Talking in Bed

Talking in bed ought to be easiest,                                   (it isn't as easy)

Lying together there goes back so far,                              (intimacy)
An emblem of two people being honest.             (paradox- two people lying cant become honest)

 Yet more and more time passes silently.            (no communication. lonely)
Outside, the wind's incomplete unrest                ( un-comfy)
Builds and disperses clouds in the sky,              (clouds covering the truth)

 And dark towns heap up on the horizon.          ( cant escape/ no freedom- nothing to look forward to.)
None of this cares for us. Nothing shows why
At this unique distance from isolation               (lonely, isolation)

 It becomes still more difficult to find
Words at once true and kind,                                            (hard to find things to talk about)
Or not untrue and not unkind             (absence in intimacy, never be honest- hurts someone's feelings)

 

Larkin uses pathetic fallacy to show the relationship, in the 2nd stanza, the wind's unrest may show a stormy, dull weather showing a problem. This poem shows the pessimism in relationships and human nature and how people supposedly act. It also comes across as anti-women as you have to be careful what you say to them encase you make them upset but in reality they aren't necessarily weak.

Self's the Man

This poem has a sense of sarcasm about it, the poem is about Larkin's friend(Arnold) who married a women to stop her getting away. Larkin feels if your single you are allowed to be selfish but as his friend is married he can't be.
He describes the women as being "there all day" this has a claustrophobic feel about it and a desire to be alone. In this poem marriage is presented in a cynical view, the idea you can never be alone again and you need to be careful for what you wish for. "Put a screw in the wall" this line is put in italics to symbolise an order, implying women are always nagging and therefore 'Arnold' has to do the DIY. Women are presented in a negative view, they are selfish and needy. Larkin also points out that his money  "she takes as her perk" when really she is spending it on things that are needed (laundry, children)
The tone in this poem is quite casual, making you agree with the writer and their life experiences. Making the poem more realistic. The 6th stanza uses the word 'but' this gets the reader thinking that both the persona and Arnold are both selfish.
The conclusion in this poem is that they are no different as they are both selfish as Arnold's life was selfish before marriage as he "still did it for his own sake" Larkin isn't married because he knows what he can put up with.

Here

This poem is about travelling the repetition of "swerving" gives the idea of movement through different places. He uses an enjambment which creates a fast tone, perhaps symbolising the movement of a journey by a train perhaps. Larkin offers a realistic and pessimistic view in this poem using the landscape to show the urban industrial side and the romantic view on life.
"thin and thistle to be called meadows"-  the romantic view of a meadow is ruined by the harsh thistles, perhaps showing a danger.
"piled gold clouds, the shining gull-marked mud"- offers a contrast with 'gold' and 'mud' nature sounds more appealing but is often undermined.
"workmen at dawn, swerving to solitude"- people work hard all day, they become tired and wait for the peace and relaxation at the end of the day.
"domes and statues, spires and cranes cluster"- again a contrast between the 'domes' sounding appealing and rich whereas 'cranes' is less attractive and gives an sense of building sites, symbolising destruction.
"cheap suits, red kitchenware, sharp shoes, iced lollies"- 'cheap' 'ice' 'sharp' may all suggest danger or darker views. May be showing his prejudice to the poorer and them being unpleasant.
This poem shows how nature can occasionally offer hope and it sounds nicer and calmer.

Ends the land suddenly beyond a beach
Of shapes and shingle. Here is unfenced existence:
Facing the sun, untalkative, out of reach.

 

The last stanza offers hope and freedom. The 'beach' gives a sense of relaxation and opportunity giving an end to bad things. But facing the chance to change becomes 'out of reach' you will never be able to get there. This is a pessimistic view on life. 

