#Pessimism in Phillip Larkin's Poetry.

#Pessimism in Phillip Larkin's Poetry.

İİİİİİİııııı
By Rana Nadeem ul Hassan
(M.A English)
ŀŀŀŀŀŀŀŀŀŀŀŀ
ĬĬIntroduction
The age of Larkin was an age of catastrophe and chaos on a social and moral level all over the world
caused by the Second World War which also resulted in a decline in values and ethics. The
deterioration and damage witnessed by people after the two world wars in 20th century produced
uncertainties about the existence of God, and people started losing faith in religion. In general, the
postwar generation suffered from several sides and some of them reflected their fears, doubts,
pessimism and bitter realities in their work of arts, especially literature. Like many other poets, Larkin's
attempts were to show and express those feelings and state of mind through his poems. In almost all
of Larkin's poems there are portrayals of death, isolation, age, religion and sex; his view for all facets
of his world is highly pessimistic, and we can seldom find a sense of hope in his poetry.

Therefore, this paper will explore, interpret and analyze the theme of pessimism in five of Larkin's
typical poems from different collections, "Church Going" in The Less Deceived (1955) collection,
"Days" and "Dockery and Son" in The Whitsun Weddings (1964) collection, "This Be The Verse" and
"High Windows" in High Windows (1974) collection. Though pessimism is notable in all his poems, but
due to the limit of our essay we attempt to choose five poems which serve us the best.

İİİLarkin's Biography
Philip Larkin was an English poet, novelist, and librarian born on August 9, 1922, in Coventry, England.
His father, Sydney, who became Treasurer for Coventry City Council was a distinctly authoritarian
figure in the household with Larkin's modest mother, Eva (John Gilroy, 2009). Sydney's influence on
Larkin was prevailing and he introduced his son to the works of Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, James Joyce
and D. H. Lawrence. Young Larkin was educated at the home until the age of eight by his mother and
sister. He attended St. John’s College, Oxford. His first book of poetry, The North Ship, was published
in 1945 and, though not particularly strong on its own, is remarkable insofar as certain passages
foreshadow the unique sensibility and maturity that characterizes his later work. Larkin published his
first novel, Jill in 1946. After finishing Jill, Larkin worked on the novel A Girl in Winter, which was
published in 1947. In the year 1951, he compiled a poem collection with name, XX Poems, which was
printed privately in just 100 copies (The Famous People Website). Then in 1955 was the publication of
his second collection of poems, The Less Deceived, followed by The Whitsun Weddings (1964) and
High Windows (1974). He contributed to The Daily Telegraph as its jazz critic from 1961 to 1971,
articles gathered in All What Jazz: A Record Diary 1961–71 (1985), and he edited The Oxford Book of
Twentieth Century English Verse (1973) (Wikipedia Contributors). Deeply anti-social and a great lover
and published critic of American jazz, Larkin never married and worked as a librarian in the provincial
city of Hull, where he died of cancer on December 2, 1985.

İİİİLarkin's Style, Criticism and the Movement

Philip Larkin represents a growth in British poetry of 1950s, namely the rise of anti-heroic, 'all illusions
gone' school of thought. Reality is emphasized at all costs, and a thoughtful effort made to eliminate
all glamour from situations and people (Martin Stephen, 2000: 297).He was the central figure in what
arose to be known as "the Movement" a group of poets that included Kingsley Amis, Donald Davie,
Tom Gonne, Elizabeth Jennings, and others. The Movement was a consciously and definitely anti-
romantic trend: it protested not only against 19th-century romanticism, but against any kind of poetry
that Movement poets judge to follow in the sense of romanticism. In the view of Movement group,
modernism attained, rather than abolished, romanticism (István D. Rácz, 1995). As Stephen (2000)
indicates that "Larkin refuses to be romantic about life or put down views that are more attractive and
comforting than true".
Similar to Hardy, much has been written of Larkin's pessimism, his depiction of loneliness, age, and
death; though, the many negatives in his poems indicate positives, out of reach of the ironic and self-
critical speaker, but available perhaps to others more fortunate, elsewhere (Abrams, 1999 2565).
During his poetic career, his miserable outlook on human life has been a spirit of his poetic stance.
Human life and its predicament, the distress and cynicism have been the frequent motifs of his poetry
(Shabnum Iftikhar, 2013). The Less Deceived (1955) is Larkin's second book of poems, on which "his
reputation is based, and its rejection of literary stereotypes, its rejection of history and its rejection of
self were all timely" (Rogers Pat, 1987: 464).

Larkin stood against the modernist ideas that poetry had to be difficult and that poets, by nature, are
outcasts, granted with some greater vision than the public. Larkin insisted on the transparency of the
language of poetry to be understandable by all kinds of people (Neil Convey, 1993). However, one of
the prominent things about Larkin's poetry is its surface simplicity, while its deeper meanings
gradually become more apparent afterward; the reader realizes he is being offered something more
than what is merely seen (Martin Scofield, 1976). In addition, Larkin's experience of anguish, human
cognition, God, death, religion and even his political views can be understood in his duality. The
difference of the two sides of experience has fascinating consequences, as Rácz (1995) claims that
"the typical genres of the poems are the dramatic monologue and the mask lyric, while the tone is
often ironic, sarcastic or parodic". The opposing selves of the poet are equally captured by time, but
they form different concepts of it.

