Philip Larkin's Church Going.

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        Regina Sloutsky

12/17/03

C Block English

Philip Larkin’s Church Going reveals his views on religion and the value of the church through describing a biker’s encounter with a church he often passes.  Larkin shows the meaning of Christianity and its place in society by contrasting its physical and spiritual aspects.  As church-goers attempt to explain life, he questions their sincerity, and the reasoning behind venerating a space, which is merely physical.  Although Larkin acknowledges a “gravitating” pull to the Church, he is nonetheless skeptical of its power to explain the meaning of life.  

        In the first stanza, Larkin describes his first hesitant entrance into the church, in which he feels strangely uncomfortable.  Larkin relies on assonance to depict a vivid image of the church’s interior.  The words “door thud shut,” “sprawling of flowers,” “small neat organ,” and “tense, musty,” each reflect the meaning.  The period after “thud shut” also emphasizes the sound of the door closing, and the feeling of entrapment in the church.  The punctuation at the end of the stanza is also similar to the feelings evoked, with an unusual break after “I take off,” leaving the reader with a possible interpretation of the biker taking off to see the remainder of the church, and then clarifying by continuing in the next line to explain that he is in fact taking his cycle clips off instead of a hat.

        Larkin mocks the church’s religious meaning by describing strictly its visual aspects, and labeling it as “another church: matting, seats, and stone;” cold and simple words that are pertinent to any building.  By saying “another church,” he is also implying that it is yet another building, which is no different from thousands of other pieces of architecture.  Larkin also demeans the purpose of spiritual things in the church, such as hymn books and the Alter by respectively describing them as “little books” and the “holy end.”  These show his detachment from the church, and his lack of appreciation for symbolism within the church.  

        The “unignorable silence” that results in awkwardness is a reflection of Larkin’s opinion that religion society’s justification for hope, yet the actual church bears no meaning.  The silence is similar to the emptiness; although the cyclist feels is not religious, he nonetheless feels uncertain and uneasy, and is moved to show respect in the church.  

        In the second stanza, as the persona “move[s] forward,” he begins to notice more of the visual things inside the church.  As he notices writing, he pauses to examine it, however as soon as he reaches a point where he must reflect on the religious aspect of the prayer, he ignores it and continues to describe the architecture of the church, commenting on the renovation, and proceeding to mount the lectern to preach “here endeth.”  Larkin shows the irony of these words as “the echoes snigger briefly” is linked to the title of the poem, through which there is a sense of the gradual disappearance of the church, and its irrelevance in modern life and the contemporary society.  The words “here endeth” serve to show the church’s redundancy, while also showing ironically suggesting that his church going is not ending, and thus the echoing sniggers are coming from an imaginary audience.  

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        As soon as he realizes that he is becoming involved in the religious aspect of the church, the cyclist brings the reader back to the door, and shows that he holds no attachment to the church, other than the traditional respect that one shows in a religious atmosphere.  He proceeds to convince himself that “the place was not worth stopping for,” in part because he is afraid of the influences that religion may have on him, but also because he is reluctant to accept the church, as it is ultimately losing its significance in society.  

        While the persona enjoys ...

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