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Paper 4, Module 24: Text Paper 4, Module 24: Text Role Name Affiliation Principal Investigator Prof. Tutun Mukherjee University of Hyderabad Paper Coordinator Prof. Hariharan Institute of English, University of Balagovindan Kerala Content Writer/Author Dr. Liji Varghese All Saints’ College, (CW) Thiruvananthapuram Content Reviewer (CR) Dr. Jameela Begum Former Head & Professor, Institute of English, University of Kerala Language Editor (LE) Prof. Hariharan Institute of English, University of Balagovindan Kerala 2 Philip Larkin 1.1 Philip Larkin: An Introduction Philp Arthur Larkin (1922-1985) is an English poet who is associated with the Movement School of poetry. His poetry is characterised by a pessimistic strain that offers a rather dour commentary on contemporary life. His tone is never ecstatically emotional and he maintains a composed poise in his renderings on post-war society. Though he was offered the post of England’s Poet Laureate in 1984, Larkin preferred to stay away from the limelight and consequently declined the offer. His shy and reclusive nature is reflected in his works as well where his remote and lucid style offers a marked contrast with some of his more vociferous counterparts. Many critics point out that Larkin’s early poetry quite distinctly reflects the influences of W. B. Yeats and Thomas Hardy. Nevertheless, Larkin manages to find his own unique and sensible ideal of articulation that helped him to comment on the inadequacies of contemporary society in a darkly humorous tone. Though despair is the predominant note in his works, he couches it in a wry and self- deprecating humour. Alan Brown john aptly comments on Larkin’s uniqueness when he says that the poet produced “the most technically brilliant and resonantly beautiful, profoundly disturbing yet appealing and approachable, body of verse of any English poet in the last twenty five years” (qtd. in Poetry Foundation). For a poet who successfully captured the essence of post-war British society though his poems, Larkin has left behind only a very slim legacy of verse. He was never a copious writer and his meagre output astounds many as it has earned him a literary reputation that will transcend generations to come. The North Ship (1945), The Less 3 Deceived (1955), The Whitsun Weddings (1964) and High Windows (1974) are his poetic collections that reflect his detached perspective. Though he has written a couple of novels, they never attained the literary fame that his poems garnered. His poems highlight his ideal of England and the poet often mourns the loss of this ideal. In fact, there is a certain note of provinciality in his works as England remained his favourite subject. His poems echo a cynical and yet strong assertion in those values that he believed to be important in the evolution of the English society. According to Poetry Foundation, “Larkin appealed primarily to the British sensibility; he remained unencumbered by any compunction to universalize his poems by adopting a less regional idiom.” 1.2 Philip Larkin’s Style Larkin is noted for his conversational tone and ordinary themes that earned him a special place in the English Canon. His poems are noted for its intelligibility and Larkin was lauded for his attempts to bring poetry closer to the people. He often adopts the persona of a common English man in his works and reflects their broken dreams and forlorn anguishes through his poems. The middle class perspective is celebrated in Larkin’s works that cherish the image of a traditional and yet realistic England. His imagery is noted for its sharpness and keen observations. His word pictures captivate the reader and render a vivid poetic experience. Larkin is a very diligent poet when it comes to rhyme and metre. A close perusal of his works show Larkin’s intricate and detailed attention to rhyme schemes and syntax. In Larkin’s verses, these features add an extra dimension to the comprehension of his poetry and only a discerning reader can appreciate its technical brilliance. 4 Larkin is first and foremost a realistic poet. Though he does make use of figures of speech and symbols, his poetry is not crowded with these technical devices. The poetic persona employed by Larkin often employs a colloquial tone, one that mirrors the cadences of ordinary speech. His characters are also drawn from real life and therefore do not employ elaborate or extremely eloquent language. Many critics have commented on the drab nature of Larkin’s style and its tedious repetitions. One may conclude that though Larkin has his share of detractors, nothing can diminish his significant role in shaping postmodern British poetry. 