In What Ways Does Larkin Present the Glory and Successes of Life?

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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 perceptions of glory and success as anything achieved is immediately mocked and attacked.

As advancement and progression take place in the surroundings through modernisation Larkin points out the negativity and destruction of this development. In 'Going Going' the "bleak high-rises" and "split level shopping" devastates to the world the poetic voice previously lived in, where he thought in hope "there would always be fields and farms". Instead the simple realisation is that the "first slum of Europe" will appear "and that will be England gone". The economic references also portray a sense of greed and damage, which the government endorses, through moving "work to unspoilt dales (Grey area grants)!" Larkin suggests the success achieved is seemingly just an outlet for greed and disorder.
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The common representation of children and the glory of innocence and hope are further devalued through Larkin's poetry. The sense of optimism of a new generation is dismissed as youth loses the values and are merely the "crowd in the M1 café" added to the blunt vernacular of "kids". The aspirations of youth are destroyed when compared to the disintegration of life in 'The Old Fools' where all success and glory has been reduced to "not knowing how, not hearing who, the power of choosing gone". Likewise in 'This Be The Verse' the poetic voice emphasises the reality ...

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