Maiden Name Philip Larkin Analysis

initiative Name Philip Larkin AnalysisIn a pocket diary note, Philip Larkin stated At 1.45 am let me r on the wholey that the only married state I know (i.e. that of my p bents) is bloody hell. neer must it be forgotten. Larkin expresses a impairment of thoughts and suppositionls in brotherhood ceremony prominently in The Whitsun Weddings (TWW) and The Less Deceived (TLD) by examining the judgements that marriage ceremony signifies imprisonment and leads to a departure of identity, as well as that all marriages ar banal and similar. However, on that point are notions of the composition that perhaps not all is lost, and this is summed up trounce in Larkins famous course from An Arundel Tomb, What will survive of us is pick out life. Whether these words actually involve what they say is debatable either the romanticistic idea that sack out triumphs death or the realistic view that the couple in the verse had not actually intended to be eternally snug to severa lly other. Nevertheless, it is clear that Larkin h white-haireds a certain disbe falsehoodf regarding the existence of a prosperous marriage through his observations of ordinary people, his use of regular organise and the straightforwardness of his writing.Philip Larkin seems to have shared Russells views, as he rejected the idea of marriage and committed himself to bachelorhood, as he says, I see sense more as an affair of solitude diversified by society than as an affair of company diversified by solitude (Hirsch, p.114). concord to Edward Hirsch, Larkin neer recovered from his parents cramped, loveless marriage, a bloody hell he vowed never to repeat (p.118). His parents marriage in like manner led him to believe that two gage live as stupidly as one. Larkin enjoyed several knowledgeable kindreds without ever getting married, showing that he clearly did not associate with public institutions in the 1950s and 60s, but was more representative of the ideas of liberty a nd freedom of choice of the common man.TWW was create in 1964, and brought Larkin a precious measure of popular esteem (Swarbrick, p.5). In this anthology, Larkin explores the various forms that love can take and what it think aboutt to him. Andrew Swarbrick explains that love and death remain at the centre of TWW (p.92). This consolidates the boilers suit theme existing in most of his verse forms qualifying and death. However, Larkins biographer, Andrew Motion, chose to look at it from a different point of view Reading his poems in chronological sequence, it is clear that his obsession with death is i nextricable from his trance with love and marriage. (Hirsch, p.120) This insinuates that Larkins incessant fixation with death in TWW and TLD, published in 1955, is actually suspicious by an interest in the inner workings of marriage. Hirsch clarifies, What Motion calls fascination is more accurately described as fascinated revulsion. (p.120)Even though Larkin made no secre t of his aversion towards marriage (he thought of it as a revolting institution), he actually presents a diverse clasp of feelings towards marriage in his poems. contend Songs in Age explores how an older char feels somewhat love, or the loss of love, when she recovers her faded sheet music that had vanished in the daily frenzy of marriage and family. Only once she enters widowhood is she given a chance to pause and reminisce about her youthful feelings about love, that clandestine freshness. Motion identifies the widow in the poem as Larkins mother (Swarbrick, p.108). In Stanza 2, Larkin seems to adopt a tone of optimism, expressing the vivacity of youthful energy with the use of the simile, dispel out like a arising-woken tree, implying that the widow had moved from the winter to the spring of her life, if only for that moment when she plays her love songs. This optimism seems to carry on to the next stanza, w here Larkin describes love as that much-mentioned brilliance. Th is description of love seems to contradict Larkins pessimistic views on love, and complies with societys established views that love is brilliant.However, the use of the word glare downplays the bright incipience of love, as it suggests that the brilliance of love is too much to bear, and and then impossible. The poem so ends on a negative note, where the lady in the poem realises that love has not managed to deliver its promises to solve, and satisfy, as she is left(a) alone after her husbands death, and has to check lamely that love had not done so then, and could not now, referring to loves calamity to last or to deliver. This poem therefore contradicts the feelings of some individuals, such(prenominal) as G.M. Carstairs, who in 1962, argued that young people are rapidly making marriage itself more mutually considerate and satisfying through premarried sex. (Lewis, p.259) Love Songs in Age dissipates the idea that marriage is mutually considerate, by feeling at a marriage t hat ended too early and left one party alone and in tears, dispelling the fairytale conception of jubilantly ever after.Even though TLD was published 9 years previous than TWW, Larkin shows an early awareness of the reality of marriage, and the negative aspects it entails, suggesting that marriage causes a loss of identity in Maiden Name. This poem is about a womans utilisation in getting married and is written in second someone, such as in since you were so thankfully confused. This makes the ratifier feel careworn into the text, as if the function is speaking directly to him/her, highlighted by the use of imperatives cause whispering it slowly. The poem was written about Winifred Arnott, with whom Larkin had a brief relationship. This relationship ended when she left for London and became engaged in 1954, which lends to the personas tone of perfidy in this poem, such as in since youre