A Practical Criticism on 'Here' by Phillip Larkin
‘Here’ was published in 1964 as part of a collection of poems
collectively titled ‘The Whitsun Weddings’. It explores the feelings
and judgements towards a location and the falsity of the modern
industrial culture as it consumes traditional life. The poem describes
the mixed judgements of the narrator as he passes through the town on
a train journey, as well as concomitantly examining the features of a
emblematic reversed journey from ‘industrial’ restraints to ‘unfenced
existence’
The first stanza opens with the word ‘swerving’ which is repeated
twice more in the same verse, suggesting that the train is trying to
avoid something, such as the irrevocable destruction of the
surrounding nature. This theory is supported by the description of the
‘thin and thistled’ fields; they are no longer flourishing as their
well-being is not the priority. This reflects the condition of society
as elderly people are often neglected due to the increasing
concentration on modernism.
The first line describes the effect that the industrial revolution has
had on society with its ‘rich industrial shadows’. The adjective
‘rich’ offers images of wealth and prosperity which would be a result
of the industrial advancement of the town. However this positivism is
withdrawn with the noun ‘shadows’ placed in juxtaposition, which
pragmatically suggests that the light is being blocked out and
therefore, personified as a living organism, the town cannot grow and
flourish.
The effect of nature on life is mirrored in the movement of the
‘widening river’s slow presence’. The river gives an impression of
...
... middle of paper ...
...t is furthered with the derogatory description of their
appearance ‘Cheap suits…sharp shoes’. The mention of ‘red
kitchen-ware’ shows the cultural context of the poem as plastic
brightly coloured equipment was popular at the time the poem was
published.
However he seems to understand that the people are merely a by-product
of their surroundings. He understands that the people come from ‘raw
estates’; this suggests that they have the potential for success but
lack the means.
In conclusion the poem ‘Here’ is about the initial judgements which
are immediately made when the narrator views the town, and the gradual
acknowledgement of the possibilities which lie underneath the
overriding hardship. Furthermore there is also a message of the
development of the world from the traditional ways to new modern
concepts.
Foulcher’s Summer Rain represents a juxtaposed view of suburbia towards the natural environment throughout his poem, as he explains societies daily repetitive tasks. This idea is expressed through Foulcher’s use of simile, in the stanza “steam rising from ovens and showers like mist across a swampland.” This simile makes the comparison between average tasks completed in the urban world, such as cooking or showering to a natural situation such as a swampland, creating a feeling of bother and discomfort for the readers, as swamplands are generally humid, insect ridden and muddy. This effectively makes the readers feel this way, not of the swamplands that are compared, but of the tasks in the home that are conveyed. Similarly, Foulcher uses simile in “clutter on the highway like abacus beads. No one dares overtake,” to illustrate the lack of free will in society as abacus beads are on a set path, there is no freedom or individuality. This demonstrates how where everything is busy and cramped, there is no room in society to notice the small simplistic divinities in the natural world around them. The complexity and mundanity of society causes the simplistic beauties of nature to be
In the first section Skrzynecki suggests that the physical journey is both literally and metaphorically away from Europe and the tragedy of war and represents the undertakers’ changing perspective. The introductory stanza of the first section immediately describes the undertaking of the physical journey which the poet implies is an escape but the voyage is described in an ambivalent tone. The adjective many denotes the fact that there was a whole mass of the immigrants and heat implies that the discomforting and cramped situation of the migrants wasn’t pleasant. Never see again emphasises the fact that these people are migrating and will never return to their homeland. The migrants’ physical description Shirtless, in shorts and barefooted stresses the lack of their belongings as they’ve left everything behind and their milk-white skin implies that their skin colour isn’t right for their adopted country, Australia and depicts that they won’t be comfortable there. The second stanza’s description of the migrants with the imagery of shackles, sunken eyes, ’secrets and exiles portrays them in disgrace as if they are running away from their homeland. Their sunken eyes also conveys their hardship in suffering and the war’s adversity and the shackles further emphasises their oppression and their confinement. To look for shorelines implies their desire to purge their suffering and inner turmoil as they find some consolation and hope in starting a new life. The last word of the stanza exiles implicates their expulsion from their land in fact they actually chose to leave.
Symbolism in The Catcher in the Rye J. D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye", published in 1951, is his best piece of work. The story is about a sixteen-year-old young man by the name of Holden Caulfield. Holden is being expelled from Pency Prep and decides to leave three days early. He chooses not to go home, enabling his parents to receive the letter that his headmaster at Pency Prep wrote to his parents about his expulsion. He chooses to hang around in New York until Wednesday, when he is going to be able to return home.
Although this section is the easiest to read, it sets up the action and requires the most "reading between the lines" to follow along with the quick and meaningful happenings. Millay begins her poem by describing, in first person, the limitations of her world as a child. She links herself to these nature images and wonders about what the world is like beyond the islands and mountains. The initial language and writing style hint at a child-like theme used in this section. This device invites the reader to sit back and enjoy the poem without the pressure to understand complex words and structure.
