"Here" and Back Again: A Look At Poetry Devices in Philip Larkin's "Here"

Philip Larkin’s poem “Here” is able to use clear syntax, vivid imagery, and clever choice of words to distinctly convey his attitudes towards the four different places he describes in the poem: a bustling city, a large town, a suburban community, and an isolated paradise. Syntax structure is a key area in which the poem uses the format of words to convey the specific meanings between the four different stanzas. Three ways he is able to do this are listing, enjambment, and transitions between the different parts of the poem. Listing is one technique applied to the poem. In the second stanza, the poet begins to list off materialistic things that the people all around him want that he does not particularly care for: things such as “cheap suits, red kitchen-ware, sharp shoes, [and] iced lollies.” This use of sentence structure can lead the reader to assume the author holds the material wants of a large town in contempt, as he is clearly showing the things that others want while using a negative, almost chiding, tone. In addition, the listing done in the third stanza continues to bring out this negative aura even of smaller towns, of which Larkin describes to have “tattoo-shops, consulates, [and] grim headed-scarf wives.” The structure of listing in this stanza too shows that the poet knows just what it is about these two certain areas that he does not like, and he is not afraid to simply list them off one by one. The poet also uses enjambment in order to distinguish between the mentioned places, though not as clearly noticeable as the listing before it. The enjambed line 24’s transition cleanly into a new stanza beginning with line 25 is one of the clearest examples of the syntax at work, as well as of the distinct shifts between the many stanzas.. The poet’s tone has already shifted a few lines before this move, yet one still is able to feel the third stanza end and the fourth begin while still reading the same sentence. This shift shows the feelings towards the