HIGH WINDOWS

BY PHILIP LARKIN
When I see a couple of kids About hell and that, or having to hide   
And guess he’s fucking her and she’s    What you think of the priest. He
And his lot will all go down the long slide   
Taking pills or wearing a diaphragm,   
Like free bloody birds. And immediately
I know this is paradise  
  Rather than words comes the thought of high windows:   
The sun-comprehending glass,
Everyone old has dreamed of all their lives — 
And beyond it, the deep blue air, that shows
Bonds and gestures pushed to one side Nothing, and is nowhere, and is endless.
Like an outdated combine harvester,
And everyone young going down the long slide
 
To happiness, endlessly. I wonder if   
Anyone looked at me, forty years back,   
And thought, That’ll be the life;
No God any more, or sweating in the dark
• What is the connection between the name and the poem itself? Why „High
Windows”?
• What would you imagine when you read „high windows”? Your associations?
• What is the main idea in 2 words?
• What is the mood of the whole poem?
• What strikes you most in it?
When I see a couple of kids
And guess he’s fucking her and she’s   
Taking pills or wearing a diaphragm,   
I know this is paradise

• Use of rude words – author’s attitude? A couple of Kids - why?

• Can we judge by the choise of words if he approves or disapproves of the phenomenon of teenage
sexual life?
• Modern birth control methods and its contribution to the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s
• Why – a paradise?
• Adam and Eve were innocent—or ignorant—of sexuality before The Fall. a modern-day Adam and Eve
is, perhaps, the opposite of the Biblical couple
Everyone old has dreamed of all their lives —  
Bonds and gestures pushed to one side
Like an outdated combine harvester,
And everyone young going down the long slide
• How is the older generation’s attitude towards the new ways shown?
• Associations to „outdated combine harvester” Why and what for?
• Larkin makes the fairly abstract ideas of tradition, emotional bonds, and old
fashioned “gestures” concrete by using a simile, or comparison to a combine
harvester. An outdated one.
• Long Slide – a metaphor to what?
• - The process of aging.
And everyone young going down the long slide

To happiness, endlessly. I wonder if   

Anyone looked at me, forty years back,   
And thought, That’ll be the life;
No God any more, or sweating in the dark
• Endless Happiness? – Is he being envious or ironic?
• - it a pleasant journey for them, it is seemingly “endless” and without consequence.
• What emotions does the Author imply to the situation by saying „that’ll be the life”? Why
italics?
• 40 years? Why 40? Generation gap? Connection?
• Why - no God? What does he imply? No need to do – what?
No God any more, or sweating in the dark

About hell and that, or having to hide   

What you think of the priest. He
And his lot will all go down the long slide   
Like free bloody birds. And immediately
• „sweating in the dark about the hell and that” - Why? What emotion?
• The author’s opinion of the prist – what are they like?
• What effect is reached by repeating again „GO DOWN THE LONG SLIDE”?
• What for he uses very vulgar adjective „bloody”?
• Birds – careless, free – from what?
Like free bloody birds. And immediately

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.

• What stands behind the expanded and detailed metaphor of „high windows”, „sun-comprehending glass”, „air”
• Glass windows in Church? High – meaning „transcendent”, „elevated”
• Windows – What function?
• Instead of having a logical response to the flood of, the speaker has only the thought of windows—an image
that is both a transparent barrier and a source of light.
When I see a couple of kids About hell and that, or having to hide   
And guess he’s fucking her and she’s    What you think of the priest. He
Taking pills or wearing a diaphragm,    And his lot will all go down the long slide   

I know this is paradise Like free bloody birds. And immediately

 
 
Rather than words comes the thought of high windows:   
Everyone old has dreamed of all their lives — 
The sun-comprehending glass,
Bonds and gestures pushed to one side
And beyond it, the deep blue air, that shows
Like an outdated combine harvester,
Nothing, and is nowhere, and is endless.
And everyone young going down the long slide
 
To happiness, endlessly. I wonder if   
Anyone looked at me, forty years back,   
And thought, That’ll be the life;
No God any more, or sweating in the dark
 NOTES
• Some critics have said that “High Windows” may look, at first glance, like a poem about sex, but
that it turns into a commentary on religion. By the end of the poem, Larkin’s relentless
questioning leads him to a surprising and almost inarticulate revelation.
• Letting the speaker’s train of thought flow from line to line and stanza to stanza without
punctuation mark and a pause is called “enjambing.” Larkin may have used this technique to let
the form of the poem reflect the building tension in the speaker’s voice and the momentum of
thought that continues to push his ideas forward.
Thank You!