Larkin Poems Flashcards
Afternoons
Afternoons is about mothers/wives who take care of children. Their lives are very mundane and they are doing what is expected of them. The husbands are not as close to family life and the romance is failing. Their lives have been taken over by the lives of the children
This poem is about family, society
Sunny Prestatyn
This poem is about poster of a very sexualised woman as advertisement for a holiday. This poster becomes viciously graffitied and over sexualised. The poem emphasises the stupidity of humanity and how advertisement is taking over
This poem is about consumerism, sex, miscommunication
Mr Bleaney
This poem is about a man who used to live in the flat which is very minimalistic and insignificant and small, where he must have lived a miserable existence. The persona happily take the house knowing I will live a similar bleak existence
Poems about the lack of hope, memories, mortality
Essential beauty
Essential beauty is about billboards. The billboards demonstrate how people wish to live the lives and tower above everybody else and do not reflect reality. It can be seen as the difference between upper class and lower class people specifically in Hull as there is lots of comical juxtaposition. The Billboard went up in Hull after the bombings
This poem is about society, consumerism, illusion, deception
Here
This poem is about a train journey through seemingly relaxing countryside setting that seems to hold lots of value to the poet. The train that goes through a large town which is very urban and cheap. This industrial Town becomes larger and the people become important. The poem ends at the beach which again seems calmer and more neutral
This poem is about industrialisation, journeys, peace
Importance of elsewhere
This poem is autobiographical of when Larkin moved to Ireland. He enjoyed Ireland as he did not have to conform to their traditions and therefore was separate but not workable. Whilst England he does have to conform, they are his customs so he cannot be himself
This poem is about being a broad cultural identity, loneliness, isolation, belonging
The large cool store
This poem talks about a shop most likely Marks & Spencer‘s, selling casual clothes however there is a separate section for clothes night which are sexier brighter and more fashionable the idea of sharing the world of the upper classes. Love is separate to society however it is synthetic.
This poem is about sex, society, consumerism
A study of reading habits
Study of reading habits talks about how reading has changed with age. From a young age it made the children feel heroic and brave. From a teenage age it made the persona feel evil and sexual and like you could get away with bad things. To modern day where he realises that books are fake and don’t reflect life
This poem is about disappointment childhood imagination and escapism
MCMXIV
1914 is about the war and how young man with very excited to join however they were fooled by advertisements and did not realise that they would be fighting and killing for a long time losing their innocence
This poem is about war, loss of innocence, damaging affects of time
Wild oats
Wild oats is an autobiographical colloquial poem, about how Larkin met two women and chose the uglier of the 2 to be with. It seems that he is happier without love and agrees that he is the problem in relationships. He also objectifies the women such as Jane Exall Ruth in the poem
This poem is about sexualisation, relationships, isolation,
An Arundel tomb
This poem is about a couple who are buried together in a tube and are carved into stone in a lyrical celebration of past lives. It talks about the beauty of the tube and how history has moved on but the love is eternal. The lovers are loyal and their relationship is set in stone
This poem is about love, faithfulness, time, relationships, optimism
The Whitsun weddings
Poem is again about larkin on a train, looking at all the people who have got married and going to the weddings and watching them go off on their honeymoon. For him it is prosaic every day and he feels detached from the people. He stereotypes all of them. He also suggests that the marriages will not and pleasantly
Poem is about marriage, pessimism, isolation, stereotypical
Selfs the man
How’s the man is a poem about Larkin’s friend who is married. Blocking feel sorry for his friend as he believes that his wife is using him for money. He believes that the wife is ruining the life of his friend. But he also feels somewhat isolated but his loneliness
Poem is about marriage, misogyny, isolation
Days
Days is a poem about living and questioning if we can live outside of them. if this question is answered it brings doctors and priests suggesting death
Home is So Sad
a poem about returning to a childhood home. It is designed to suit the last lived there and wants to please people, however it has withered since being abandoned. Each small thing has memories in it.
Send no Money
this poem is about time passing and everyone attempting to achieve life as soon a possible, where as the persona understands that finding out what life is about is pointless, and it is all like a scam advertisement in newspapers
Love Songs in Age
a poem about larkin’s mother and her sheet music. upon accidentally finding it it brings a resurgence of memories and being sad that they’re over
For Sidney Brechet
about famous Jazz musician and the lifestyle of New Orleans. Larkin believes the music embodies New Orleans and allows him to experience a range of emotions
Toads Revisited
about walking in Pearson Park whilst not at work and seeing old people, nurses and homeless not working and calling them weak. Larkin says he would rather work as without it there is no purpose
Faith Healing
a poem about the illusions of religion and how faith healers pretend to care about others however it is all a big money making scheme.
Nothing to be said
about the different people and classes in society and how either way we’re all going to die. This doesn’t affect some people however terrifies others.
Naturally the Foundation Will Bear Your Expenses
the higher class student is flying out to Bombay on remembrance Sunday; he doesn’t care for any of the other people or the occasion as he says Britain should grow up, and is more fussed about meeting his friends
Water
about starting a new religion and it has to somehow include water as all religions do. it should also have its own clothes and should form in the east as most religions do.
Dockery and Son
a poem about returning to a school event and hearing that a student younger than you has had a child who is starting college there too. it is about feeling like life has been wasted however in reality he believes children take away from people. no matter how we live, we all die
Ambulances
talks about the emergency vehicles and says they visit everywhere, disrupting life momentarily, and are reminders of death for onlookers and people fear their own ends. Ambulances are the transition to death
Talking in Bed
about the inability to communicate in relationships, despite the bed meaning to be a sensual place. He doesn’t want to lie, but also he feels he cant be honest
