Larkin "The Building".
Larkin put "The Building" in the middle of his collection for a reason, it is a pillar that supports the rest of the collection with its long lines and many verses, and because of this, is maybe a bit more clearer than some of his other poems in the ideas and views that are expressed through it. Of course, being a Larkin a poem, there is the obligatory underlayer whom so many people miss, but in "The Building" it is easier to discern and comprehend. The title of the poem, "The Building" already hints at the main theme of the poem. The word "building" is a very vague term and in it's vagueness one can make out the fright of the author for this building, he cannot specify that it is a hospital as if not saying the word will make it go away. At the same time in this poem, Larkin makes out the hospital as the real world, everything around it is fake so that the word "building" is put in contrast to his view of what it really is. The poem starts in this indistinct manner and moves onto a much more definite reality: death. The first thing we discover about the building is the way it dominates the author's view, of all buildings he can see it is the tallest, it "shows up for miles". Although he doesn't want to know what it is, it dominates his view and his destiny - all men and women end up in the hospital before they die, and there is that sense again, of Larkin's fear of death.
Marriage of the familiar with the unexpected makes the 'Whitsun Weddings' Larkin's most satisfying collection of poems." - Simon Petch - Discuss how this applies to the 'Whitsun Weddings'
"The poems show us, by various means and from varying perspectives, our common urban environment, and our common patterns of thought and behaviour, in a new light or from an unusual point of view. This fine marriage of the familiar with the unexpected makes the 'Whitsun Weddings' Larkin's most satisfying collection of poems." - Simon Petch - Discuss how this applies to the 'Whitsun Weddings' Philip Larkin's collection of poems- 'The Whitsun Weddings' displays Larkin's varying perspectives of modern day living and situations. The way Larkin uses style, language and unusual points of view in his poetry clearly conveys his attitudes and observations of life to the reader through his eyes. Simon Petch states that Larkin's poetry is presented to the reader by various means. Many of the poems featured in the 'Whitsun Weddings' are set out in a traditional manner. The paragraphs in each stanza are roughly the same length. Larkin sometimes uses rhyme; however the rhyme scheme in each poem usually varies. An example of Larkin's rhyme scheme and the way the stanzas are set out is in the poem is 'Self's the Man'. The rhyme scheme is regular (A,A,B,B) throughout the whole poem. This rhyme scheme can be contrast with the poem 'Water' that has no clear rhyme scheme at all. As for the structure of the poems, in 'Self's the Man', the eight stanzas consist of four sentences each. 'Water'
Compare the ways in which larkin and abse write about love in their poems
Compare the ways in which Larkin and Abse write about love in their poems. Larkin's poetry often relates to the social and cultural views upon love and marriage in his time, love is an unusual theme in Larkin's poetry as his poems normally result to a recurring theme of death. 'An Arundel Tomb' expresses Larkin's views on love; it mirrors the ambiguity and paradox of love and life. However Abse on the other hand delivers a different approach, he for see's love as a special and unique that lies between him and his family. The theme of love is presented in many of Larkin's poems "An Arundel Tomb" is a key poem portraying the theme of love. The observer adopts the idea of the Latin names around the base as something surviving throughout time .Does he really mean the Latin language? Or is giving the reader and open-ended interpretation meaning love will survive. The observer uses an oxymoron "stationary voyage" to emphasize something moving but staying still, this could be interpreted as time passing but their love for one another is neverforgotten. "Such plainness of the pre-baroque Hardly involves the eye, until it meets his left-hand gauntlet, still clasped empty in the other; and one sees, with a sharp tender shock,
Discuss Larkin's evocation of locations and place in this anthology and assess its significance in his poetry. You should refer to a number of poems in the collection.
Nicola White Discuss Larkin's evocation of locations and place in this anthology and assess its significance in his poetry. You should refer to a number of poems in the collection. Larkin refers to different locations and places in his poetry, whether he is referring to different countries and cities or just different areas. There is a significant amount of movement in his poetry from place to place using journeys, such as the use of train images in 'Here' and 'The Whitsun Weddings'. Larkin continually refers to his own lifestyle and past; his home town of Hull is referred to in a number of poems as well as other locations he has visited or moved to and his views on these areas. England and dying England are common themes within Larkin's poetry. He wishes to express his views towards his home and display his emotional distance from the country. Larkin seems to possess some patriotism yet he detaches himself from many places in England due to being a poet who has encountered many changes in English society. Larkin has a wide knowledge of various different locations and likes to express his attitudes towards the world surrounding him. Larkin's poem 'Here' presents an evocative representation of Hull during the 50's and also relates to the understanding of Larkin as the poet of provincial England. The poem however is encompassed in bias as Larkin represents his own opinions
Explore the themes and attitudes of Phillip Larkin's
With close reference to the poem, say what interests you about the way in which the poet writes. Explore the themes, ideas and attitudes you perceive in the poem. After reading the poem for the first time, I felt that it conveyed a general sense of satisfaction. But after studying the poem closely, other aspects suggest a feeling of disappointment that the poet has. This becomes particularly clear after the change in perspective in the last verse. Everything seems to have altered from its original perfection. The main theme that features throughout the poem is one of time. In the first stanza, the poet illustrates what he sees when he revisits the seaside and is flooded with memories of past times spent here. The poet uses lots of adjectives to describe the activities going on, "Steep beach, blue water, towels, red bathing caps, warm yellow sand." The poet creates an unreal and clichéd appearance of the scene by using primary colours for adjectives. This is emphasised by the onomatopoeic effect of "hushed waves' repeated fresh collapse" which furthers the idea of the perfect destination. The poet also creates the image that time has stopped, firstly through the use of punctuation. The third and last lines of the first stanza are ended with a dash. This creates a pause for the reader and therefore the impression that time has stayed still. The poet also shows the image of
Compare the ways in which Larkin and Abse write about journeys and visits.
