Philip Larkin was born in 1922 in Coventry‚ England. Like Thomas Hardy‚ he focused on intense personal emotion but strictly avoided sentimentality or self-pity. Deeply anti-social and a great lover (and published critic) of American jazz‚ Larkin never married and conducted an uneventful life as a librarian in the provincial city of Hull‚ where he died in 1985. This short poem touches on a favourite theme of Larkin’s - the distance between what we originally plan and what‚ in the end‚ we achieve
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Philip Larkin demonstrates the use of “piquant mixture of lyricism and discontent” through his poetic explorations in Here and The Whitsun Weddings. Both pieces were published in 1964 as a collection of poems collectively titled ‘The Whitsun Weddings’. In the poem Here you see both lyricism (expression of emotion in an imaginative and beautiful way) and discontent (dissatisfaction‚ typically with the prevailing social or political situation) though in The Whitsun Weddings you tend to see more lyricism
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Emily Dickinson “Some Keep the Sabbath Going To Church” In the poem “Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church‚” Emily Dickinson expresses the feeling that everybody practices their faith and religion in a different way. The narrator of this poem portrays the idea of self practice. Being able to completely understand and interpret the meaning of this piece of poetry was not a short and simple process. When first reading “Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church” I was a little confused and unaware of
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Larkin is a misogynist who hates marriage and children. Discuss how far you agree. I agree with this statement to some extend but not fully. I think Larkin can come across in these ways however to put a definite label on him would be an assumption. Also I think that by saying he hates children and marriage is too much of a strong statement and perhaps he personally never chose to do these particular things in life or couldn’t understand them. Larkin comes across as a misogynist from the way
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‘Ambulances’ by Philip Larkin Philip Larkin’s ‘Ambulances’ is a poem that describes the literal journey of an ambulance that also takes on an increasingly sinister metaphorical value. The ambulance weaves through the busy afternoon streets‚ demanding the attention of passers-by while forcing the reader to acknowledge the ambulance’s symbolic significance as a reminder of our own mortality. By close examination of the ambulance and its literal movement it is possible to gain a greater understanding
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A poem which describes an ordinary or everyday scene is ‘Ambulances’ by Philip Larkin. ‘Ambulances’ is about an ambulance going to take someone away and the neighbourhood is watching what is happening. It shows the curiosity that is in every human being and the inevitability of dying. This essay will discuss how the poet uses an ordinary/everyday scene and make it important and to explore a wider universal theme. The essay will also show how Larkin’s use of poetic techniques makes and ordinary or
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“Larkin is a pessimistic rather than optimistic poet” – Discuss Larkin has been regarded as a pessimistic poet. Larkin surely takes a very dark view of human life. The main emphasis in his poem is on failure and frustration in human life. However Larkin is not a uniformly pessimistic poet. Some of his poems have a profoundly moral character‚ which expresses itself in the need to control and organize life‚ rather than submit to a pre-determined pattern of failure. There is generally a debate going
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With reference to three poems studied so far discuss how Larkin presents the theme of illusion and reality. The poems Sunny Prestatyn‚ Essential Beauty and love Songs in Age‚ are all presented with the theme of illusion and reality. Illusion is a false impression or delusion‚ so when an illusion is used within a poem there is a deeper meaning or reality behind the words. Because of this reality‚ the reader can see what Larkin is really trying to convey in the poems is shown and we understand what
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In “Some keep the Sabbath going to Church” by Emily Dickinson‚ Dickinson conveys her attitude towards religious practices by illustrating her relationship with nature. Individuals who are attending church‚ are missing out on the pleasures of worshipping in nature because they are not focusing on God’s immediate creations and instead are concentrating on the interpretation by the church. Dickinson’s message is conveyed through the use of metaphors‚ structure and word choice. Dickinson uses metaphors
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"Some keep the Sabbath going to Church"‚ by Emily Dickinson is one that uses images of nature‚ an "I told you so" type tone‚ and rhyme. Emily Dickinson uses images of nature by saying that parts of it are like people in a church. "With a Bobolink for a Chorister- And an Orchard‚ for a Dome"(Dickinsons). She compares a Bobolink‚ which is a bird‚ to a Chorister in a church. She also compared an Orchard to the Church itself. Dickinson has a garden so this could be "her church". This image is representing
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