"Church Going"

This poem displays the picture of church and its likely future in the speaker's opinion. The poem
describes "man's defacement of Nature in a way which reminds us that we are getting to the point of
no return with what we do and how we live" (Walford Davies, 1976). On a surface level, this poem
satirizes church going tradition, but on a deeper level, Larkin refers to the collapse of a church, as
people’s religious faith also was a victim of collapse. As churches were no longer able to attract all
people towards religion, it indicated the decline of church at that time (Iftikhar, 2013). Also, all of
Larkin's suspicions, fears, and frustrations are discovered in a single visit to an empty church. Each
line of the poem expands the tension in the speaker's response to the building (kateryna Schray,
2002).
Once I am sure there’s nothing going on
I step inside, letting the door thud shut.
Another church: matting, seats, and stone,
And little books; sprawlings of flowers, cut
For Sunday, brownish now; some brass and stuff
Up at the holy end; the small neat organ;
And a tense, musty, unignorable silence,
Brewed God knows how long. Hatless, I take off
My cycle-clips in awkward reverence.

The opening line already poses a challenge to faith: the speaker only goes inside when he is "sure
there's nothing going on", actually there is always something going on in a house of God, but the
speaker has a pessimistic view towards the church going (ibid.). The speaker's visit seems to be an
accident or unexpected experience. These stanzas suggest indecision and uncertainty in every line:
the gate turns out to be too noisy; the phrase "another church" hints to the meaning as though the
speaker is tired of visiting. The comic character states God's name in the church unconsciously, and
he is just as unconscious when he takes off his cycle-clips to show his respect, since he does not
wear a hat (Rácz, 1995).

Yet stop I did: in fact I often do,

And always end much at a loss like this,
Wondering what to look for; wondering, too,
When churches will fall completely out of use
What we shall turn them into, if we shall keep
A few cathedrals chronically on show,
Their parchment, plate and pyx in locked cases,
And let the rest rent-free to rain and sheep.
Shall we avoid them as unlucky places?

The persona thinks that the place is not worth stopping to inspect. But he also confesses that he did
stop, and has frequently done so. The speaker is "at a loss", certainty is thus replaced by wondering,
wondering what to search for; wondering, what churches will be turned into; wondering who will be the
last to look for the church and its purposes (Gilroy, 2009: 60). Whether it will be "completely out of use"
or they will be abandoned buildings for "rain and sheep". These all outlooks seem to be from someone
who looks at the future of church negatively and full of pessimistic predictions. This is also a
reflection of Larkin's attitude toward church in his time.

"This Be The Verse"

This is one of his most popular poems which is written in a straightforward language with the use of
slang words. His angry tone suits his subject matter. The speaker discourages the reader to beget
children in an extremely pessimistic manner, using strong language. The title, nevertheless, places the
poem within quotation marks thus changing it into a creed. It suggests that man can leave only his
misery to descendants; consequently both lovemaking and begetting children are immoral (Rácz,
1995).
Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don’t have any kids yourself.
This is a gloomy view of things. Human beings cause suffering which starts with parenting; mistakes
are repeated in each generation. The speaker finds no hope in it all. This is at the same time
pessimistic and fun. He is clearly making a joke. But at the same time it is a joke based on cynicism.
(Tony Northover, 2012). This stanza also develops the argument to suggest that man is the reason of
misery in his fellow man and the imagery of a ‘coastal shelf’ points out the depths of depression to
which humankind may be dragged if the cycle is sustained (Alison Macbezn, 2012).
Thus, Larkin is calling us to accept that since begot us and gave us all their faults and added some
more, we should out of kindness not have children whose lives would inescapably be even worse than
our own (Craik Roger, 1995). This is a clear pessimistic view towards the cycle of life and human race
and nature of existence, because Larkin assumes that the same things are repeated and even worse,
thus, there is no worth in continuing this process.
"High Windows"
In this poem, the speaker compares the new generation and their liberty of having sex to his old time
when he was a young man who was prohibited and unable to have the same freedom. His frank voice
seems embarrassing when he describes how the youths today have got rid of sexual taboos, a deeper
layer of the poem suggests the philosophy of old age and the recognition of human limits. This does
not mean asceticism in Larkin; he simply saw that erotic love was dominated by a civilization strange
to us. The indirect question of the poem is that if neither getting rid of religion nor sexual liberation
bring freedom, what can we hope for? (Rácz, 1995).
Rather than words comes the thought of high windows:  
The sun-comprehending glass,
And beyond it, the deep blue air, that shows
Nothing, and is nowhere, and is endless.