The Whitsun Weddings

Whitsun Weddings is a poem about a train journey on a warm Saturday afternoon, Larkin watches newly weds board at each station as their families wave them off.
The opening stanzas give a laid back feel and a sense of "being in a hurry gone" along with the relaxed scenery "hedges dipped and rose" and a "smell of grass " giving the image of the countryside on a summers day.
Larkin describes the girls as being in "parodies of fashion" and being in "lemons, mauve, olive ochres" that made them stand out and show Larkin's snobbery coming out. The fathers are described as having "broad belts" showing a typical proud father, but from this you get the idea Larkin has respect for the males as saying "broad" means big or fat and without saying those he doesn't seem offensive. Whereas the mothers are "loud and fat" which is much more direct showing he may have little respect for them. He uses an oxymoron "happy funeral" two words that contrast each other and show a best and worst time in life. He describes the girls looking at a "religious wounding"  this also reflects the idea joy but representing loss.
Larkin wasn't part of these wedding, he only observed which allows him to be snobbish about the "fresh couples" and their new start in life.

Reference Back

This poem links to Larkin's other musical poems as there are certain puns aimed with music. Also 'Love Songs in Age' links with the idea of looking back on old memories.
The poem is about Larkin's mother who after his father died lived alone, Larkin would travel to spend time with her. The first stanza starts with speech "that was a pretty one" showing his mother is commenting on the music he is playing "idly." He feels his mother "Looked so much forward to" Larkin vising but he didn't feel the same way.
The second stanza shows a classic blues song of Riverside Blues and how with that song holds memories for Larkin of "The flock of notes those antique Negroes blew" and how that all this time after he was born this song  "made this sudden bridge" a sudden connection between him and his mother and though its plays on a musical term this idea shows that the song hold happy memories for both of them. Even though her "unsatisfactory age to my unsatisfactory prime." means it should be his best time in life but he is no better than his mother's age, showing they both led unsatisfactory life's.
Larkin reflects the "element" as time and that it " link us to our losses" links good memories with older not happy memories and that they "show us what we have as it once was, blindingly undiminished" implying youthfulness and optimism. He reflects the idea that growing up changes things for the worse- perhaps as you understand more and that "by acting differently we could have kept it so" by acting in a different way they could of kept the happy memories  they once had without covering them in worse memories.

As Bad as a Mile

A)Watching the shied core
A)Striking the basket, skidding across the floor,
A)Shows less and less of luck, and more and more

B)Of failure spreading back up the arm
B)Earlier and earlier, the unraised hand calm,
B)The apple unbitten in the palm.

This is a poem about failure and disappointment. The rhyming is the simple as is the poem, the fact the rhyme doesn't change may symbolise the unchanged outcome of throwing an apple in the basket. The idea of an unbitten apple is also a religious symbol representing Adam and Eve, the apple- a forbidden fruit was a temptation for Eve and resulted in failure and irreversible. Perhaps the idea of Larkin tempted to try and score the apple but resulting in failure represents this poem.

The Large Cool Store

The large cool store selling cheap clothes           charity/budget shop,  judgmental
Set out in simple sizes plainly                               boring and plain colours.
 (Knitwear, Summer Casuals, Hose,
In browns and greys, maroon and navy)
Conjures the weekday world of those

Who leave at dawn low terraced houses             working class, industry ( Whitsun wedding- classes)
Timed for factory, yard and site.
But past the heaps of shirts and trousers             work clothes
Spread the stands of Modes For Night:              occasions, best clothes for the night Machine-embroidered, thin as blouses,             interesting colours, smarter

Lemon, sapphire, moss-green, rose
Bri-Nylon Baby Dolls and Shorties
Flounce in clusters. To suppose
They share that world, to think their sort is     distancing himself from lower classes.
Matched by something in it, shows

How separate and unearthly love is,               love -mythical, not cynical
Or women are, or what they do,                      women are cheap, sexism
Or in our young unreal wishes                      (feminine rhyme, sounds like it should rhyme .)
 Seem to be: synthetic, new,
And natureless in ecstasies.