Compare the ways in which Larkin and Abse write about journeys and visits. In your response you must include detailed critical discussion of at least two of Larkin’s poems. Whenever Larkin presents journeys or visits throughout The Whitsun Weddings, Larkin or the persona, although Larkin always seems to use his own voice in these poems, are shown to be more interested in the lives of the people he sees or shares the journey with than the scenery, as he continues the poems into fantasizing about their lives and emotions. For example, in The Whitsun Weddings, he begins by just describing the unremarkable sight of a provincial train journey, “the river’s level drifting breadth”, but later begins to make inferences about the guests and their feelings, “the women shared the secret like a happy funeral”, showing his has unintentionally become attached. In contrast, from the beginning of his poems Abse is always shown to be attached, whereas Larkin presents a lonely ‘voyager’ who becomes swept along with others. Both Here and The Whitsun Weddings describe a lone train journey in which Larkin becomes intrigued about the people around him. At the beginning of both poems, he presents a slight irony of a disenchanted and detached observer simply describing a journey. The difference comes at the introduction of people, as in Here Larkin remains the observer, describing
Compare the ways in which Larkin and Abse create a sense of place in their poems.
Compare the ways in which Larkin and Abse create a sense of place in their poems. In your response you must include detailed critical discussion of at least two of Larkin’s poems. Throughout the anthology ‘The Whitsun Weddings’, Larkin’s presents both himself and the narrators he uses as generally detached from places and shows he doesn’t feel emotionally attached to places traditionally considered sentimental, such as his parents’ house, as shown in ‘Home is So Sad’. Larkin also presents a dislike for urbanisation and industrialism, and finds comfort in unfamiliar places, “strangeness made sense”. In direct contrast, in ‘Last Visit to 198 Cathedral Road”, Abse is shown to be emotionally overcome by his attachment to his parent’s house, and this sense of attachment can be shown throughout his poems, as he constantly shows his sentiment towards Wales and his hometown of Ogmore in particular. A sense of place is perhaps best shown by Larkin in his poem ‘Here’. In this poem, he creates a juxtaposition of country and cities, and through his language suggests that country is preferable. He uses words such as “cheap”, “grim” and “raw” to suggest he finds industrialism undesirable, and also suggests that the people are of a lower class and to be looked down on; “a cut-price crowd, urban yet simple”. The surging momentum of the poem’s
Analyse how the Larkin's use of form,structure and language shape meaning in MCMXIV .
comment on and analyse how the writer's use of form,structure and language shape meaning in MCMXIV . The poem “MCMXIV” (1914) by Philip Larkin is a poem written in the early 1960’s. Philip Larkin uses Roman numerals to let the reader know that he is writing about the past. The langauge used in this poem is simple however the style has a double meaning which could suggest that the poet is lost in nostalgia. The poem is divided into four stanzas. Each stanza addresses different things, thus Larkin split the poem to separate the different areas of focus. In the poem Larkin repeats the line "never such innocence" at the beginning and end of the last stanza to obviously prevail that their innocence has, obviously, disappeared. This repetition emphasises the author’s message, and further depicts the loss of innocence that can not be replaced. Larkin uses a single sentence for his entire poem, and in each of the stanza’s the last words of lines four and eight ryhme. The use of loose verse resembles the long uneven lines introduced in the first line of the first stanza. Futhermore the use of repetition of pessimistic lines supply an eerie afteglow tot he poem which suits it considering it is a poem based on the First World War. The language of the poem is which could suggest that the poet is lost in imagination visualising the hazy glimpses or scenes of past.
Behind many of Larkins poems lies a raft of political assumptions, assess the extent to which you feel this to be the case.
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
The Whitsun Weddings - Philip Larkin.
The Whitsun Weddings - Philip Larkin 9. Larkin wrote: "I like to read about people who aren't beautiful or lucky, presented with a realistic firmness and humour". How far do you feel that The Whitsun Weddings presents people like this? I have decided to use the following poems for this essay: - Sunny Prestatyn, Toads Revisited, MCMXIV, Take One Home For The Kiddies and The Study Of Reading Habits. The Whitsun Weddings by Philip Larkin does present people who aren't beautiful or lucky, presented with a real firmness and humour. However I believe that it is not shown in the whole of the collection. Sunny Prestatyn is a poem about a poster, which is advertising a seaside resort. The first image is the 'girl' advertising 'Sunny Prestatyn': an icon of femininity and of the beautiful life. The 'girl' has been systematically ruined by vandalism. This poem shows how beauty can be manipulated and made into a joke by some people. This was done by the graffiti and the sexual images, 'Huge tits...tuberous cock and balls', which were drawn on the poster. Beauty in this poem is described as what men find physically attractive about women. 'She was too good for this life' (149) this shows that although the vandals had a laugh when they were drawing over the poster that other people found the poster beautiful and it was destroyed meaning that it was no longer the beautiful image
