Keywords: maiden name larkin analysis
In a pocket diary note, Philip Larkin stated: "At 1. 45 am i want to remember that the only real married state I understand (i. e. that of my parents) is bloody hell. Never must it be forgotten. " Larkin expresses a loss of beliefs and ideals in marriage prominently in The Whitsun Weddings (TWW) plus the Less Deceived (TLD) by examining the ideas that marriage signifies imprisonment and brings about a loss of identity, as well as that all marriages are banal and similar. However, there are notions of the idea that not all is lost, and this is summed up best in Larkin's famous words from "An Arundel Tomb", "What will survive of us is love. " Whether these words actually mean what they say is debatable - either the romantic idea that love triumphs death or the realistic view that the couple in the poem had not actually intended to be eternally faithful to one another. Nevertheless, it is clear that Larkin holds a certain disbelief about the existence of the happy marriage through his observations of ordinary people, his use of regular structure and the straightforwardness of his writing.
Philip Larkin appears to have shared Russell's views, as he rejected the thought of marriage and committed himself to bachelorhood, as he says, "I see life more as an affair of solitude diversified by company than as an affair of company diversified by solitude" (Hirsch, p. 114). According to Edward Hirsch, Larkin "never recovered from his parents' cramped, loveless marriage, a 'bloody hell' he vowed to never repeat" (p. 118). His parents' marriage also led him to believe "Two can live as stupidly as one. " Larkin enjoyed several sexual relationships without ever engaged and getting married, showing that he plainly did not agree with public institutions in the 1950s and 60s, but was more representative of the ideas of independence and freedom of choice of the normal man.
TWW was published in 1964, and "brought [Larkin] a amazing measure of popular esteem" (Swarbrick, p. 5). Within this anthology, Larkin explores the many forms that love may take and what it designed to him. Andrew Swarbrick explains that "love and death remain at the centre of TWW" (p. 92). This consolidates the overall theme existing in almost all of his poems - loss and death. However, Larkin's biographer, Andrew Motion, chose to look at it from a different perspective: "Reading his poems in chronological sequence, it is clear that his obsession with death is inextricable from his desire for love and marriage. " (Hirsch, p. 120) This suggests that Larkin's continuous fixation with death in TWW and TLD, published in 1955, is actually shadowed by a pastime 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 secret of his aversion towards marriage (he thought of it as a "revolting institution"), he actually presents a diverse range of feelings towards marriage in his poems. "Love Songs in Age" explores how a mature woman feels about 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 hidden freshness". Motion identifies the widow in the poem as Larkin's mother (Swarbrick, p. 108). In Stanza 2, Larkin appears to adopt a tone of optimism, expressing the vivacity of youthful energy by using the simile, "spread out such as a spring-woken tree", implying that the widow had moved from the wintertime to the spring of her life, if only with the moment when she plays her love songs. This optimism appears to carry on to another stanza, where Larkin describes love as "that much-mentioned brilliance". This description of love appears to contradict Larkin's pessimistic views on love, and complies with society's conventional views that love is brilliant.
However, the utilization of the term "glare" downplays the "bright incipience" of love, as it suggests that the "brilliance" of love is a great deal to bear, and therefore impossible. The poem thus ends on a poor note, where in fact the lady in the poem realises that love hasn't managed to deliver its promises "to resolve, and satisfy, " as she actually is left alone after her husband's death, and must admit "lamely" that love had "not done so then, and may not now", discussing love's failure to last or to deliver. This poem therefore contradicts the feelings of some individuals, such as G. M. Carstairs, who in 1962, argued that "teenagers are rapidly making marriage itself more mutually considerate and satisfying" through premarital sex. (Lewis, p. 259) "Love Songs in Age" dissipates the theory that marriage is "mutually considerate", by looking at a marriage that ended prematurily. and left one party alone and in tears, dispelling the fairytale conception of 'happily ever after'.
