Behind many of Larkins poems lies a raft of political assumptions, assess the extent to which you feel this to be the case.

by jacksly (student)

Behind many of Larkin’s poems lies a raft of political assumptions. Informed by the Political readings section of the AQA anthologies assess the extent to which you feel this to be the case. Refer to one or more poems of your choice to support your answer.

Larkin could usually be generalised as someone with strong conservative leanings and so one would expect that his poems are a reflection of his social and political views of society. If, however examined closely, through the perspective of a Marxist you could make the argument that he views the world in much the same way as Marx did but with different interpretations.

‘The Large Cool store ‘explores the idea of class in an era of great political and ideological change. In 1960’s Britain certain demographics in society were beginning to become more radicalised and social revolutions were taking place in all facets of life. One thing that really separates Larkin’s perspective from that of a Marxist perspective is although it could be argued is that both agree on the fact that there is a class division in Britain, both have totally different views on what the division is for. On the one hand Marx sees it as a tool to keep the working proletariat as a docile labour force being manipulated and controlled by the ruling bourgeoisie. One interpretation could be that Larkin sees the division as necessary in any society in order preserve the correct order of things. In the first stanza there is a sense of class within this poem, of Larkin looking down on the lower class. “The large cool store”, for example, is ambiguous, with “cool” either meaning something along the lines of trendy, or more negative, that the shop is literally cold. “Cheap” for those purchasing the goods would be a positive thing, but the idea of “cheap” comes in twain with “cheap and nasty” and other such idioms. “Set out in simple sizes plainly” also has the same ambiguity – to be so functional is a good thing on the surface, but perhaps it also suggests the simple nature of the shoppers. In addition, the colours Larkin describes, the “browns and greys, maroon and navy” are all suggest bleak and horrible clothes. The first stanza is very double edged and gives the impression that Larkin is patronising the working class but in such a way that if read on face value it seems as though he is not. As a Marxist you could argue that Larkin sees himself as a member of the elite educated bourgeoisie and he is happy in his place as he sees directly above that of the working class.

From this initial description, Larkin moves to imagine the lives of these working class shoppers, “Who leave at dawn low terraced houses”… and in the triadic list, “factory, yard and site,” there is a sense of restraint – perhaps less of looking down on the class, but more of a empathetic viewpoint in which instead of feeling superior to them he feels sorry for them.

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Yet, despite “the heap of shirts and trousers” in the bleak colours, there are separate “stands for Modes of Night”. there is a reeling off of fashionable colours: “Lemon, sapphire, moss-green, rose”, which the “Bri-nylon Baby-dolls and Shorties” (a fashionable, though course, material) are available in. One way this could be viewed is that Larkin is comparing the working class to these cheap synthetic materials. In one sense Larkin could be arguing that much like these materials the working class lives are totally inauthentic. It’s only limitation, however, made quite clear in the line, “Machine-embroidered, thin as blouses.” Still, there is an attempt at fashion, quite unlike the “heaps of shirts” for the men.

When the girls wear these clothes, they think “they share that world” of fashion and class, that something in “their” existence the pronoun making them very separate from the poem’s voice). They have no choice but to live in these fantasies, for it’s the best they can have. The reality is that love is being reduced, turned into something “synthetic, new” “And nature less in ecstasies” – a cold ending which suggests that this is the only option for these working class women they exist in a society dominated by class this is a prime example of false class consciousness the view that one can never leave their birth class but instead think they can.

Looking at “Self’s The Man”, with a feminist perspective, it would be easy to make the argument that Larkin’s poem could be viewed as sexist.

His negative view of women continues into the second stanza. “Perk”, another example of colloquial lexis, is a work bonus. That the woman takes “the money he gets” seems to her as selfish, and the uses direct speech “It’s Put a screw in this wall” mocks the women’s stereotypical words and undermines them, the imperative making her seem interfering and controlling. Direct speech is used again for the mother’s words: “Saying Won’t you come for the summer.” Again, mocking and scornful, this utterance holds pseudo-snobbishness.

