“It’s better than talking about ******* daffodils, this sir!”
Next, Please by Philip Larkin
Always too eager for the future, we
Pick up bad habits of expectancy.
Something is always approaching; every day
Till then we say,
Watching from a bluff the tiny, clear
Sparkling armada of promises draw near.
How slow they are! And how much time they waste,
Refusing to make haste!
Yet still they leave us holding wretched stalks
Of disappointment, for, though nothing balks
Each big approach, leaning with brasswork prinked,
Each rope distinct,
Flagged, and the figurehead wit golden tits
Arching our way, it never anchors; it’s
No sooner present than it turns to past.
Right to the last
We think each one will heave to and unload
All good into our lives, all we are owed
For waiting so devoutly and so long.
But we are wrong:
Only one ship is seeking us, a black-
Sailed unfamiliar, towing at her back
A huge and birdless silence. In her wake
No waters breed or break.
My students “love to hate” Larkin for his bleak view of life. They like the idea of getting their teeth into a poem and they find Larkin’s verse give them lots of material to argue with. Some poetry can appear bland and pedestrian but not Larkin’s. His pieces can slap you round the face and ask you outside for a fight!
I have put together this guide to show one way that...