Even though TLD was published 9 years earlier than TWW, Larkin shows an early awareness of the truth of marriage, and the negative aspects it entails, suggesting that marriage causes a loss of identity in "Maiden Name". This poem is about a woman's role in engaged and getting married and it is written in second person, such such as "since you were so thankfully confused". This makes the reader feel drawn into the text, as if the persona is speaking right to him/her, highlighted by the use of imperatives - "Try whispering it slowly. " The poem was discussed 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 persona's tone of betrayal in this poem, such as in "since you're past and gone", implying that Arnott's marriage caused her old self to disappear. The persona insists that the "five light sounds" of her maiden name no longer means "your face, /Your voice, and all of your variants of grace". It is unusual a name should mean a face and a voice, as opposed to the person herself, and Larkin might do that in order to indicate the different areas of a person that a name can recall. In its regular rhyme scheme (a, b, b, a, c, c, a) and structure, this poem seems just like a conventional love poem, according to society's ideas. That is highlighted in the intimate tone of "Try whispering it slowly".
Just like the hidden song sheets in "Love Songs in Age", the girl name in "Maiden Name" has been abandoned in old things, eliciting a rhetorical question from the persona: "Then could it be 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 adamant that the girl has lost an integral part of herself after marrying, as he gushes, "How beautiful you were, and near, and young, /So vivid", suggesting that she doesn't have as a lot of these qualities anymore. This poem therefore argues that marriage leads to the "depreciating" of any woman's identity and beauty with the extra "luggage" that is included with marriage, referring to the husband. In doing so, Larkin discourages women from engaged and getting married and expresses his lack of beliefs in marriage. Nowadays, an increasing amount of women are overcoming the challenge of losing one's identity when getting married simply by keeping their maiden name and pairing it using their husband's name.
The Larkin that is present in TLD seems more sentimental when compared with in TWW, where he is more discerning to the realities of relationships. "Talking in Bed" is about the gap between expectation and reality. The tone of the poem is defined in the first line, where "Talking during intercourse ought to be easiest, " the word "ought" suggesting uncertainty and untruth. It suggests that there is no honesty 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 one another as well as lying to one another. Larkin uses a protracted metaphor to compare the relationship in the poem to the disturbing weather outside: "the wind's incomplete unrest". Larkin therefore exposes the turmoil of marriage and forces the reader to reconsider whether marriage actually leads to security and comfort, or if it causes "incomplete unrest". Jane Lewis' essay explains that public institutions in the 1960s attemptedto refute the theory that marriages are insecure by establishing marriage counsellors and stressed the "need for a personally grounded morality" for a happy marriage.
Larkin has a specific style throughout all his poems. Many of them follow a rigid structure, where each stanza has a set range of lines. For example, "Talking in Bed" includes four tercets, which give the appearance of security and regularity. The structure of the poem thereby belies its content of uncertainty. This is also evident in the regular structure of "The Whitsun Weddings", where there are 8 stanzas of 10 lines each, which also provides impression that all marriages are standard.
The title poem of TWW is perhaps one of Larkin's most well-known. "The Whitsun Weddings" describes a train ride Larkin took from Hull to London, and in a "frail/travelling coincidence" eventually ends up on a single train all the newlyweds also undertake 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 upon this day, so that as Larkin decided to reveal Whitsun Day, he implies that marriage is cheap. Larkin uses vivid imagery (sound, sight, smell and touch) and a colloquial tone ("We ran/Behind the backs of houses") to portray the English countryside through the windows of the train carriage. The images look like snapshots, giving the reader a sense of immediacy:
Wide farms went by, short-shadowed cattle, and
Canals with floatings of professional froth;
A hothouse flashed uniquely: hedges dipped
And rose: and now and a smell of grass
(14-18)
This serves as an introduction that accumulates to the fourth stanza, where the persona finally notices the fanfare and excitement surrounding the train, where "the wedding-days/Were coming to a finish. " Larkin describes the newlyweds as "fresh", implying that they will not last long. He also mentions "the trick just like a happy funeral", an oxymoron suggesting that marriage is joyful, but also signifies the end of freedom for the couple. Another bold figure of speech Larkin uses is the "religious wounding", that could make reference 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 institution had traditionally been supported by a rigid code of Christian sexual morality. " A fascinating note concerning this poem is the fact Larkin does not mention where in fact the train stops, which shows that marriage does not have any direction, and is also therefore uncertain.
