English Literature: 4 Larkin poem analysis from The Whitsun Weddings.

Larkin's poetry cynically portrays a society in which the proletariat "are deluding themselves" rather than presenting a hopeful picture of a society where "they [go] beyond the limits which society sets for them" To what extent do you agree with this statement?

 

Philip Larkin wrote the collection Whitsun Weddings in 196, it includes two train poems, which are ‘Here’ and ‘The Whitsun Weddings’, following on from the Second World War Larkin describes the beautiful country landscape, but in ‘Here’ he makes the landscape more unpleasant. The persona’s that Larkin adopts in his poems use cognitive reappraisal and he always focuses on what is happening in the background instead of the obvious plot of the poem. In the 1960’s society there was class divide between the bourgeoisie and proletariats. The bourgeoisie exploit the proletariats by the means of production because the bourgeoisie get all the money and wealth as the proletariats exerted themselves and gain no capital.

Larkin cynically portrays the proletariats as ‘deluding themselves’ in the one of the poems ‘Here’; this isn’t as well-known as his other poems from his collection. But the title suggests immediacy, excitement and mystery for the audience to be interested and wonder what the poem is about, as Larkin’s poems he does this to exert mystery to the reader.  ‘Here’ is about one of his train journeys , this is shown when he describes what he can see, the landscape is constantly in motion which shows he is moving, he says ‘thin and thistle to be called meadows’ Larkin uses alliteration in order to create the sound of ‘thi’ which represents the harshness and speed that the train is going. He them mentions the ‘workmen at dawn’ this is the proletariats and how they are also working, just like Larkin’s other poem ‘The Large Cool Store’ the workers are gone by dawn, earning a living. The proletariats are constantly being exploited by the bourgeoisie as they just gain more capital and hegemony domination over the proletariats as they work more to survive from the increase of wealth that the bourgeoisie have, as in the 1960’s the poverty levels were very high and there was no minimum wage so the proletariats were working for nothing. Also, like in the cool store poem the proletariats have desires of the basic that they class as luxuries but the bourgeoisie have these as necessities. More similarities between this poem and the cool store is the ‘cut-price’ and ‘simple’ just like the ‘cheap’ and ‘plain’ items within the landscape or store that the proletariats can only afford and want. The structure of the poem like the ‘Large Cool Store’ is a large sentence that uses lots of caesuras and some enjambments, and when he is describing the landscape he uses lexis and syntax to show that so much is going on.

The second poem ‘The Whitsun Weddings’ is the other poem from the collection that focuses on a train journey. Larkin takes on the persona of someone who is unaware of the religious implications. In the first line Larkin says ‘I was late getting away’ the pace slows of the poem which represents the late departure of the train. Larkin s persona had never heard the sound of wedding bells, so he creates an augmented feel of excitement when he heard them. As the poem goes through Larkin describes the journey as ‘A slow and stopping curve southwards we kept.’ Larkin uses this to create the ‘sh’ sound as this is the sound of the train in motion; this is sibilance as the alliteration was there to create a sound. When Larkin says ‘free at last’ this is ambiguous as it could represent the proletariats and how they are in hierarchy as they will never be free from the vicious cycle of the superstructure and the base. The proletariats are in a false consciousness as they don’t question their lack of freedom or do anything to change their place, in a strike for communism which Karl Marx longed for as he believed in time it would eventually happen.  Just like the cool store poem Larkin describes all the colours such as ‘lemons, mauves, and olive-ochers’ this was to describe the fabrics nylon which is man made by the proletariats. This shows the working class working in factories and the clothes they produce which is then just sold back to them for a large economic profit from the bourgeoisie and the gaining in their cultural capital as a result.

The final poem is ‘Mr Bleaney’ and Larkin gives the impression that he is dead   He died in his room, I can infer this by the description of the ‘tussocky’ which is overgrown grass  and it hasn’t been taken care of as he hasn’t be there to do it. Mr Bleaney seemed to not have control of his life and moved from different box rooms which he lived in as he was utilitarian, this could have been a result of him not working and becoming poor as a result. Larkin dropped clues that inferred that Mr Bleaney had a gambling habit as he says ‘I know his habits… plugging at the four aways’ he could have once been a Bourgeoisie, but this shows that now it was so easy to lose everything  as a result of gambling. Larkin also uses a lot of colloquial language such as ‘stub my fags’ and ‘jabbering’ this could indicate the social status of what Mr Bleaney was. Larkin shows evidence that he looks down on the working class, but at the end he reflects on his own life and realises that his life is similar. This is similar to the cool store poem as it explores the marginalisation and alienation of the proletariats as they are constantly exploited through the means of production.