1. Choose three poems and analyze the effectiveness in them of Larkin’s imagery. Larkin’s poems are great artifacts of language; often colloquial and which bring many images to a person’s mind when reading them. We think of these images due to his use of words, standard rhyme schemes and his interesting perception of life transmitted through his poems. This essay will study these three poems; ‘The Whitsun Weddings’, ‘High Windows’ and ‘Sunny Prestatyn’ in order to show the effectiveness in them of Larkin’s imagery.’ The Whitsun Weddings,’ represents the change in life, which everyone goes through.
This poem is about a man, possibly Larkin, going on a train heading to the countryside. Towards the middle of the poem, he sees that on every station the train stops at, there is a newlywed couple getting on for their honeymoon. At the end of the poem, he explains how marriage changes you. He uses many nouns to describe what he sees while on the train. The first two stanzas describe in detail what he is viewing from inside the train. For example:” Behind the backs of houses, crossed a street Of blinding windscreens, smelt the fish-dock.” In this line, he is thoroughly describing each object he passes by, even the smell of the fish-dock.
He tends to do this very successfully because he uses clever metaphors in his writing. An example of this could be one from the line above, “of blinding windscreens.” He is referring to the sun when he says, “blinding.” This gives an effect to the readers because they automatically think of a situation in which they too were blinded by the sun. Therefore, an image comes to their mind while reading it trying to put themselves in that situation. Throughout the poem, he describes other things as well, which bring images to your mind. For example, “its postal districts packed like squares of wheat.” This brings an image to your head of how the areas of districts are nicely grown. The image Larkin perceives at the end of the poem is somewhat complex.
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William Carlos Williams was an imagist poet; he wanted to revision poetry in America. His whole theme dealer with visions and images. He opposed general statements and abstract ideas. His poem "The Red Wheelbarrow" was filled with images and ideas that made the poem so easy to visualize. I believe that this poem is about perfection. The second and third stanza's, "a red wheel/ barrow/ glazed with ...
“A sense of falling, like an arrow-shower Sent out of sight, somewhere becoming rain.” Rain does not fall in a parabolic curve. The image that Larkin wants us to imagine is a “shower” of arrows which falls out of sight, somewhere in the future as rain. His use of metaphor (arrows) broadens the image of lives being projected from the present into the future. This image is of growth and procreation. The poem, ‘High Windows,’ is about a man who is reflecting on the change of generation. He sees two young people and automatically believes they are making love, something which would not have been done at his age.
The use of colloquial language in the first stanza helps give a greater effect by showing that in someway, the “couple of kids” use that language. It also relates more to the reader because generally they know what the poet is trying to say as they use that language. The second stanza gives a simile which helps us bring an image to our minds. “Like an outdated combine harvester.” We automatically think of the image of a big heavy machine. On the next two stanzas, there are some words in italics. These represent the voice of the old generation speaking of religious fears and conventions, which have now been pushed aside.
One automatically thinks of an image also because of the use of colloquial language. However, the last stanza is completely the opposite. Larkin here uses great and beautiful language. He gives us a lovely image of freedom, “the deep blue air,” with the sensation of restraint.
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Examine the ways in which Larkin’s poems explore the gap between romantic yearning and disillusioned pragmatism As a poet who wrote during the post war period during the 1950’s & 1960’s; Philip Larkin’ poetry reflected the philosophy of many individuals in Britain; as it was beginning to be re-built physically and metaphorically. It was an emergence of a new Britain; as this particular era was ...
Since the language is greatly written, we have a clear image of what he is showing us.’s sunny Prestatyn’ is similar to the poem above as it has much crude language. This poem is about a poster which is advertising a resort. However, as the time passes by, the advertisement begins to die slowly. Throughout the first stanza, the advertisement is explained to us. The adjectives used to explain the girl give a greater image for others.
For example,” In tautened white satin. Behind her, a hunk of coast, a Hotel with palms.” This gives us an image of a girl wearing tight clothes in a sunny beach of paradise. In a way it is very exotic. The second stanza is where the crucial language enters. It explains that the advertisement has been on. Examples of crude language are the following: “Huge tits and a fissured crotch.”A tuberous cock and balls.” Here, Larkin accomplishes transferring the image he wished we would imagine.
In other words, he wants us to see that a perfect image is not reality. Nevertheless, in the last line of the last stanza, “Now Fight Cancer is there,” Larkin is showing us what reality really is. He is trying to transmit the image of reality to the readers by showing what we think it is however it is not, and what it actually is. In conclusion, as shown in his three poems, Larkin is very effective in showing or transmitting an image to the readers of the poem. He tends to do this because of his use of colloquial language, types of metaphors and alliterations.
