis of

'An Arundel Tomb' and one other poem by Larkin, compare the ways in which

Larkin and Abse write about their outlook on life.

The popular view of Larkin is indeed of a bleak and depressing poet, and on first analysis his poems can strike the reader in this way. Indeed, he has been accused of worse: of being misanthropic and, in particular, misogynistic. Certainly, his vision could certainly never be said to be romantic or optimistic. In 'Wild Oats,' for instance he describes forming a relationship with the less attractive of two friends, who ultimately finishes with him because,

'I was too selfish, withdrawn and easily bored to love.'

Many of his other poems also convey this gap between the ideal of romantic love and the disillusionment of the reality too. Larkin made no secret of the fact that he believed marriage could be an imprisonment and that having children was the end of a person's life, something that people did because it was expected of them, that in fact they might well come to regret subsequently. He also explores in his writing