The Importance of Elswhere

Lonely in Ireland, since it was not home, 
Strangeness made sense. The salt rebuff of speech,
Insisting so on difference, made me welcome:
Once that was recognised, we were in touch.

 

Their draughty streets, end-on to hills, the faint
Archaic smell of dockland, like a stable,
The herring-hawker's cry, dwindling, went
To prove me separate, not unworkable.

 

Living in England has no such excuse:
These are my customs and establishments
It would be much more serious to refuse.
Here no elsewhere underwrites my existence

 

Before moving to Hull, Larkin worked in a library in Belfast. The first and second stanza's explore the idea of being elsewhere and that he feels like an outsider due to the different cultures and accents but even though he felt that "we were in touch" using a paradox that Ireland made sense to him.

The second stanza uses different senses to create imagery. (touch, smell, hearing)

However the last stanza shows his relationship with England, he feels lonely and like an outsider in his own hometown, but feels there isn't a excuse because he is the same as everyone else- therefore people should understand each other.

 

This poem gives the idea that your "this" because of "that"- being somewhere different loneliness makes sense because you cant necessary connect yet he cant understand why he has the same feeling back at home. It offers the idea of 'orientalism' the western vs. eastern and the cultural identity of other areas and places.