After considering all the unlikeable things that Arnold has to do a list in the third stanza of things connected with the conjunction “and…and…” creating a moaning, immature attitude), the persona concludes where he started, “Oh, no one can deny “ “That Arnold is less selfish than I”. A colloquial is adopted, such as “kiddies’ clobber” referring to toys, “perk”, and “nippers”. It shows the lack of respect the persona has towards anything regarding the family.

This negative view of marriage could be argued to represents Larkin’s own negative view. However, all the impressions are just filtered through the persona’s eyes,. It could be that Arnold has a happy marriage; most of the time, for every complaint is stereotypical and unimaginative. Even if does Arnold constantly moan about his marriage, the persona has a simplistic, unsympathetic view, while the childlike rhyming couplets which often stretch the rhyme scheme, “dryer” and “fire”, for example, augment the unlikeable, immature character. Larkin, a master of sounds, deliberately makes the poem jarring to read, and it seems that he presents the persona as a satirical character, one we can laugh at.

In the final line, there is the first hint of insecurity and vulnerability in the persona, ‘At knowing what I can stand’ much like the “I don’t know” that deflates the working class. The persona perhaps becomes aware of his own inadequacy, admits that his previous attitude was just a cocky facade to make him feel better about the emptiness in his own unmarried life. He is, perhaps, unsure that he can stand this that while marriage can trap you so, too, can loneliness. It’s a chilling ending as it suggests that individuals are doomed either way.

The poem ‘Afternoons’ focuses on “young mothers”. Though these women are in fairly well off positions, with “husbands in skilled trades”, their lives are like the “hollows of afternoons”: there is a sense of the emptiness in domestic life, in which they know nothing but “an estateful of washing”. That they are “Setting free their children” gives a sense of their own entrapment, and desire to break away.

The seasons mark the progression of time the quotation “The wind Is ruining their courting places” The wind described by Larkin here could be a metaphor for the change that occurs throughout their lives. now, as the metaphorical autumn and winter approach they must come to the depressing realisation that they have gone past the peak of their lives. Their wedding day could be argued to be the physical point in their lives that they were at their happiest “And the albums lettered, / Our Wedding, lying / Near the television”, shows that their marriages and love have now, somehow, been pushed aside and reduced, casually placed beside never be viewed. The use of the television is interesting a Marxist interpretation could be that it is a metaphor for the so called media superstructure. This is simply a tool in society that is used to keep the working class a docile work force by the ruling class. You could argue that the television is a device used to spread this message into the homes of the working class. It could also be said that it is a symbol of Larkin’s view that working class people have very simplistic materialistic desires. The use of the word ‘Lying’ is likely to be a pun the two meanings being that the album was physically lying near the television and more metaphorically it could mean that the wedding album itself is telling lies and in fact the wedding was not the great day it was made out to be but simply the beginning of the end for the couple.

Despite still being “young”, their lives have been superseded, for those places are “still courting places ‘ ‘But the lovers are all in school’. Now they have entered into the snare of domesticity, children have replaced their place. Instead, their “children, so intent on ‘Finding unripe acorns’ a hint that though they are young now, they will eventually grow into the same cycle “expect to be taken home”. The verb “expect” commands the ; their children and the thousand other domestic necessities trap them. “Their beauty has thickened” is a metaphor that captures the signs of age, the beauty of youth filling out.The final two lines sum up the rest of the sad, sympathetic poem: “Something is pushing them To the side of their own lives”. They have now become spectators in life this could be interpreted as the Marxist idea of alienation by society the couple each feels trapped in the social construction of marriage and feels isolated from the outside world.

When looking at his poems it is important to note that he was neither a Marxist nor a feminist in fact he was fairly right leaning Tory. However it is possible to see both Marxist and Feminist criticisms when viewing the poems from that particular perspective. It is important to note the time most of his poems were written. In the 1960’s it could be argued that both Marxism and feminism were both far more relevant than they are today and so this could be the reason why it is easier to interpret some of what Larkin writes as being Marxist or Feminist.

By Jack Sly

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