In What Ways Does Larkin Present the Glory and Successes of Life?
In What Ways Does Larkin Present the Glory and Successes of Life? Philip Larkin presents glory and success in life in a negative and often debasing nature. The overriding pessimism and bleakness in his poetry frequently debilitates the grandeur and triumph apparent in life. Despite endeavouring throughout life for achievement and prestige, his poems suggest that individuals will inevitably become "the old fools" no longer able to "alter things" or "(dance) all night" with former dignity replaced by the monotonous routine of "thin continuous dreaming" and "baffled absence". Larkin's underlying gloom attacks that which is traditionally seen as grand such as nature in 'The Trees', where the seemingly positive symbols of regeneration like "buds relax and spread/ their greenness" are undermined as Larkin proclaims pessimistically "no, they die too" and the suggestion that nature only "(begins) afresh" to cease and wither. Likewise the aspects of society that are typically viewed as worthwhile and admirable such as marriage, love and optimism of youth are derogated in 'This Be The Verse' by the blunt, plosive and shocking declaration of "They fuck you up, your mum and dad" and again by the confrontational and envious tone of "When I see a couple of kids/ and guess he's fucking her" added with the assurance that "this is paradise" in 'High Windows'. Larkin's cynicism corrupts