An analytical comparison between Philip Larkin's 'Here' and Wordsworth's 'Composed Upon Westminster Bridge'.

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An analytical comparison between Philip Larkin’s ‘Here’ and Wordsworth’s ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge’

Several revolutions, wars, and monarchs greatly influenced a new appreciation for nature, country and simplicity in order to escape industrialisation. The structure, style, and imagery of Romanticism are prominent in Wordsworth's 'Composed Upon Westminster Bridge', while a hidden theme of nature peers through the descriptions. This theme of nature is similarly echoed in ‘Here’ where Larkin recreates the natural beauty he envisaged through verbal means and the sublime use of word choice and word placement emphatically conveys the vivid projection of urban life and of nature from his understanding.

My own first impressions are that the poem ‘Here’ seems to involve a journey, a movement from one place to a different one. It is highly descriptive, overloaded with objects that are listed and that the final stanza contrasts in many aspects, with the previous three stanzas, in that the final stanza seems more contemplative and slightly more positive in tone. ‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge’, which is a sonnet, shows Wordsworth relishing the elegance and beauty of London and its tranquility. What I interpreted from this is Wordsworth had a similar desire for tranquility and solitude as did Larkin. In Larkin’s poem he is on a journey and so we can say he may be traveling on a train where he is isolated from the large industrial town he passes but can look out the window and make observations, this indicates he likes solitude and simplicity (as we later interpret from the later lines). Compared to Larkin, Wordsworth is observing from a neutral point as in the title he is upon Westminster Bridge. Also it is set in the early morning when there is no bustle and noise. He is in awe at the beauty of the morning sun radiating from London’s great architectural marvels. 

In ‘Here’ the line, “Of skies and scarecrows, haystacks, hares and pheasants,” in the first stanza contains many permutations. There is use of double alliteration with the two sets words beginning and ending with the same letters. This use of alliteration is reminiscent of Anglo-Saxon literature as Larkin did have knowledge at university of Anglo-Saxon literature so he has incorporated this into his form of poetry. Similarly two lines down, “The piled gold clouds, shining gull-marked mud,” have repeated ‘l’ and ‘d’ sounds which build up expectations and a sense of inevitability of the word choices. This gives the effect of belonging, the letters are fore grounded and so they appear to connect and be in unison. Also a more subtle use of assonance in, “gull-marked mud,” really makes the journey feel more like a dream as there is a lack of grammatical commentary. The long vowel sounds in, “The piled” and “the shining”; reinforce this dreamy state that the narrator is cajoling into. In Wordsworth's sonnet his immediate reaction is that the "soul" must be touched, meaning that the feelings or emotions should be stirred. The first three lines have been devoted to this conviction that the observer must be affected. In line 4 Wordsworth introduces a simile whose details extend through the next group of four lines. The things he comments on are the sunlight “This City now doth, like a garment, wear / The beauty of the morning: silent, bare” as it shone upon London. The two things being compared are the "garment" and "the beauty of the morning”. He regards the things listed in line six as beautiful. He describes the morning using strong, simple words, "bright", "glittering" and "smokeless". The effect of London being "open unto the fields, and to the sky;" seems that earth and sky form, at that moment, a unit, a whole impression. Because there is no smoke, the visual effect is uninterrupted. The entire effect is clean and sparkling. The implication is that the sun can shine on London. The speaker has been struck by the beauty of London on a bright and smokeless morning.

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The title ‘Here’ may be chosen because Larkin did not want to name the place as Hull as we the reader may have had associated Hull with many preconceptions before reading the poem. So by calling it ‘Here’ the reader has a clear mind and will take every line for what it is and so each line will have a deeper meaning as the place is mysterious to the reader and the poet can control what information about the place he wants us to know. Compared to “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge” it clearly states where it takes place and so it ...

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