Philip Larkin:

9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985

graduating from Oxford University in 1943
Influenced by W. H. Auden, W. B. Yeats, and Thomas Hardy
poems are highly structured but flexible verse forms
(https://www.goodreads.com/quizzes/results/1117649)
(https://www.gradesaver.com/the-whitsun-weddings/study-guide/quiz1)

Mr. Bleany
Modernism
Depicts isolation, purposelessness.
28 Lines
7 Stanzas
ABAB
Enjambment
Pathetic Fallacy
Summary and Analysis
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ul0hWapjok)
(https://www.slideshare.net/hannahheath/mr-bleaney-philip-larkin)
Mr. Bleany's environment is best described as

A. comfortable and cozy

B. messy and squalid
C. spartan and comfortless
D. shabby and genteel

The landlady's description of Mr. Bleaney is

A. shy
B. neighborly
C. parsimonious
D. malicious

The author's desperation comes through most in

A. Stanza 3 only
B. Stanza 4 only
C. Stanzas 3 and 5
D. Stanzas 6 and 7

The author felt for Mr Bleaney because he was

A. unaware of what he was lacking

B. violent but impotent
C. aware that he had not accomplished much in life
D. stuck in a monotonous yearly schedule
Q&A (https://maenglishshortquestionsandanswers.blogspot.com/2020/12/mrbleaney-short-by-
philip-larkin.html)

Church Going:
 Published in 1954 from The Less Deceived
 Questions the Importance of holy places in a modern man life
 Religion is major theme
 The Future of the Church
 Characteristics of Poem

Satirical Tone, Mocking, Ironical Statements, Use of Imagery, Agnosticism, Skepticism,

Secularism, Rationalism, Melancholic Irony

 seven stanza poem

 use of both full and half end rhymes
 in "Church Going", Larkin uses iambic pentameter
 Conflict in Larkin's poetry is often a result of society and tradition.
 Repetition is used in the first line of the final stanza:

A serious house on serious earth it is

 tonal shifts set up an internal conflict that must be resolved

 ababcaece
 Larkin is called a sceptic poet
 A church is a symbol of man’s sincere search for the ultimate meaning of life.