“Larkin is a pessimistic rather than optimistic poet” – Discuss Larkin has been regarded as a pessimistic poet. Larkin surely takes a very dark view of human life. The main emphasis in his poem is on failure and frustration in human life. However Larkin is not a uniformly pessimistic poet. Some of his poems have a profoundly moral character‚ which expresses itself in the need to control and organize life‚ rather than submit to a pre-determined pattern of failure. There is generally a debate going
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Philip Larkin "Days" "Days" by Philip Larkin is a ten line poem that is deceptive in its simplicity. This article considers Larkin’s poetic method in this remarkable short poem. Philip Larkin (1922-1985) wrote the poem "Days" in 1953. The poem was published in Larkin’s highly successful collection of poems entitled‚ The Whitsun Weddings‚ in 1964. "Days" is a curious poem. At first reading‚ it appears to be a simple‚ almost child-like dialogue. However‚ on second glance‚ the poem raises several
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Love and Marriage with Philip Larkin and Eavan Boland Ashley Couch Houghton College It is strange how time changes relationships. When I first started dating the man who is now my fiancée‚ one of my biggest fears was of walking down the aisle on our wedding day‚ feeling unsure that I was making the right decision by marrying him. Now what I most often fear for our relationship is falling out of love‚ as so many couples do. This is something I brood on‚ discuss‚ and develop intricate strategies against
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Throughout his works Philip Larkin shows the ‘emptiness that lies under all we do.’ The way we travel through life riding a wave of superficialities‚ too caught up in the moment to see what is really going on. Larkin aims to alleviate the blindness created by our deep involvement‚ attempting to draw the reader out to see the big picture. In Ambulances he acknowledges death as a device powerful enough to allow people to see beyond themselves and the things surrounding them. The thought of their impending
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At Grass By Philip Larkin Sound Devices & Rhythm Rhyme: Regular rhyme pattern: In each stanza‚ there are rhymes on alternate lines‚ forming a regular pattern of efgefg‚ hijhij etc. Such regularity seems to suggest a sense of restriction which echoes with the confinement human beings impose on the racing horses for the pleasure of human entertainment. Assonance: The use of repeated long vowels as in ‘shade’ (/ʃeɪd/)‚ ‘tail’ (/teɪl/)‚ ‘mane’ (/meɪn/) creates a gloomy atmosphere in the depiction of
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In the poem “At grass” by Philip Larkin the poet writes about his encounter with two retired horses. A passage of time is significant in this poem as it is only after the poet thinks back to what the horse’s life was like before it they retired that he has a change of mind and realises that they are probably better off now than they were in the past. The first hint that the poet gives us‚ is in his title of the poem “At Grass” as this gives the impression that the horses are at rest and away from
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story is told by Larkin aged 40‚ when he is still unmarried‚ and in this poem‚ he looks back to is younger days when he was around 20 years old. The poem describes one of his relationships in which he failed miserably. 20 years on from this event‚ he still has photos from it‚ but not of the girl he had a relationship with‚ but of her prettier friend. This prettier friend is immediately described as "A bosomy English rose". This hints at how extremely beautiful she is and how Larkin considers her at
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This Be the Verse by Philip Larkin They fuck you up‚ your mum and dad. They may not mean to‚ but they do. They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra‚ just for you. But they were fucked up in their turn By fools in old-style hats and coats‚ Who half the time were sloppy-stern And half at one another’s throats. Man hands on misery to man. It deepens like a coastal shelf. Get out as early as you can‚ And
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Self’s the man Oh‚ no one can deny That Arnold is less selfish than I. He married a woman to stop her getting away Now she’s there all day‚ And the money he gets for wasting his life on work She takes as her perk To pay for the kiddies’ clobber and the drier And the electric fire‚ And when he finishes supper Planning to have a read at the evening paper It’s Put a screw in this wall - He has no time at all‚ With the nippers to wheel round the houses And the hall to paint in his
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‘HERE’ PHILIP LARKIN CRITICAL ANALYSIS ‘Here’ is a sprawling‚ moving and often majestic poem that takes the reader on a strikingly visual journey through the countryside and the town‚ before finally ending up on the coast. Larkin uses long‚ flowing sentences which add a sense of continual movement; these sentences are full of rich imagery and description which fully immerse the reader in the poem. The poem is titled ‘Here’‚ yet in the first three stanzas the poem takes in various locations and
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