In Stanza 7, Larkin shows how all marriages will be the same for the reason that "their lives would all contain this hour", dissipating any notions that all wedding is exclusive. On the other hand, Larkin is inevitably swept up with the couples as "We hurried towards London". He seems to be immersed in the excitement of the Whitsun Weddings, seeing himself within them. The image of something as dangerous as an "arrow-shower" changing into cleansing "rain" provides sense of rebirth and rejuvenation. However, only "somewhere" should it become rain, that could mean that the arrow-shower is still lethal in other places. It might also signify the inevitable breakdown of marriage, as the arrows descend and rain could mean mould and cause floods. Martin Amis elaborates that, to Larkin, "Hull was as dull as rain. Rain was what Larkin felt marriages converted into, rain was what love and desire eventually become. " (http://ghrendhel. tripod. com/textos/amispolitical. htm) This highlights Larkin's belief that all marriages are banal and dull.
Where Larkin looks at multiple simultaneous weddings in "The Whitsun Weddings", he targets a specific wedding in "The Wedding-Wind", published in TLD and completed in 1946. This poem explores the feelings of an farmer's bride a day after her wedding. She actually is evidently delighted, viewed as "my wedding-night was the night time of the high wind", the strong wind suggesting passion. However, the wind may possibly also symbolise unrest, exactly like in "Talking in Bed". However, the image in the ultimate line, "Our kneeling as cattle by all-generous waters", depicts the girl appreciation to be married. It echoes the feelings of most women once they marry, believing they are on the path to completing their purpose in life. Marriage guidance advocates in the 1960s concurred that "women's needs were most importantly for traditional marital relationships. " (Lewis, p. 235)
Although "The Wedding-Wind" expresses the woman's ecstatic mood, Andrew Swarbrick believes that there surely is "beyond her a lurking sense of threat". That is evident when the bride is abandoned for a while on her wedding-night, leaving her "stupid in candlelight". It is interesting as well to notice that the husband is mostly absent from the poem, leaving the bride to "stare". Therefore that girls 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 concerning 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, holding her hand", shows the nice surprise he felt to see everlasting love set in stone. However, this is dismissed with another line, "They would not want to lie so long", which implies that the couple hadn't expected to be next to one another for so long, and the pun on the term "lie" - in that they lie next to each other, and also lie to the planet that they are in love - exactly like in "Talking in Bed", means that "such faithfulness in effigy" is really just a fabrication. The final stanza confirms this, as "Time has transfigured them into/Untruth". As stated before, this poem (and therefore the entire anthology) ends with "What will survive folks is love. " Yet this has been taken out of context, so the previous one and a half lines have to be viewed:
2544 Words
and to prove
Our almost-instinct almost true:
What will survive of us is love.
(40-42)
The repetition of "almost" provides sense to be so near the truth, however, not actually reaching it; and therefore the last line is thrown into another type of perspective. Our "almost-instinct" seems to be our need to believe in everlasting love after death; but since it is only "almost true" rather than totally true, the last line is one which the persona wants to be true, but is definitely not so. Therefore, Larkin still expresses a lack of beliefs in love and marriage. He commented on "An Arundel Tomb", "a fairly romantic poem I can't stand it much", which confirms his dislike for the romantic ideas about marriage the poem imparts. As he thought we would end the anthology with this poem, it makes it all the more significant that "Love isn't better than death because statues hold hands for 600 years", which is what Larkin wrote on the manuscript draft (Swarbrick, p. 114).
Even through Larkin's evident distaste for marriage, his literary executor, Anthony Thwaite, claims that, "The fact that he has never married and does not have any children doesn't entail ignorance of, or contempt for, the institution or its usual result. " Larkin rearticulates: "I've remained single by choice, and shouldn't have liked 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 growing group of men and women who had been unmarried. For the rest of society, Larkin's poetry was a basis for reconsidering the reason and effect of marriage.
Larkin's most reliable 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 connect with folks from different walks of life. Thus, it is simple for the reader to comprehend Larkin's 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 lack of identity? Regardless of the answer, Philip Larkin effectively conveys his message by using regular rhythm, rigid structure, enjambement, imagery and observations of ordinary people. Since Larkin never married, almost all 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 find the path of bachelorhood, he probably used poetry as an alternative for marriage.
