Larkin's biographer Andrew Motion claims that the 'Whitsun Weddings' "Tackles the big issues in the language of ordinary speech". Explore the themes and language of Larkin's poetry with reference to these observations.

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Larkin’s biographer Andrew Motion claims that the ‘Whitsun Weddings’ “Tackles the big issues in the language of ordinary speech”. Explore the themes and language of Larkin’s poetry with reference to these observations.

I agree with Larkin’s biographer Andrew Motion that the Whitsun Weddings tackle the big issues in the language of ordinary speech. There are several poems that I have selected to display the themes and language of Larkin’s poetry. These poems are: “Mr.Bleaney”,”MCMXIV” and “Sunny Prestatyn”.

I will begin by looking at the poem ‘Sunny Prestatyn’. This poem deals with the reality of life today. Larkin describes how an alluring and provocative image of a girl on an advertising poster has been and defaced. The language used by Larkin to describe this image backs up what Andrew Motion has claimed.

“…she was slapped up one day in March.

…huge tits and a fissured crotch…

…a tuberous cock and balls.”

Larkin’s shocking choice of diction has reflected the shocking theme of the poem and of the defacement of the poster. The language used by Larkin in stanza two is more violent and coarse than stanza one. The slang language used Larkin to describe how the girl had been defaced such as: “huge tits” and “a tuberous cock and balls” reflects the language of everyday ordinary speech.

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Other words throughout the poem such as ‘scrawls’ and ‘snaggle’ are used as descriptive words of her ugly and degrading defacement.

There are other themes targeted throughout this poem such as inadequacy, sexuality and contrasting reality and fantasy issues. The language used throughout this poem is effective because of everyday slang used to convey a point which helps the reader conjure up a clear sense of attitudes, feelings and emotions.

The next poem I shall look at is “Mr.Bleaney”. This poem is describing the miserable, mundane and lonely life of ‘Mr.Bleaney’. The poem contains strong emphasis ...

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