past and gone, implying that Arnotts marriage caused her old self to disappear. The per sona insists that the five light sounds of her maiden name no longer means your face,/Your voice, and all your variants of grace. It is unusual that a name should mean a face and a voice, rather than the person herself, and Larkin might do this in order to point out the different aspects of a person that a name can recall. In its regular rhyme evasion (a,b,b,a,c,c,a) and social organisation, this poem seems like a conventional love poem, according to societys ideas. This is highlighted in the intimate tone of Try whispering it slowly.Just like the unknown song sheets in Love Songs in Age, the womans name in Maiden Name has been wedded in old things, eliciting a rhetorical dubiety from the persona Then is it scentless, weightless, strengthless wholly/Untruthful? The tone of voice here seems uncertain and the repetition of -less implies that the woman has been diminished after marrying. The persona is adamantine that the woman has lost a part of herself after marrying, as he gus hes, How beautiful you were, and near, and young, /So vivid, suggesting that she does not have as much of these qualities anymore. This poem therefore argues that marriage leads to the depreciating of a womans identity and beauty with the particular luggage that comes with marriage, referring to the husband. In doing so, Larkin discourages women from getting married and expresses his loss of beliefs in marriage. Nowadays, an change magnitude number of women are overcoming the problem of losing ones identity when getting married by simply keeping their maiden name and pairing it with their husbands name.The Larkin that is present in TLD seems more sentimental as compared to in TWW, where he is more discern to the realities of relationships. public lecture in Bed is about the gap between outlook and reality. The tone of the poem is set in the first farm animal, where Talking in bed ought to be easiest, the word ought suggesting uncertainty and untruth. It suggests that there is no candor in all relationships even at its most intimate. This is emphasized by the pun on the word Lying, in that the couple is lying next to from each one other as well as lying to each other. Larkin uses an extended metaphor to compare the relationship in the poem to the troubling weather outside the threads uncomplete unrest. Larkin therefore exposes the turmoil of marriage and forces the reader to reconsider whether marriage actually results in security and comfort, or if it causes incomplete unrest. Jane Lewis essay explains that public institutions in the 1960s attempted to refute the idea that marriages are insecure by setting up marriage counsellors and punctuate the importance of a personally grounded morality for a bright marriage.Larkin has a specific style throughout all his poems. Most of them follow a rigid structure, where each stanza has a fixed number of lines. For example, Talking in Bed consists of four tercets, which give the appearance of security and re gularity. The structure of the poem thereby belies its content of uncertainty. This is likewise evident in the regular structure of The Whitsun Weddings, where there are 8 stanzas of 10 lines each, which also gives the impression that all marriages are standard.The title poem of TWW is perhaps one of Larkins most famous. The Whitsun Weddings describes a train ride Larkin took from Hull to London, and in a frail/ traveling coincidence ends up on the same train all the newlyweds also take on Whitsun Day. The Whitsun Day celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit as described in Acts, Chapter 2, (Leach) and falls 50 days after easter Sunday. It is financially advantageous for couples to be married for taxation reasons on this day, and as Larkin decided to write about Whitsun Day, he implies that marriage is cheap. Larkin uses vivid mental imagery (sound, sight, odour and touch) and a conversational tone (We ran/Behind the backs of houses) to portray the incline countryside through t he windows of the train carriage. The images appear like snapshots, giving the reader a sense of immediacyWide farms went by, short-shadowed cattle, andCanals with floatings of industrial frothA indoor garden flashed uniquely hedges dippedAnd rose and now and then a smell of grass(14-18)This serves as an introduction that builds up to the fourth stanza, where the persona finally notices the fanfare and excitement surrounding the train, where the wedding-days/Were coming to an end. Larkin describes the newlyweds as fresh, implying that they will not last long. He also mentions the secret like a happy funeral, an oxymoron suggesting that marriage is joyful, but also signifies the end of freedom for the couple. Another brusk figure of speech Larkin uses is the religious wounding, which could refer to the sexual anticipation of losing the brides virginity that their friends feel or the fact that the religious act of marriage is painful. Lewis clarifies Marriage as a public institut ion had traditionalisticly been supported by a rigid code of Christian sexual morality. An kindle note about this poem is that Larkin does not mention where the train stops, and this suggests that marriage has no direction, and is therefore uncertain.In Stanza 7, Larkin shows how all marriages are the same in that their lives would all collar this hour, dissipating any notions that each wedding is unique. On the other hand, Larkin is inevitably caught up with the couples as We hurried towards London. He seems to be immersed in the excitement of the Whitsun Weddings, seeing himself as part of them. The image of something as dangerous as an arrow-shower changing into cleansing rain gives a sense of rebirth and rejuvenation. However, only somewhere does it become rain, which could mean