larkin context/critics w poems

Question 1

Here

Answer 1

“His poetry simply reflected his own life” - Golding

Question 2

Mr Bleaney

Answer 2

“Larkin is a hopeless + inflexible pessimist” - Appleyard

Question 3

Nothing To Be Said

Answer 3

“Some people are optimists + some people are pessimists” - Booth

“Larkin feels cheated by existence” - Cox

Question 4

Love Songs in Age

Answer 4

Larkin was a professional music critic

Question 5

Broadcast

Answer 5

“Only in Broadcast does the second person appear” - Patrick

Maeve Brennan

Question 6

Faith Healing

Answer 6

“Larkin feels cheated by existence”

Larkin was an atheist

Larkin’s father told him to “never believe in God”

Question 7

For Sidney Bechet

Answer 7

Larkin loved jazz; but was also a racist

“Larkin is a hopeless + inflexible pessimist” - Appleyard (COUNTER-he isn’t in this poem)

Question 8

Home is so Sad

Answer 8

“My mother was a rambling fool” - Larkin

Question 9

Toads resisted

Answer 9

Larkin never retired - worked until death

“Larkin’s poetry simply reflected his own life” - Golding

Question 10

Water

Answer 10

Larkin an athiest

Larkin’s father told him “Dont believe in God!”

“Delighted in whom he offended” - Golding

Question 11

The Whitsun Weddings

Answer 11

“The unmarried observer, a staple in Larkin’s poetic world” - Martin

Larkin never married

Question 12

Self’s the Man

Answer 12

“The unmarried observer, a staple in Larkin’s poetic world” - Martin

Question 13

Take One Home for the Kiddies

Answer 13

Larkin loved animals

“Larkin respects the nonhuman otherness of animals” - Booth

Question 14

Days

Answer 14

Larkin was a nihilist

“Larkin is a hopeless + inflexible pessimist” - Appleyard

Question 15

MCMXIV

Answer 15

Larkin could not fight in the war bc his eyesight was too bad

Question 16

Talking in Bed

Answer 16

Larkin’s parents had a toxic marriage

Larkin never married

“Love + marriage are all degraded by Larkin’s hands”

Question 17

A Study of Reading Habits

Answer 17

Larkin was a librarian

“Larkins fury against women is an external battle within himself” - Rossen

Question 18

As Bad as a Mile

Answer 18

Larkin was a nihilist

“To Larkin, life appears as a continuous series of setbacks, as one long process of delay” - Herold

Question 19

Ambulances

Answer 19

Larkin was a nihilist

“The Whitsun Weddings dwells on the futility of existence” - Golding

“Larkin feels cheated by existence” - Cox

Question 20

The Importance of Elsewhere

Answer 20

1st person

Half rhyme

Question 21

Sunny Prestatyn

Answer 21

“Larkin was accused of misogynistic enjoyment of female degradation” - Booth

Question 22

Dockery and Sons

Answer 22

Changing rhyme scheme - diff paths ppl choose

Nihilism

“The Whitsun Weddings dwells on the futility of existence” - Golding

Question 23

Ignorance

Answer 23

“There are limits to our knowledge of time + the areas beyond our limits aren’t accessible to the human mind” - Hobsbaum

Question 24

Reference Back

Answer 24

“My mother was a rambling fool” - Larkin

Worked as a jazz correspondent for Daily Telegraph

Question 25

Wild Oats

Answer 25

Ruth Bauman + Jane Exoll
L was engaged to Ruth

“Let me remember the only married state I know is bloody hell” - Larkin

Question 26

Essential Beauty

Question 27

Afternoons

Answer 27

“The unmarried observer, a staple in Larkins poetic world.” - Martin

Question 28

An Arundel Tomb

Answer 28

“Love ins’t stronger than death just because statues hold hands for 600 years” - Larkin

Larkin often visited cathedrals/churches with Monica Jones- ironic bc he was an atheist