Send No Money

Send No Money          .....is now grown up, but needs help.         (cynical poem)         

Standing under the fobbed
Impendent belly of Time   ............loss of time Tell me the truth, I said                   ........he wants the truth and wants to be able to see the truth
Teach me the way things go
All the other lads there
Were itching to have a bash
But I thought wanting unfair
It and finding out clash

So he patted my head, booming Boy
There's no green in your eye           ........Larkin always saw the truth, he's never been naïve
Sit here and watch the hail
Of occurence clobber life out
To a shape no one sees
Dare you look at that straight?
Oh ,thank you, I said ,Oh yes please   ...........  done what he's been told, has manors
And sat down to wait     ..........see what the future brings.
Half life is over now     ..............middle aged, wasted time
And I meet full face on dark mornings  ............ boring life no excitement.
The bestial visor, bent in             ...............helmet to protect him from the future
By the blows of what happened to happen
What does it prove? Sod all  .............. disappointed in what life has brought.
In this way I spent youth
Tracing the trite untransferable       ...........lost his youth, spent it trying to the  truth in life. Truss-advertisement, truth.

A study of reading habits

When getting my nose in a book                           
Cured most things short of school,               ........was a medicine, made things seem better.
It was worth ruining my eyes
To know I could still keep cool,
And deal out the old right hook              ..........fantasy, he could stand up to others.
To dirty dogs twice my size.                ........... school bullies, tougher than him.

Later, with inch-thick specs,               .......mocking his own appearance
 Evil was just my lark:                       ..........wanted to be evil, but cool (bad-boy?)
Me and my coat and fangs
Had ripping times in the dark.
The women I clubbed with sex!      ....reading offers him fantasies, makes him out to be someone else.
I broke them up like meringues.

Don't read much now: the dude            .......reading doesn't feel the same
Who lets the girl down before               .......realised they aren't true hero's.
The hero arrives, the chap
Who's yellow and keeps the store         ....the colour 'yellow' could symbolise cowardly.
Seem far too familiar. Get stewed:        ... he's read all his life, the characters are all familiar. Books are a load of crap.                ....books don't provide reality and truth they only offer an escape

Each stanza represents a time in Larkin's life- the first being his childhood and how being able to read took his mind of school and made him day dream about heroism and being tougher. The second stanza resembles his adolescents and him making out to be someone else, being cooler and evil so he can get girls. The final stanza is pessimistic and that for so long books have offered him an escape from problems in reality yet he's now realised they haven't helped him as he's lost hope and cant understand the true meaning of being a hero as they aren't true.

MCMXIV (1914)

This is one of Larkin's serious poems, about the first world war. The first stanza opens with "long uneven lines" showing the men signing up at an recruiting office but could also show the trenches of war. Larkin describes it as a normal day and the "sun" and "archaic faces" show a calmness and old fashioned view. The poem offers a sense of patriotism "called after kings and queens" show people fight in the name of their monarch.
The last two stanza's show how the country copes during the war. the idea that the "countryside not caring" shows its a safer place to be and the "flowering grasses" show a summery, calm sense perhaps offering optimism. Along with the "tiny rooms in huge houses" offers a contrast as the excitement has gone and "dust behind limousines" show they are no longer used and how everyday life has changed.
"changed itself to past without a word" showing how quickly time and attitudes change but the idea of "without a word" could reflect the men leaving- no goodbyes as they expect to come home also the  fact they go "leaving the gardens tidy" shows they are ready to return to normal. Also the fact "thousands of marriages lasting a little while longer" could symbolise that they are widowed before they realise or are told but also the idea the husbands are further away showing that love perhaps lasts longer. The last line "never such innocence again" implies that war wont happen again in the same way the first war did, as people will never be as optimistic again because of all the horrors  they saw and how much ww1 changed peoples lives and that the nation changed- women went to work and generations grew up with change.

