whitsun weddings
The Theme of Death and
Time in Larkin 's
The Whitsun Weddings
By Inst. Susan Taha Ahmed
Diyala University/College of Education for Human
Sciences/ Dep. Of English
Assist. Inst. Basil Mohammad Khudhair
Diyala University/College of Education for Human
Sciences/ Dep. Of English
l
The Theme of Death…..
Philip Larkin (1922-1985) is one of the prominent poets in the second half of the twentieth century. His name is associated with a group of poets called “ the Movement Poets” along with
Kingsley Amis, Donald Davie, Tom Gonne ,
Elizabeth Jennings , and others. This group of poets called for a new kind of poetry which denied the poetry of the modernists, post- modernists and the
Apocalyptic poetry produced by Dylan Thomas.
Larkin and his colleagues shared sociological and educational background. Thus, they all belonged to the middle- class writers; moreover they all graduated from Oxford. Larkin rejected the poetry of the modernists, especially that of T-S-Eliot, who insisted that modern poetry "must be difficult"1, and
Ezra Pound among others who wrote poetry depending mostly on symbolism, myth and allusions. For Larkin such modern poetry does not convey real "life as we know it"2, it reduces poetry to reading material for the critic, and ,thus the highly educated widening the gap between the poet and the reading public. In a critical piece, "The pleasure principle", Larkin also states his views concerning this issue. He points out that the modernist writers seemed "to be producing a new kind of bad poetry"3. Larkin repeatedly stresses the need to establish a closer relationship between the poet and his readers. He firmly believes that poetry should aim at pleasing rather than mystifying, it should give pleasure to both the poet who writes it and those who read it instead of its turning into a
٦٥٤
l
By Inst. Susan Taha Ahmed &
Assist. Inst. Basil Mohammad Khudhair
complex
Time in Larkin 's
The Whitsun Weddings
By Inst. Susan Taha Ahmed
Diyala University/College of Education for Human
Sciences/ Dep. Of English
Assist. Inst. Basil Mohammad Khudhair
Diyala University/College of Education for Human
Sciences/ Dep. Of English
l
The Theme of Death…..
Philip Larkin (1922-1985) is one of the prominent poets in the second half of the twentieth century. His name is associated with a group of poets called “ the Movement Poets” along with
Kingsley Amis, Donald Davie, Tom Gonne ,
Elizabeth Jennings , and others. This group of poets called for a new kind of poetry which denied the poetry of the modernists, post- modernists and the
Apocalyptic poetry produced by Dylan Thomas.
Larkin and his colleagues shared sociological and educational background. Thus, they all belonged to the middle- class writers; moreover they all graduated from Oxford. Larkin rejected the poetry of the modernists, especially that of T-S-Eliot, who insisted that modern poetry "must be difficult"1, and
Ezra Pound among others who wrote poetry depending mostly on symbolism, myth and allusions. For Larkin such modern poetry does not convey real "life as we know it"2, it reduces poetry to reading material for the critic, and ,thus the highly educated widening the gap between the poet and the reading public. In a critical piece, "The pleasure principle", Larkin also states his views concerning this issue. He points out that the modernist writers seemed "to be producing a new kind of bad poetry"3. Larkin repeatedly stresses the need to establish a closer relationship between the poet and his readers. He firmly believes that poetry should aim at pleasing rather than mystifying, it should give pleasure to both the poet who writes it and those who read it instead of its turning into a
٦٥٤
l
By Inst. Susan Taha Ahmed &
Assist. Inst. Basil Mohammad Khudhair
complex
Bibliography: .Inc., 1974. Larkin, Philip "Introduction to All What Jazz", Required Writing, 1957. Sydney: Sydney University Press , 1981. Timms, David. Philip Larkin. London: Cox and Wyman LTD., 1973. Man", English Poetry, 24, Summer, 1975. Columbia press, 1986.