"High Stained Glass, Philip Larkin (1974) - themes and poetic style of Larkin

Résumé du document

Larkin's anthology, 'High Windows', shows some recurrent themes, like life and death, aging, youth and sexuality, religion and socialising, that run through the different poems, linking and contrasting them. The presence of symbols is quite significant and can be seen as a common point between the poems. As far as the language is concerned, a certain structure can be found in most of his poems; he uses some techniques of language to create various effects on the reader. Larkin tackles the theme of life and death in almost all the poem's of the anthology; he insists on the inevitability of death.

Extraits

[...] As he refers to the and so to marriage, Larkin also brings up the theme of religion. In High Windows, he presents it as a burden, an oppression on young people, speaking about God anymore, or sweating in the dark” or “having to hide what you think/ from the priest” and he opposes that with the metaphors of freedom. The imagery of “high windows” can be associated with religion as it remembers the windows of a church. Therefore it brings another meaning to the last stanza ; the window can be seen as a border, something that allows you only to look outside without being able to touch it as he describes sun comprehending glass” and hence refer to Larkin's incapacity to enjoy the sexual revolution. [...]

[...] In Sad Steps, the theme of memory is explored as well, but in a more personal way, claiming the pain of remembering his youth. Larkin uses the stereotypes of romantic poetry with the symbol of the moon which represents love and memory, the use of lyrical language such as “Lozenge of love! Medallion of art!/ O wolves of memory”. The title itself Steps” refers to the metaphor used by Larkin in Cut Grass of memory as “lost lanes where he compares remembering his memories to wandering into different lanes. [...]

[...] Although the first part of the poem seems to suggest that Larkin wants to be alone, this opinion is challenged when he says “funny how hard it is to be alone”. This shows that the modern society doesn't allow to chose loneliness, and this idea is reinforced with one now/ believes the hermit”. An important symbol in this poem is the lamp and more generally light; as in the Old Fools, where “sitting by a lamp” is one of the memories, it represents comfort and home; it also seems to be hope. [...]

[...] "Hauts vitraux", Philip Larkin (1974) - thèmes et style de la poétique de Larkin Larkin's anthology, “High Windows”, shows some recurrent themes, like life and death, ageing, youth and sexuality, religion or socialising, that run through the different poems, linking and contrasting them. The presence of symbols is quite significant and can be seen as a common point between those poems. As far as the language is concerned, a certain structure can be found in most of his poems; equally he uses some techniques of language to create various effects on the reader. [...]

[...] However, mixed to the celebration of youth and its beauty as he compares it to bloom of a million-petalled flower in the Old Fools- Larkin shows a certain bitterness, a disappointment to be left out of this with the use of assertions such as “(Which was rather late for me) in Annus Mirabilis. The brackets emphasise the gap between him and the youngsters. The second and third stanzas explore further the gap between the two generations; he opposes the old view concerning sex and marriage wrangle for a ring/ A shame that started at sixteen” to the freedom and the insouciance allowed by the sexual revolution “every life became/A brilliant breaking of the bank/ A quite unlosable game”. [...]