Naturally The Foundation Will Bear Your Expenses

The title 'Naturally The Foundation Will Bear Your Expenses' shows travel and the idea of expenses being paid for.
"hurrying to catch my comet"- this is a poem about travelling away to India on armistice day. Larkin seems quite distrustful in this poem as he blames "colourless and careworn" crowds ( bland, uninteresting, working class) as making his taxi late. He feels the tradition is "solemn-sinister" serious but also creepy (alliteration, words that should match but don't) also the "wreath-rubbish" at Whitehall again feels quite disrespectful.
The final stanza he exaggerates describing how it made him "throw-up" and the "mawkish ,nursery games" shows a childish, parade of grief. Though the poem seems quite negative Larkin feels "England should grow up" showing he does respect the soldiers that lost their lives but feels the tradition is pointless perhaps implying the tradition wont bring them back but cause grief that wont necessary make things better, therefore Larkin leaves London in the grief of the tradition and heads for India.
"But I out soar the Thames"- this shows Larkin rising above the grief and his own decisions and ignores the fact so feels he should look forward and head to meet his friend.

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.



Essential Beauty / Sunny Prestatyn

Essential Beauty:
Essential Beauty is a poem which reflects the idea of advertising VS reality. The title alone shows that beauty is believed to be 'essential' and without beauty your nothing.
Larkin describes them as "slums with praise" showing negative things can be covered with high expectations and become out of reach. Larkin uses words such as "shine" and "golden" as a paradox for beauty. The description of "youth" showing how young they are and the way its described is more a fantasy rather than a reality but in real life nothing is like the advertisements.
The second stanza as a repeat of "pure" showing perfection but is then contrasted by "imperfect eyes." The relation to classes is also seen by "tennis-clubs" and "gents" symbolising the upper class but also shows the naïve of them as a "boy puking up" is the true aspect of advertising and being imperfect, this could show people feel they can't achieve from outside their certain class in society.  The last two lines "Who now stands newly clear, Smiling, and recognising, and going dark" the words underlined are a contrast perhaps showing heaven and death. The idea that perfection is clear but the way people get the attention isn't always the right way and therefore damaging.

Sunny Prestatyn:
This poem is about posters advertising holidays to the seaside. He shows how the posters show a better life of "white" and "palms" give a tropical feel and the "hunk of the coast" show its attractive and offers an escape. However Larkin describes the women as "too good for this life" showing he valued the women and again the ages is shown by the "laughed the girl" showing optimism. 
Though the poster offer an escape from reality over time the posters become defaced- the graffiti is very negative with sexual references and that the girl is now "snaggle-toothed."  The graffiti is seen as an attack "knife" "stab" and "scrawls" all have an aspect of violence to them, also he describes the poster as being "slapped up" being the way the brush is sticking the poster up, but also the word "slapped up" could be used to show that the women are treated badly and again offers an violent attack.

Very soon, a great transverse tear   

Left only a hand and some blue.   

Now Fight Cancer is there.  these last lines in the poem sum up Larkin's view- the "transverse tear" could show her sadness and 'tears' but reality shows a tear in the poster. The last line about cancer shows the poster being covered up perhaps showing beauty being replaced with the harsh truth. But it also shows that the violence towards women is ignored as people wont deface a 'cancer' poster showing that people act differently towards certain issues in life.

 



Mr Bleaney

This particular poem is set to be about a elderly man who has died but could symbolise Larkin's life.

 Larkin uses symbolism of objects to show his life by adding extra details "sixty-watt bulb" is a low lit bulb perhaps showing his dull life and the curtains being "thin and frayed" showing the physical state and well-being of the man. Also the idea he was "moved" could show end of life and death showing funerals.
The poem describes the man as having addictions of "fags" and "plugging at the four away" could be a metaphor for betting.

 The final stanza is Larkin's comparison:
That how we live measures our own natures,
and at his age having no more to show
Than one hired box should make him pretty sure,
He warranted no better, i dont know.

The idea that you live your life for so long but at the end what do you really have left, than a "hired box" or coffin to symbolise the end of your life.

The rhyming pattern in this poem in each stanza is (A,B,A,B) the fact the pattern never changes could show that it represent simple and dull life the 'Mr Bleaney led'

For Sidney Bechet

This poem reflects the jazz era and the reflection of memories. The poem is based in New Orleans the hometown of jazz composers and the era. The rhythm of this poem is very disorganised perhaps showing the music as the mixed rhythm reflects the jazz beats.

