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1.Larkin Poems > Church Going > Flashcards

Church Going Flashcards

1
Q

how does Larkin use structure in Church Going to illustrate his messages?

A
  • Larkin uses complex versification which contains sentences of ordinary/colloquial syntax
  • conveys a double voice: voice of the ordinary man through the sentence structure, alongside the voice of the poet in verse and rhythm
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2
Q

analyse the title of Church Going

A
  • physical meaning: traditional routine of going to church
  • figurative meaning: church is reducing in influence and fading in relevance’
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3
Q

analyse the quote ‘another church’ from Church Going

A
  • mocking undertone
  • lack of identity and individualising features; suggests religion and the church is repetitive and dull
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4
Q

analyse the quote ‘brownish now’ from Church Going

A
  • suggests neglect; stale and past its best
  • symbolic of the church and religion; it is outdated - suggests religion doesn’t have that much value
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5
Q

analyse the quote ‘some brass and stuff / up at the holy end’ from Church Going

A
  • dismissive
  • trivial description is emphatic of the physical realities without any spiritual connection
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6
Q

analyse the quote ‘tense, musty, unignorable silence’ from Church Going

A

asyndetic triplet suggests the church is old and boring

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7
Q

analyse the quote ‘God knows how long’ from Church Going

A
  • colloquial idiom suggests speaker doesn’t know much about the church but equally doesn’t care to learn; exaggerates speaker’s dismissive perception
  • pun on ‘god’; speaker still uses religious language suggesting religion still has an innate impact on society, regardless of lack of understanding
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8
Q

analyse the quote ‘awkward reverence’ from Church Going

A

speaker pretends an indifference he does not feel, shown by his conventional reverence and embarassment

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9
Q

analyse the quote ‘the roof looks almost new’ from Church Going

A
  • prioritises the physical building, further removing any sentimentality or value from religion
  • speaker finds worth in the physical church building, rather than the concept of religion
  • church has ‘almost’ been replaced
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10
Q

analyse the quote ‘hectoring large-scale verses’ from Church Going

A
  • contrasts the preceding everyday diction, mimicking the rhetorical grandeur of the verses
  • intimidating and tedious; speaker mocks the length of sermons and perceives religion as dull, but equally has a recognition of the long-standing weight of the church
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11
Q

analyse the quote ‘irish sixpence’ from Church Going

A
  • worthless donation underscores mocking tone, suggesting speaker is unbothered by religion
  • contrasts Larkin’s traditionally conservative views
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12
Q

analyse the quote ‘Yet stop I did: in fact I often do’ from Church Going

A
  • ‘yet’ signals a turning point in mindset of speaker
  • caesura is a physical pause for the reader to contemplate
  • reflective of speaker’s inherent curiosity, especially towards societal upkeep of religion
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13
Q

analyse the quote ‘wondering […] wondering’ from Church Going

A
  • shift from mockery to reflection/contemplation
  • anaphoric repetition is emphatic of speaker’s curiosity about the church
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14
Q

analyse the quote ‘chronically on show’ from Church Going

A
  • ‘on show’ suggests speaker sees religion as solely performative
  • adverb connotes illness/disease, especiialy tiring or incurable ones; suggests religion should be accepted asnd we have to learn to live with it, despite it being habitually problematic
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15
Q

analyse the quote ‘parchment, plate and pyx in locked cases’ from Church Going

A
  • revered but no longer accessible and in use suggests lost sentimentalty and purpose
  • speaker contemplates historical value of the church; Larkin’s conservative views prize historical value
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16
Q

analyse the quote ‘power of some sort or another will go on’ from Church Going

A
  • it is impossible to completely eradicate beliege
  • without religion, society will cling to other kinds of belief; therefore, belief as a concept must have some kind of inherent value
  • indicative of both the necessity of some kind of belief but also the lack of value of those beliefs, as they can be so easily changed/replaced
  • faith offers comfort/purpose/answers to the unexplainable
17
Q

analyse the quote ‘seemingly at random’ from Church Going

A

superstitions which may succeed the church express a yearning in man for the transcendant and mystical which the poet insists are illusory

18
Q

analyse the quote ‘grass, weedy pavement, brambles, buttress, sky’ from Church Going

A
  • asyndetic list of physical objects contrast abstract concepts
  • nature outlives belief and religion; in the absencew of belief, we only have the physical world
19
Q

analyse the quote ‘a shape less recognisable each week; a purpose more obscure’ from Church Going

A
  • parallel phrasing; connection of physical ruin to fading purpose; value of religion is tied to the physical world as it had lost any sentiment
  • without the recognisable shape of the church, the purpose of religion becomes blurred
  • religion is fragile and baseless, and lacks strength and power
20
Q

analyse the quote ‘some ruin-bibber, randy for antique’ from Church Going

A
  • ‘some’ is unspecific, creating a generalised separation
  • sexual connotation of ‘randy’ sues taboo language; Larkin mocks those who he belives will cling on to religion as the church fades
21
Q

analyse the quote ‘bored, uninformed, knowing the ghostly silt /dispersed, yet tending to this cross of ground / through suburb scrub because it held unspilt’ from Church Going

A
  • ‘ghostly silt’ suggests church no longer contains residue of the divine
  • almost innate actions/natural response
  • upholding value of the church despite speaker lacking knowledge and feeling unexcited by the church
  • ‘unspilt’ suggests religion has longevity; speaker eecognsises the historical value of religion
22
Q

analyse the quote ‘marriage, and birth, and death’ from Church Going

A

speaker values the church’s ability to contain such significant, existential concepts as these

23
Q

analyse the quote ‘special shell’ from Church Going

A
  • physical building protects the value of religion OR the shell is hollow so the true value of religion has fade completely
  • it is important but not in itself; it is a symbol for/ hold important things/ideas
24
Q

analyse the quote ‘a serious house on serious earth’ from Church Going

A

repetition of serious suggests speaker understands the worthy role religion plays in society, even though he is detached from this; the future of religion is secure

25
Q

analyse the quote ‘all our compulsions meet […] and robed as destinies’ from Church Going

A

the church has a stabilising/harmonising influence that reminds us that the choices we make in life are not to be taken lightly, and this function can ‘never be obselete’

26
Q

analyse the quote ‘a hunger in himself to be more serious [..] that so many dead lie round’ from Church Going

A
  • innate human nature; affirmation of faith in man’s integrity and a refusal to drift into a cyncisim that depreciates human life
  • ‘dead’ is a sobering testament ot life’s fleeting transitoriness

1.Larkin Poems (21 decks)

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