Philip Larkin- The Whitsun Weddings collection summary

Descrição

Edexcel English Language and Literature AS Level: Philip Larkin's 'The Whitsun Weddings'- poem summaries. This mind map includes 20 out of the 32 poems in the collection. These are the main poems I studied for AS Level, although this resource doesn't include the further A Level poems. There is also no analysis in this mind map; it is just summaries of each poem.
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Resumo de Recurso

Philip Larkin- The Whitsun Weddings collection summary
  1. The Importance of Elsewhere
    1. The speaker muses on the feeling of being a stranger in a foreign place as helping define his identity in a way he actually craves: paradoxically, he only feels at home, elsewhere.
    2. Here
      1. This poem- in almost one unbroken sentence- traces the speaker's train journey from country- town, town-country, observing the fleeting images of life and nature. When we finally reach the unnamed 'here', the loneliness and absence described actually seem to be the states sought by the traveller. In this space of 'unfenced existence' along with other hidden and unseen things, the speaker and his art can blossom.
      2. Self's the Man
        1. A wry and humourous jibe at 'Arnold' and his demanding family, taking the role of a condescending observer, the speaker denigrates the marriage of the hapless Arnold. However, by stanza 7, the poem becomes less resolute in its position of the horrors to be found in marriage: the speaker reflects and ponders if Arnold is in fact 'less selfish' or, if selfishness drives both men. The final lines seems to suggest that although chosen, loneliness could equally drive a person mad.
        2. Reference Back
          1. This poem is based on Larkin's mother. After his father died, he would regularly visit her, but the poem shows the speaker received little pleasure from the experience. She attempts to communicate with him via music, but the poem is about the disconnection between the son and mother, young and old, and the inevitability of change in their relationship
          2. Home is So Sad
            1. This short, poignant poem is a statement on what happens not only after children grow up and leave their family home, but also when home comes to represent not fond nostalgia, but instead pain and regret at a happiness that is never fully realised. It appears to be a comment on the failure of family to live up to expectations.
            2. Nothing to be Said
              1. The speaker reflects on the inevitability of death; inescapable, traumatic and rendering much of life seemingly futile
              2. Broadcast
                1. As close as Larkin gets to a love poem; the speaker is listening to a broadcast of a concert, yet is desperate to pick out his lover within the distracting noise. In a world of discordant chaos, she stands for beauty and purity.
                2. MCMXIV
                  1. 1914- beginning with the image of men waiting in line at the recruiting office to join up, the speaker muses on the coming end to the innocence of both them, Britain and Europe more widely due to the horrors of WW1.
                  2. Mr Bleaney
                    1. The speaker imagines the former occupant of the room he is renting- marvels in his small and mundane existence. However, he then reflects that perhaps his life is not much different.
                    2. The Whitsun Weddings
                      1. A train journey to London on Whitsun: a bank holiday on which the government suspended marriage taxes. The poem on a surface level is a description of the experiences of that day- his description of physical appearances of those couples and their relatives is full of mockery. But towards the end of the poem, the poet realises the importance of marriage- it brings new life, and so, in a sense, is a way of cheating death.
                      2. Take One Home for the Kiddies
                        1. The speaker imagines the cruelty we inflict on animals in a pet store and as such serves as a critique on consumerism: the children's pleading for a 'living toy' is juxtaposed by the seemingly casual sadism as the pet dies
                        2. Talking in Bed
                          1. The speaker muses on the fact that at this moment of intimacy- in bed with a lover- communication should be at its simplest: yet, his anxiety and discomfort at the intimacy means he lies in silence to avoid dishonesty or cruelty
                          2. Sunny Prestatyn
                            1. A poster of a girl is described then we see her defaced: the metaphor serves as a comment on the fictionalised world of advertising and how the imagery it presents is in antithesis to the reality of working class poverty. This disparity provokes aggression.
                            2. First Sight
                              1. A hopeful poem in which lambs are used as a symbol of the seasonal change from winter to spring, death to life
                              2. As Bad a A Mile
                                1. This short poem takes the simple failure to throw an apple core in a bin as a metaphor for failure generally and reflects on the moment of potential- the unbitten apple- before failure taints and cripples the psyche.
                                2. Toads Revisited
                                  1. The speaker observes the unemployed walking around the park- his acerbic tone leaves no doubt that he looks down on these people 'too stupid or weak' to work. The speaker himself relishes not only the authority and status that work provides, but also the distraction it affords him from the crippling awareness of his own mortality
                                  2. Afternoons
                                    1. The speaker observes young mothers in the park and reflects on what he deems their disconnection from their own lives due to the mundane routine of kids, husbands and domestic work
                                    2. Essential Beauty
                                      1. Building on the themes in Sunny Prestatyn, here a deluge of advertising is used to counterpoint the reality of people's lives and comment on the fact that the adverts are not only unrealistic,but damaging in their false promises.
                                      2. A Study of Reading Habits
                                        1. The speaker's absorption in childish fantasy fiction at first provides him with the shield to attempt to cope with the trauma of bullies and school. As the poem progresses so does the speaker's reading habits. Absorbed now in gothic fiction, his fantastical assertions about his sexual prowess become amusingly surreal. However, his eventual disappointment in the escapism that literature can provide results in his dismissal of books in favour of alcohol to numb his despondency
                                        2. Wild Oats
                                          1. Ironically titled, the speaker comments on two girls he knew in the past: although attracted to one, his paranoia and anxiety meant he felt she was 'above' him so he dates her friend. His apparent disregard for the 'girl in specs',despite an engagement, is compounded by the fact that he still- perhaps voyeuristically, perhaps hopefully- carries pictures of her friend.

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