1.3 Movement Poetry Movement poetry is a term that is loosely used to refer to a group of poets who share a few common objectives. The term was first coined by Jay D. Scott in 1954 to refer to writers like Philip Larkin, Kingsley Amis, Thom Gunn, Elizabeth Jennings, Robert Conquest, John Wain, Donald Davie and D. J. Enright whose primary goal was to take English poetry to new heights, eschewing the influences of Imagists and the neo- Romantic Symbolist poets. The Movement poets are primarily opposed to the manifold traits exhibited by modernist poetry of the 1920s and 1930s. Through their works, they try to establish the erstwhile tradition of the English Canon that had been displaced by the onslaught of modernism. The Movement poets lay stress on formal verse and lucidity in expression and are fervently anti-romantic in their tone and style. Irony and understatement become their leading vehicles of self-expression and they never seek to make grandiloquent claims regarding the superiority of the poet’s role in the creative evolution of a literary work. 5 The two representative anthologies associated with Movement poetry are Poets of the 1950’s edited by D. J. Enright and New Lines edited by Robert Conquest. Both these anthologies reflect the spirit of the Movement poets and their ideal of poetry. These works also offer a contrast between the Movement poems and the poems of the earlier decades. According to Muhammad Naeem, the main difference is that they do not subscribe to any “theoretical constructs or to any agglomerations of unconscious commands” and is “free from both mystical and logical compulsions”, and “empirical in its attitude to all things”. However, the Movement was not really a highly organised group with a neatly sketched agenda and common principles. The poetry of its members displays a marked difference in their poetic diction and treatment of themes. In spite of their idiosyncratic differences on a creative level, they do agree on a few common tenets that they tried to espouse through their poetry. 1.4 An Analysis of Larkin’s Major Poems 1.4.1 Church Going “Church Going” is a poem that explores the ambivalent space occupied by religion in the post-war society. The poetic persona is one who is unsure of the equation between faith and humanity. The poem begins with a note of casual irreverence when the speaker decides to visit a church on a random impulse. He emphasises that there is nothing spiritual motivating his decision to visit the church. However, as the poem progresses, this casual disregard for religion and conventions gives way to a more serious questioning of the ideals that bind human life. The poem thus travels full circle, from disbelief to a renewed acknowledgement of the uniqueness of human faith. The speaker’s 6 determined attempt to analyse the relevance of his value judgments attains a universal significance as he explores the niggling question in detail. Larkin’s poem is not just a commentary on the decline of religious values but a sincereattempt to explain man’s fascination for it. The conversational tone and simple diction belies the seriousness of the poet’s intent. Larkin’s objective is to raise several pertinent issues regarding the nature of man’s relationship with religion. The narrative’s clumsy and awkward engagement with the traditions of the church eventually gives way to a meaningful commentary on the mysterious lure posited by faith. His actions initially convey a sense of mockery and dispassionate probing into the ritualistic significance of the traditions associated with church. However, he vacillates between this air of nonchalance and a grudging respect for the concept of “faith.” The church thus becomes an extended metaphor for the conflicting emotions that it arouses in the heart of the sensitive spectator. The title of the poem is also emblematic of the ambiguous stance adopted by the poetic persona. It could either refer to the act of going to church or the tacit way in which the ritual of church going has become redundant in modern society. It can also be seen as a flippant commentary on the casual visits to church as one would visit a theatre or museum. At the same time, it may also be an attempt to indicate the crucial role played by customs in association with the act of going to church. Perhaps, Larkin wants to bring into stark relief the complexity of the theme with its seemingly innocuous title. The poem also holds a mirror to contemporary society as Larkin is merely reflecting the predominant attitude towards religion. “Church Going” was written in 1954 and echoed post-war Europe’s spiritual and moral ennui. The erosion of Christianity in Europe and the slow destruction of ritualistic practices gave rise to a detached atmosphere that was rife with alternate possibilities. Though Larkin conceded that faith 7 is closely allied to human existence, he does not regard “Church Going” as a religious poem. He is more interested in debating the nature of faith and the role played by institutionalised religion in shaping a societal structure.
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