Larkin as Love and pessimistic

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  • Created by: lw121x
  • Created on: 14-05-15 13:56
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  • Larkin's presentation of love reflects fundamentally pessimistic view of life
    • Intro: pessimistic view of love but also uniquely defends power, brutality. All poems failure. But knows human need for love.
      • paradoxical  alignment of love's untruth and its beauty allow larkin successfully write about failure to materialise lobe & humans need to love
    • Afternoons
      • Cycle of love
        • domestic life being like autumn myth promised romance whitsun weddings
        • inevitable decay of 'hollow' domestic life and routine.
        • 'summer fading' marriage expectations fade
      • Mundane reality of love
        • 'albums' climax youthful, romance is discarded in empty matter of meaningless marriage
        • honey moon phase over pun 'lying' = stillness + deceptive nature of love
      • Alternatively, Larkin's view of love is not without beauty
        • 'beauty thickened' by time more robust and dignified
    • An Arundel Tomb
      • stillness beautiful tomb survived over time = power of love
        • 'holding hands' supposed to symbolise love and devotion however carver done it as compassionate grace
      • undermines this inconclusive metaphor suggest emptiness of mankind's romantic notion that love can transcend time
        • stillness beautiful tomb survived over time = power of love
          • 'holding hands' supposed to symbolise love and devotion however carver done it as compassionate grace
        • 'blurred' = no meaningful definition. Faceless couple impersonality resilient to time - love victim of time
      • Beautiful portrayal of love alternatively
        • 'snow' 'summer' positive images = persistence of love
    • Whitsun Weddings
      • Lack of individuality + social expectation of love
        • social conformity cheapening it to 'wholly farcical'
        • 'new and nondescript' vulgar superficiality of celebrations
      • Alternatively anticipation for the future
        • 'swelled' = positive
    • Wild Oats
      • cynical views
        • ironic humour courting process
          • cheap love 'ten guniea ring' anti climax collapse ironic memory
        • fatasy and desire between women
    • Conclusion: despite focus on limiting domesticity in 'afternoons' the 'illusion' in 'wild oats' and the ultimate unability to endure love in 'whitsun' love is never an unambiguous subject.
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