Poetry Review: Philip Larkin
By Sibhéal McGarry
Philip Larkin was born on the 9th of August 1922 in Radford, a suburb in Coventry, England. His father introduced him to the poems of T.S Eliot, D.H Lawrence and James Joyce, sparking a lifelong passion for poetry in the adolescent Larkin.
Larkin would go on to study English at Oxford University in October 1940 and obtain a first-class honours degree, which is said to have greatly surprised him.
He would later become a sub-librarian at Queen’s University of Belfast, in September 1950, and he would spend five years in the city of Belfast, which heavily influenced many of his writings.
‘The Importance of Elsewhere’ is a poem in Larkin’s third volume of poetry, ‘The Whitsun Weddings’, which is believed to be directly inspired by Larkin’s time in Belfast. The persona feels isolated in a foreign country but thinks that this is somewhat expected, and then ponders the question on what one does if they feel isolated and unwelcome in their own country.
He went on to take up the post of university librarian at the University of Hull in 1955, where he would remain until his death.
His health would begin to deteriorate in 1983, when he would be hospitalised with shingles. In 1985, Larkin was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer, and he died the same year on the 2nd of December.
One of Larkin’s dying wishes was that his diaries be destroyed, so sadly a good number of his writings and unfinished works would never become public.
Out of all Larkin’s volumes, I enjoyed ‘The Whitsun Weddings’ the most. This volume of poetry was published by the litigious publishing house, Faber, on the 28th of February 1964.
Of the 32 poems, my favourites would be ‘Here’, ‘Nothing To Be Said’, ‘Naturally the Foundation will Bear Your Expenses’ and ‘Days’. But I cannot deny that ‘The Whitsun Weddings’ was my most beloved one.
Firstly, it is important to understand what Whitsun is – it is an alternative name for Pentecost. The persona is on a train, their final destination being London. This is based on a train journey which Larkin took back in 1955.
The poem follows quite a unique rhyme scheme, with fluidity and sometimes casual rhyme. The rhyme scheme follows the form A, B, A, B, C, D, E, C, D, E. It is very fitting for the poem as the persona is observing the lives of unknown strangers, making their observations unexpected, like the rhyme scheme.
‘The Whitsun Weddings’ begins with a heatwave. This evokes the visceral nostalgia of a warning of a heady summer to come. The persona details their observations of their changing surroundings, as they peer out of the passenger’s window. They describe the train travelling, ‘All afternoon, through the tall heat that slept’. The alliteration of ‘All afternoon’ creates quite a claustrophobic effect, as though the passengers cannot escape the stifling heat, it being personified as the ‘tall heat’ and creating an image of the sticky stupor of that day.
The persona becomes aware of the many weddings taking place. The joyous celebration of the weddings causes quite a cacophony for others. It evokes the idea of how only sometimes we can get a raw insight into the lives of those around us. It is as though the lives of the passengers of the train are intercepting, with those of the weddings, for the first and last time.
He describes that the girls at the weddings are dressed ‘In parodies of fashion’. The assonance creates the sinuous image of these girls being at odds with the image they are trying to present. It seems that the girls are costuming themselves as women. They are said to pose ‘irresolutely’, showing that they are posing for the photographer. It’s as if they are frozen in a tableau.
The persona sees all the weddings as very much alike, even though they involve very different individuals. They cynically describe them as a ‘Success so huge and wholly farcical’. The lines drip with sarcasm, detailing their disgust at what they perceive as a showy display of wealth, and perhaps their underlying cynicism directed at marriage.
Edited by Tiffany Murnaghan
The Whitsun Weddings can be read online at The Whitsun Weddings by Philip Larkin | Poetry Foundation
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