Daniella Razzouk; 202201459

Poem: Aubade by Phillip Larken

What it Means to Fear Death

Many poets have tried to tackle death, from varying angles and to varying degrees of

success. Some viewed death for a cause as an honor, others expressed somber acceptance, but

many, including Phillip Larken, viewe d death as the ultimate, inescapable enemy. In his poem

Aubade, the narrator Larken appears to express his fear of death . However, I believe that to be

too simplistic a reading of the poem. While death does scare him Larkin, a close reading reveals

what aspects he truly fears, . In this essay, I will focus on what Larkin actually expresses

throughout the poem namely, a fear of powerlessness and a realization of his weakness.

In the first half of the poem, we see implications of a belief in fate, “Unresting death, a

whole day nearer now” (Line 5) and “time torn off unused” (Line 12, 13). These lines give an

implication of his life as a limited resource. The use of the phrase “torn off” put in my mind a

view of life being something limited such as a piece of cloth, for instance. Once a piece of cloth

has been ripped off it’s gone and cannot be reattached, just as how once a day is over, it can

never be relived. Both of these imply his belief that his life is, to some extent, predetermined in

the sense thatand he has a limited amount of days to livee. Nothing he does can increase the time

he has to live, it is all simply a walk toward the finish line, and every moment he lives is a

moment closer to his death. This is our first indication of a fear of powerlessness in the face of a

major power, fate. However, we see no indication of the narrator’s fear of fate or even the

passage of time, “not in remorse/the good not done” (Line 11, 12). Instead, his fear remains

rooted in his realization of his inability to change what fate has in store for him, nonexistence.

Unlike death, fate is not personified nor is it explicitly mentioned. It is alluded to often in the
second stanza where he wallows in the knowledge that he is always inching closer to death with

no real control of his life.

An interesting feature of the Larkinnarrator’s fear is its relative uniqueness. While a fear

of death is obviously not uncommon, mostany express a fear of death as being linked to a fear of

the unknown. This is not the case with the narrator Larkin who appears confident in his

knowledge of what comes after death, nonexistence. He has no faith in an afterlife of any kind,

and to an extent, resents religious institutions that preach of an afterlife “that vast moth-eaten

musical brocade/ created to pretend we never die” (Line 23, 24)). Had the narrator’s fear been of

the unknown, of what may happen to him after he die, this anger could not exist. It is due to his

certainty that the only thing waiting for him after death is non-existence that he feels so much

resentment towards religious institutions for “lying”. Another hint of his confidence is the

connection he makes between death and the morning light. Even the poem's title Aubade can be

defined as a poem meant to be read at dawn, usually when two lovers are parting. or in the early

morning (Merriam-Webster). This title suggests separation at dawn, and the poem begins by

indicating that the poem is being written just before dawn, “waking at four” (Line 2). He

continues to discuss the inevitability of the arrival of the dawn, “in time the curtain-edges will

grow light” (Line 3). This creates a connection between the dawn, or the morning light, and

death. Death, like the dawn, is inevitable and getting closer to him.

This connection between light and death continue. As previously stated, the narrator does

not fear the unknown or what he cannot know, often symbolized by the dark. Instead, he seems

to fear the light, the vast, bright, white light “the sky is white as clay, with no sun” (Line 48). A

vast white terrain, or “sky” is indicative of his fear of nonexistence as the nothingness is made
forever clear to him. He does not fear the unknown of the dark, but the certainty of nonexistence

that the light brings.

Connections between light and death are not unheard of, “seeing the light” is a common saying

that means to die, often insinuating the existence of heaven and seeing the afterlife. Interestingly,

another popular meaning of the phrase is to realize something or make a connection. To Larkin,

this connection meant to represent the surety of his belief in his fate after death. He does not fear

death because he does not know what’s to come, he fears it because he knows that there is

nothing to come.

As the poem continues, we realize that Larkin’his fears are not new. His resentment

toward religion and the facade of control that it provided him prove that he has attempted to find

answers that may soothe his fears, but came up empty-handed. He has discussed these fears with

others, as indicated by lines 25 and 26 “No rational being/ can fear a thing it will not feel” being

in italics, suggesting that this is a , more or less, ddirect quote from another.

Another fear the narrator Larkin seems to have is a lack of control. Hints of this fear can

be found hiddenlittered across the text, beginning in the very first line “I work all day and get

half-drunk at night”. He has no agency in his life, he has become simply a passive figure in it,

being forced to work every day, wasting his limited time, and then getting drunk at night, losing

control over his actions and even suggesting an addiction that has taken control of him. The only

sense of control he gets is by writing the poem, articulating his fear. We see this in the structure

of the poem which is divided into five stanzas of ten lines each. They all follow the same,

complex rhyme scheme of ABABCCDEED. Larkin maintains tight control of the poem all

throughout, exercising the only control he has. He then continues by stating the inevitability of

morning coming (Line 3), a reminder of his lack of control over the passing of time. Later on, in
line 30, we see another hint of this “the anesthetic from which none come round”. When one is

put under anesthetic, they lose control of their actions, they cannot help but lose consciousness

and their trust has to be in the doctor to have done everything properly to ensure they eventually

wake up. He recognizes that gamble he takes whenever he falls asleep, and knows that one day

he will fall asleep and never wake up again.

His powerlessness is contrasted with death’s complete power and control over everyone,

a power so strong that it has become commonplace and its victories are expected. , “telephones

crouch, getting ready to ring” (Line 25). To himLarkin, death is an all-powerful figure, stronger

than any individual or any institution that attempts to lessen his power, reacting harshly to both

sectarian views, “being brave/gets no one off the grave” (Line 38, 39) and religious views, such

as an afterlife, “created to pretend we never die” (Line 24). He knows that this is a fight he will

inevitably lose. He recognizes his weakness against the strongest enemy in existence and so

dreads the constant march toward his defeat.

In conclusion,, in the poem Aubade, in “Aubade”, the narratorLarkin expresses a fear of

powerlessness and a realization of weakness both of which appear to the reader as a fear of

death. He believes that afterlife, there is only non-existence. HeLarkin is adamant about his view

of the future, he resents those who attempt to change his mind about it. Instead, he remains

engrossed in his fear of the future and of his powerlessness in the face of it.