The second stanza shows the positives of New Orleans with the "balconies, flower-baskets and quadrilles" showing the beauty and romantic side of the city. Whereas the stanza after shows the dangers, "storyvilles" and girls like "circus tigers" show he see's them as animals and are dangerous to human beings. Though he seems the danger Larkin starts the stanza with enthusiasm that thing!" again symbolising the way jazz music is seen. Larkin see's jazz as happiness and a "natural noise of good" and the idea of jazz makes Larkin forget his problems of "long-haired grief and scored pity" and let him enjoy life.

Larkin uses pronouns such as 'me, my' making the poem more personal and showing his passion for music.

Broadcast / Faith Healing

Broadcast:
Broadcast is a love poem about music and a concert. The way Larkin writes implies the music doesn't appeal to him as much as others as he describes the music of "snivelling of the violins" this makes them sound unhealthy and not very appealing. The rhyme in each stanza is similar perhaps showing that their relationship has little excitement and is boring.
Larkin describes his love, in a way which implys he misses her "outline" and "withering" show his memory is perhaps fading. He describes himself as "desperate" in trying to pick her out showing he may be unable to live without her. But the final line in the final stanza sums their relationship up as he wants to look around and see her "applauding" showing he wants her to appreciate him.
The final stanza has pathetic fallacy "leaves on half- emptied trees" this reflects autumn and a changing season.
This poem has some context at the side about Maeve's response to the poem he had written a line that implied that Maeve would rather listen to music than to him which is reflected in the poem. The fact Larkin tries to like and understand music suggests he wants to try and win her back but could also show that Maeve just wants a friendship whereas Larkin See's more.

The poem links to Arundel tomb with the idea of love and art (music) also Wild Oats as again the women aren't as interested in him.
Technique used:
-Caesura
-Pathetic fallacy
-antromorphism.

Faith Healing:
This poem is about a healer, he is describes as having "silver hair" showing his age but along with wisdom also the "dark suit" with the "white collar" shows power and authority but also represents religion. Larkin still become sexist as he describes women as "dumb" with "tears" being stereotypical implying women are weak. Larkin describes the crowd as having "eyes squeeze grief" showing you can tell by their eyes that they have bottled up emotions for so long. Even though the healer has been described as helping the people but "nothing cures" giving a loss of hope and that "all time has disproved" he may be saying that religion cant solve everything.
Overall this poem is mocking the idea of a 'healer' and that there is no cure if you cant be loved, but after all love cant heal everything as the absence of love can be made up by religion.

Ignorance/ Nothing to be said.

Ignorance.
This poem comes back to resemble Larkins negetive views, the poem is about life and the idea of a meaningless exisence. He uses the idea of making a choice without knowing much about it. This links to the idea that he feels in life you make choices without looking at consquences or reasons why you chose certain ideas. He backs this idea with "knowing nothing, never to be the same"that if you know little then you are less likely to be intrigued than to if you know more than you should, being a different person. Larkin uses the idea of being " ignorant of the way things work" not knowing much is often harder as you question more yet "for our flesh" for yourself in time you age and change; as does time.
This poem links to 'Nothing to be said' as in both poems there's an idea of life being pointless and the last line in 'Ignorance' is "have no idea why" the idea that in life you have so many questions but many are left unanswered or untold because in life things change and get forgotten.

Nothing to be said.
The main point in this poem is reflected in other poems. It also shows a divide in culture or class, the idea that the rich or poor live their life in different ways. The location of this poem is found by "coble-close" and the "mill-towns" suggesting Larkin located it in Northern England. To finish the last stanza Larkin uses a paradox "life is slow dying" this idea reflects that live lasts to long when all you have as a result is death and to combat the "ways of slow dying" all you can do is "hunting" or "holding a garden party" to just fill up the time you have between birth and death.
Larkin shows the idea that "love and money" along with birth and death are all equal, as you cant measure one without the other.
the last stanza Larkin uses a 'zeugma'( connection of words with different meanings) "hours giving evidence Or birth" implying both are equal yet in different ways. The last line "to some it means nothing; others it leaves nothing to be said" showing two types of people the optimistic people who don't care and the pessimistic who feel it offers a perfect explanation and sums life up.

