Context Flashcards

1
Q

When was ‘The Whitsun Weddings’ published?

A

1964

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2
Q

What were Larkin’s parents like?

A

Had a bad marriage, father was fascist, authoritarian, atheist - “they fuck you up”

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3
Q

Where and when did he go to Uni

A

Oxford uni 1940

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4
Q

Where did he live for most of his life?

A

Hull - appealed to him because it was “on the edge”

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5
Q

What religious and political environment did Larkin live in?

A

Post- war Britain still facing the pressures of social traditions/constructs of a C of E society with fixed ideas about morality and presentation
However there was a gradual liberalisation of values as austerity fades away…

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6
Q

Larkin and relationships?

A
  • Had female relationships but has been seen to be a misogynist - arundel tomb inspired by Monica jones
  • felt a duty towards his mother - ‘love songs in age’ and ‘home is so sad’
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7
Q

Who wrote and Autobiography about Larkin?

A

Andrew Motion

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8
Q

What does Larkin expose of middle England - which he supposedly spoke for?

A

The more sinister side - racism, sexism

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9
Q

Larkin’s literary influences?

A
  • Hardy - pessimistic realism
  • TS Eliot - ideas of the contemporary decline of civilisation
  • Ted Hughes - both cynical, but also rivals
  • ‘The Movement’ - including Davie, Jennings and Gunn - economy of expression and tightness of verse form
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10
Q

Who were the ‘Angry Young Men’?

A

Novelists who were part of the generation disappointed by post war Britain, cumulating in a sense of portrayal in their writing - Larkin wrote ‘Jill’ which was full of irony and mockery typical of this group

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11
Q

When was ‘Mean Time’ published?

A

1993

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12
Q

When and Where did Duffy study philosophy?

A

Liverpool uni from 1974-1977

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13
Q

What is Duffy today?

A

A poet laureate awarded an OBE

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14
Q

What is Duffy’s experience of religion?

A
  • She comes from a Roman Catholic background which she rejected in adulthood, seeing it as male-dominated and stifling
  • see poems ‘Confession’, ‘Litany’, and ‘Prayer’
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15
Q

Politics and Duffy?

A

Socialist sympathies which were at odds with the capitalist, Tory government

Experienced liberalisation - general sense of of optimism and trepidation in her poetry

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16
Q

Duffy’s literary influences?

A
  • sonnet form from English Renaissance
  • conceits from the metaphysical poets
  • sensualism from John Keats
  • monologues from Browning
  • The Liverpool poets - poetry that can be performed - auditory !
  • intimate reading style from Seamus Heaney