(From the volume of poems entitled “The Less Deceived”)

Summary

When the evenings are longer, the tranquil house-fronts are bathed in light which is chilly and yellow. Then a
thrush is heard singing in the midst of laurels in the deep, bare garden, in its sharp but sweet voice. The singing of
the thrush seems to surprise the brickwork of the houses. The thrush seems to be saying repeatedly that soon the
spring would come and take the place of winter (which is now about to end).

On hearing the singing of the thrush, the poet thinks of his childhood which he describes as a period of boredom,
and a period which he has forgotten. Then he feels like a child who has suddenly appeared on a scene in which the
adults are getting reconciled with each other (or a scene in which the adult people are becoming reconciled to
their lives in this world). On such occasions the poet can understand nothing except the unusual laughter of the
people; and then the poet too begins to feel happy.

[The laurel is a kind of garden-shrub. But the word “laurel” is also used for a kind of tree the foliage of which was
regarded in olden days as a symbol of victory in war or of eminence in poetry.

The garden is bare because the intensity of the cold during the winter has robbed the trees of their leaves].

Critical Appreciation

This poem describes the poet’s mood when winter is coming to an end, and when spring is about to arrive. The
advent of spring is being heralded by a thrush which is announcing that it will be spring soon. The poet feels greatly
cheered by the prospect of the arrival of spring; but at the same time he feels puzzled by the universe and, more
particularly, by the world of human beings. The universe, and the world of human beings, are a riddle which the
poet cannot solve. However, he still begins to feel happy. This is one of the few poems in which Larkin expresses a
mood of happiness, even though this happiness is of a very mild kind. The autobiographical element in this poem
imparts a special interest to it. Larkin here recalls his childhood which he describes as “a forgotten boredom.”
There is no memory of his childhood to gladden his heart or to cheer him. Also noteworthy is the phrase “its fresh-
peeled voice” which Larkin has coined to describe the freshness and sharpness of the thrush’s song. The thrush
sings “laurel-surrounded”; and here we have a compound word coined by him. The repetition of the line “It will be
spring soon” lends emphasis to the imminence of a season which is most delightful to everybody in this world
everywhere. The opening lines of the poem contain a vivid picture of the house-fronts bathed in light which is “chill
And yellow;” and the song of the thrush has an “astonishing” effect on the brick-work of the houses. Coming is a
short poem but it is significant for reasons already indicated above.

Critics’ Comments

One of the critics says that, although Larkin is to some extent a suburban poet, he remains something of a
romantic also, especially in poems such as Coming, where “the serene foreheads of houses” and the song of a
thrush awaken a child-like perspective almost amounting to joy. This critic also tells us that Larkin generally
contemplates Nature with a feeling of melancholy which emphasizes the poet’s view of man’s isolation from
Nature. However, in the present poem, Larkin’s contemplation of Nature is not accompanied by any such feeling.
On the contrary, he feels somewhat cheered by the thrush’s song as it sings on a tree surrounded by laurels in the
deep bare garden. Another critic says that the poem Coming candidly describes happiness: Larkin here feels like a
child “who comes on a scene of adult reconciling,” and although he can understand nothing but the unusual
laughter, he starts to be happy.

A similar, though less extreme, version of the greater deception of “Absences” can be found in “Coming” which
also concerns nature-oriented imagery:

On longer evenings, Light, chill and yellow, Bathes the serene Foreheads of houses. A thrush sings, Laurel-
surrounded In the deep bare garden, Its fresh-peeled voice Astonishing the brickwork. (Larkin 47)

The astonishment of brickwork by means of birdsong signals both the power and the primacy of nature over
civilization and takes an almost miraculous tone. This sense of sacrality is enhanced by the preceding “bathing” of
light over the “foreheads” of the houses which has the character of baptism and spiritual rebirth, more firmly
connecting the poem to the ritual aspects of “Church Going” and once again suggesting greater deception. The
implications of spiritual rejuvenation are further emphasized in the latter half of the poem:

It will be spring soon, It will be spring soon – And I, whose childhood Is a forgotten boredom, Feel like a child Who
comes on a scene Of adult reconciling, And can understand nothing But the unusual laughter, And starts to be
happy. (Larkin 47)

The notion of a kind of reawakening is emphasized here with the doubled invocation of spring. While not self-
negating to the same extent as “Absences” the regression to childhood does similarly function to emphasize the
smallness of the individual in the face of the grandeur of nature. Swarbrick asserts that the disowning of a personal
childhood works to intensify the emotion (67) and I would further argue that the abandonment of the personal in
favour of participation in something larger echoes the loss of individuality discussed in relation to “Reasons for
Attendance” and “Wants”, though again, as in “Absences”, expressed in terms of nature and not society. Thus it
becomes clear that the sublime experiences of nature, present in “Absences” and “Coming”, can both be
considered a feature of the more deceived outlook. In the case of “Coming” the speaker’s identification with
childhood also contributes to this status by providing a sense of innocence and naïveté about the manner of
spirituality presented here. The stress on ignorant happiness also connects “Coming” to the irresponsible
relationship to the past which was present in “Lines on a Young Lady’s Photograph Album” and signals a desire to
remain innocent and free similar to that of “Latest Face”