The speaker feels desperate as he contemplates his own aging. In ‘High Windows’ he contrives to
escape from his sordid envy of the young since the young are envied in their false ‘paradise’ of
plentiful sex; and "the thought of a daytime windowscape offers the poet an absolving ‘nowhere’ in
which he can evade the desolate attic of his envy" (James Booth, 2005: 166-67).

The poem concludes with the shocking image of “high windows” and what exists beyond them “the
deep blue air, that shows nothing, and is nowhere, and is endless”, designating the nonexistence of a
heavenly paradise as well. The main message of the pome could be that there is no paradise, real or
ideal, neither here nor in hereafter life (Jens Kirk, 2012). As a result, hope has no place in the world of
the poet because of his disappointment caused by old age and his doubt about the existence of
paradise.

"Days"

This poem is one of the short ones but carries a lot of meanings and interpretations. The concept of
death removes the various divisions of time: there is no difference between moment and eternity in
this world. The problem of time and the human tragedy of death are closely linked in the
consciousness of the doubtful persona (Rácz, 1995). The persona starts with a philosophical
question:

What are days for?

Days are where we live.  
They come, they wake us  
Time and time over.
They are to be happy in:  
Where can we live but days?

Ah, solving that question

Brings the priest and the doctor  
In their long coats
Running over the fields.

The phrasing line "Time and time over", reminds us not just of routine of days, but equally of how one
day it will be for each of us individually "time over" (Gilroy, 2009)
As in many of his poems, Larkin examines with fierce honesty and the inevitable reality that all life
must end in death. The single image in the poem is of "the priest and the doctor" coming "running over
the fields". This distressing image suggests that once a person has run out of days, the only solution
is death, and while this is the case, then what is the purpose of filling endless days with living? Here
Larkin is no sentimentalist, but in sharing his fears and doubts, at least there is a harmony of despair
and a community of hopelessness (Harriet Simpson, 2010). While there is no hope and purpose in
living, the poet reaches to the peak of pessimism that as much as we live and enjoy, there is an end
waiting for us. Though the poet is realistic, but he only depicts the pessimistic facet and ignores the
rest.
Dockery and Son
This poem also is written in the context of the same idea, where Larkin compares his bachelor life
with his friend’s married life, his friend is married and has a son, but eventually both will face the same
end, death. Hence, it does not matter whether a person is a bachelor or married, since both are
destined to die in the long run (Iftikhar, 2013). This view is presented in the first stanzas. The poet
believes whatever we achieve, any good changes we make, it makes no sense since we are
predestined. He defines life in a very despairing manner:

Life is first boredom, then fear.

Whether or not we use it, it goes,
And leaves what something hidden from us chose,  
And age, and then the only end of age.

Freedom of choice is a delusion. Humans are led by "something hidden from us", this helplessness of
choosing one's destiny traps man in a life that may not please him, heading him to wish for and dream
about a more promising one while life ends with "age, and then the only end of age", death (Susan
Ahmad, n.d.). The definition of the poet for life is clearly presented in the last four lines of this poem. It
is "boredom then fear" as well as explaining how human beings are defeated by their fate and have no
choice themselves. Larkin frequently refers to age in his poetry, and here he describes in a desperate
voice and melancholic tone, as much as we live and enjoy, at the end there is death and will terminate
everything, and that comes at the "end of age", he does not mention the word death directly, but
relates it to being aged. Pessimism calls us in each of these lines with several brooding words.

Conclusion
Twentieth century is described to be the age of losing faith in religion, skepticism about the existence
of God, disorder and lack of communication among people, absence of moral and social values and
beliefs. In this period of misery and depression, Larkin came to witness his world, and that was
effective enough to inspire his realistic poems with the taste of hopelessness in life. In this paper,
efforts were made to present Philip Larkin's biography, style, criticism and his "Movement". The main
focus was to analyze, interpret and argue five typical poems written by him which reflect pessimism of
the poet. In "Church Going", it was explored how the speaker views the state of church and religion in
his corrupted world; he also predicts the pathetic future of church and wonder what will happen to it.
Likewise, "This Be The Verse" the speaker has a pessimistic vision towards the cycle of life and human
race and nature of existence, because of the repetitions of the same mistakes, thus there is no worth
in continuing the process of begetting children.
Also, in "High Windows" the speaker feels frantic as he contemplates his own aging when he
compares the new generation with liberty to his old restricted one. He also suspects the existence of
paradise and believes that there beyond "high windows" there is nothing called paradise. In "Days", the
speaker asserts the inevitable reality of death and the end of the "days", he shares his pessimism with
us by expressing that as much as we live and enjoy this life, there is an end ahead of us, that is death.
In the final poem "Dockery and Son", the speaker defines life as "boredom then fear" in addition to
explaining how we are defeated by our fate and have no other choice. Larkin frequently refers to age in
his poetry and shows as long as we live, at the end there is death that comes at the "end of age".
Finally, in the poetry of Larkin there is a common sense of pessimism concerning different aspects,
religion, death, sex, age, isolation.