Days/ Water

Days.

Again this poem is about life and death. The first line opens with a question "What are days for?" this shows Larkin is unsure and wants the audience to think.But also could show that he overthinks to much. There is two voices in this poem which is split by the stanza's. The first is seen in the first stanza which is Larkin questioning himself about life yet the final stanza is him answering his question and the conclusion if life is often death. The tones of the voice seem quite childish and and uncertain. Larkin uses "brings the priest and the doctor" this could indicate when your time is over the 'priest' repressents a funeral and the 'doctor' shows the idea of death or illness.
The idea of the poem is that in life you think too much, which causes and waits for death to approach due to so many unanswered questions.

Water.
I feel compared to Larkins other poems this seems quite positive. He uses a pronoun 'I' which shows its about Larkin therefore it's more personal than many of his other poems. The idea of "water" being refreshing or purity prehaps show the poem is positive.
This poem seems religious as he uses words such as "raise" and "east" which could symbolise recerection. The idea that Larkin wants people to "congregate endlessley" may imply he wants people to be together. Showing an idea of freedom and that 'Water' is endless and shows life or eternity.

Home is so Sad

Home is so sad. It stays as it was left,      -A home is to provide comfort yet now that ideas gone.         

Shaped to the comfort of the last to go    -Left, no one to please or keep safe anymore.

As if to win them back. Instead, bereft

Of anyone to please,it withers so,            -Can't comfort anyone- has no meaning anymore         

Having no heart to put aside the theft      - Stolen' its old life has been taken and is lost.       

 

And turn again to what it started as,

A joyous shot at how things ought to be,          -little things hold happy memories from the past

Long fallen wide. You can see how it was:

Look at the pictures and the cutlery.                 -show memories and emotions of the past.   

The music in the piano stool. That vase.           -classic nostaglia. ( uncovering the past)

 

This poem shows classic nostalgia, everything was better in the past than it is now. However this shows a different side to Larkin as it's him that's sad and his memories and happiness that has been left behind.

The last stanza the use of the words pictures,cutlery,music and vase show how his life used to be. The pictures may symbolise family and company while the cutlery shows family and gatherings whilst the music implys happiness and good memories. The vase could show life and love, as its now empty without flowers could show little life and the lost love that was held in th past.

 

'Home is so Sad'  In the title Larkin uses antropomorphism, a house is an object therefore doesn't have any emotion or feelings. I feel the house is used to repressent how Larkin feels, his house may hold many memories of the happiness and people that have walked into his life and left. Yet  now there's little reason to relive the past as the memories therefore he is left alone and he feels sad. 

First Sight

First Sight:

Lambs that learn to walk in snow                    harsh winter, born early
When their bleating clouds the air
Meet a vast unwelcome, know               winter isn't welcome, spring is needed
Nothing but a sunless glare
Newly stumbling to and fro
All they find, outside the fold
Is a wretched width of cold

As they wait beside the ewe
Her fleeces wetly caked, there lies
Hidden round them, waiting too
Earth's immeasurable surprise                 spring offers hope and surprise.
They could not grasp it if they knew
What so soon will wake and grow         spring gives a sense of hope
Utterly unlike the snow.

This is a generally optimistic poem by Larkin, it describes nature which often offers a sense of hope. The idea that the lambs were born in the snow suggest a harsh winter that's latest longer than expected as lambs are normally born in spring. Due to the winter the lambs are suffering from the coldness and lack of food. The fact the lambs are waiting for "earth's immeasurable surprise' suggests  to them that spring is a great surprise that they wont know and that it brings them hope.
The rhythm of the poem is ( A,B,A,B,C,D,D) this may suggest a cycle at the start which then dies down towards the end representing the seasons. The idea of a cycle of nature and that out of bad comes goodness with surprise or hope.