that the arrow-shower is still lethal in other places. It could also signify the inevitable breakdown of marriage, as the arrows descend and rain could mean mould and cause floods. Martin Amis elabo rates that, to Larkin, Hull was as dull as rain. rainfall was what Larkin mat up marriages turned into, rain was what love and desire eventually become. (http//ghrendhel.tripod.com/textos/amispolitical.htm) This highlights Larkins belief that all marriages are banal and dull.Where Larkin looks at multiple simultaneous weddings in The Whitsun Weddings, he focuses on a specific wedding in The Wedding-Wind, published in TLD and completed in 1946. This poem explores the feelings of a farmers bride a day after her wedding. She is evidently delighted, seen as my wedding-night was the night of the high wind, the strong wind suggesting passion. However, the wind could also symbolise unrest, just like in Talking in Bed. However, the image in the final line, Our kneeling as cattle by all-generous waters, depicts the womans appreciation for being married. It echoes the feelings of most women after they marry, believing that they are on the path to completing their office in life. Marriage commission advocates in the 1960s concurred that womens needs were above all for traditional marital relationships. (Lewis, p.235)Although The Wedding-Wind expresses the womans ecstatic mood, Andrew Swarbrick believes that there is beyond her a lurking sense of threat. This is evident when the bride is abandoned for a while on her wedding-night, expiration her stupid in candlelight. It is interesting as well to note that the husband is mostly absent from the poem, leaving the bride to stare. This implies that women are neglected in marriage. The three questions that end the poem suggest uncertainty, and expose her vulnerability (Swarbrick, p.45). Larkin thereby conveys the ambiguous feelings of the woman, leaving the reader unsure as to whether marriage brings happiness or loneliness.The final poem in TWW is An Arundel Tomb, which discusses the fate of marriage and love after death. It describes the tomb of the Earl and Countess of Arundel at Chichester cathedral that Larkin had visited. The gentleness with which Larkin describes, One sees, with a sharp tender shock, /His hand withdrawn, retentiveness her hand, shows the pleasant surprise he felt to see everlasting love set in stone. However, this is dismissed with the next line, They would not think to lie so long, which suggests that the couple had not expected to be next to each other for so long, and the pun on the word lie in that they lie next to each other, and also lie to the world that they are in love just like in Talking in Bed, implies that such faithfulness in effigy is actually just a fabrication. The final stanza confirms this, as Time has transfigured them into/Untruth. As mentioned before, this poem (and thus the stainless anthology) ends with What will survive of us is love. Yet this has been taken out of context, so the previous one and a half lines have to be looked at2544 Wordsand to proveOur roughly-instinct almost trueWhat will survive of us is love.(40-42)The repetition of almos t gives a sense of being so finis to the truth, but not actually reaching it and therefore the last line is thrown into a different perspective. Our almost-instinct seems to be our need to believe in everlasting love after death but since it is only almost true and not entirely true, the last line is one that the persona wants to be true, but is not necessarily so. Therefore, Larkin still expresses a loss of beliefs in love and marriage. He commented on An Arundel Tomb, a rather romantic poem I dont like it much, which confirms his dislike for the romantic ideas about marriage the poem imparts. As he chose to end the anthology with this poem, it makes it all the more real that Love isnt stronger than death just because statues hold hands for 600 years, which is what Larkin wrote on the manuscript draft (Swarbrick, p.114).Even through Larkins evident distaste for marriage, his literary executor, Anthony Thwaite, claims that, The fact that he has never married and has no children d oesnt entail ignorance of, or condescension for, the institution or its usual result. Larkin rearticulates Ive remained single by choice, and shouldnt have want anything else. Public institutions from 1920-1968 tried to appealto the biologically determined needs of women for traditional marital relationships (Lewis, p.262) by publicising marriage guidance. Through the fact that they needed to do this, it can be inferred that there were rising divorce rates or fewer marriages in the 1960s, showing that Larkin was part of, and his poetry appealed to, a growth group of people who were unmarried. For the rest of society, Larkins poetry was a basis for reconsidering the purpose and effect of marriage.Larkins most effective technique, arguably, of portraying his messaging is his use of the casual, colloquial tone paired with enjambement that imitates daily speech, which is easily understandable and allows him to combine with people from different walks of life. Thus, it is easy for th e reader to comprehend Larkins views about marriage and his poems make the reader reconsider what marriage actually constitutes. Is it imprisonment, a happy funeral, an almost-instinct or is it a loss of identity? Regardless of the answer, Philip Larkin effectively conveys his cognitive content through the use of regular rhythm, rigid structure, enjambement, imagery and observations of ordinary people. Since Larkin never married, most of his poems are a generalisation of marriages that he observed and felt what marriage was like. Thus, we cannot whole-heartedly agree with all his views. As Larkin chose the path of bachelorhood, he believably used poetry as a replacement for marriage.