The verse novel, ‘The Simple Gift’ explores how relationships and place can impact detrimentally on one’s identity and sense of belonging. Herrick uses Billy to highlight how social issues such as dysfunctional families can lead to isolation and loneliness. Using first person narrative, “I”, Herrick in the poem 'Sport' establishes the barriers to belonging. Herrick uses flashback and hyperbole “he came thundering out” to highlight detachment from home prompted by Billy’s abusive alcoholic father. Detailed repetition of “I was ten years old” intensifies the poignant loss of Billy’s innocence and his displacement from a childhood sanctuary. Consequently the poem ‘Longlands Road’, uses personified enjambment, “rocks that bounce and clatter and roll and protest”, to capture the image of an angry boy who is searching for a sense of belonging. Imagery created through vivid descriptive language, “rundown and beat / the grass unmown around the doors”, depicts the impoverishment and disrepair of “Nowheresville”. While Billy’s description of “Mrs Johnston’s mailbox on the ground...” expresses his contempt and frustration. Subsequently, the ramifications of Billy’s discontent, portrayed by the sarcastic statement “It’s the only time my school has come in ...
Thomas Paine once said “The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” Conflict is an obstacle that many characters in books go through. It is what drives the reader to continue reading and make the book enjoyable. Additionally, authors use symbolism to connect their novels to real life, personal experience, or even a life lesson. In “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee and “A Lesson Before Dying” by Ernest J. Gaines, both take place during a time where colored people were being looked down upon and not treated with the same rights as white people. However, both novels portray the conflict and symbolism many ways that are similar and different. Additionally, both of these novels have many similarities and differences that connect as well as differentiate them to one
Richard Wilbur's recent poem 'Mayflies' reminds us that the American Romantic tradition that Robert Frost most famously brought into the 20th century has made it safely into the 21st. Like many of Frost's short lyric poems, 'Mayflies' describes one person's encounter with an ordinary but easily overlooked piece of nature'in this case, a cloud of mayflies spotted in a 'sombre forest'(l.1) rising over 'unseen pools'(l.2),'made surprisingly attractive and meaningful by the speaker's special scrutiny of it. The ultimate attraction of Wilbur's mayflies would appear to be the meaning he finds in them. This seems to be an unremittingly positive poem, even as it glimpses the dark subjects of human isolation and mortality, perhaps especially as it glimpses these subjects. In this way the poem may recall that most persistent criticism of Wilbur's work, that it is too optimistic, too safe. The poet-critic Randall Jarrell, though an early admirer of Wilbur, once wrote that 'he obsessively sees, and shows, the bright underside of every dark thing'?something Frost was never accused of (Jarrell 332). Yet, when we examine the poem closely, and in particular the series of comparisons by which Wilbur elevates his mayflies into the realm of beauty and truth, the poem concedes something less ?bright? or felicitous about what it finally calls its 'joyful . . . task' of poetic perception and representation (l.23).
Living during the early nineteen hundreds was not easy for African American women. Women gained power through marriage, but they still were looked down upon and treated like slaves. In the story “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” Zora Neale Hurston uses diction, symbolism, and foreshadowing to reveal how Janie sought to discover her own identity marrying three different men who helped her discover her independence leading to the fact that women were poorly treated during this time period and deserved more respect than they received.
Everyone is always happy in the ‘50’s. With the picket fence, perfect family, fresh cut grass, it is no wonder why everyone wished they lived in the ‘50’s. In Ginsberg’s poem, Howl, pages cut through the fantasy to deliver us the background of this media-portrayed lifestyle. The communism, failed education system, and corruption of the government – a century filled with enough injustice to drive one into madness. Sharing the same perspective as Ginsberg, Howl illustrates the corruption in education and government that remains indifferent to the present time.
Edward Taylor’s poem “The Preface” consist of questions as to how the world was created. The purpose of this poem is to reveal God's sovereign authority over creation and life itself. No sooner do you understand one paradox that he changes to a different set that gets a little confusing. The need to understand the next set of metaphors and picture it and then to put all together to get the message that Taylor was trying to give.
In the novel “The Catcher in the Rye”, Holden is deals with one of the largest obstacles one would ever face in one’s lifetime. He must deal with the concept of development and the idea that he’s growing up, that he’s no longer a child and must accept maturity. This internal struggle is evident in multiple aspects of this novel, particularly highlighted when Holden visits the museum and the carousel at the conclusion of the novel.
“Death is like a flower growing in a patch of weeds. Even where there is bad/evil the end will be beautiful.” The simile I wrote means that every person is going to through a hard time in their life but no matter how hard or awful it is you will end in a beautiful place called Haven. While reading William Cullen Bryant’s poem I came to the conclusion that we have somewhat of the same views. In his poem he says, “unnoticed by the living—and no friend.” I believe that he was trying to have people comprehend that even if you are unnoticed and have no friends that doesn’t change where you’ll end up in life. Today people romanticize a large number of things one being models. People romanticize models by wanting to be them and look
In the beginning of the twentieth century, literature changed and focused on breaking away from the typical and predicate patterns of normal literature. Poets at this time took full advantage and stretched the idea of the mind’s conscience on how the world, mind, and language interact and contradict. Many authors, such as Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, and Twain, used the pain and anguish in first hand experiences to create and depict a new type of literature, modernism. In this time era, literature and art became a larger part of society and impacted more American lives than ever before. During the American modernism period of literature, authors, artists, and poets strived to create pieces of literature and art that challenged American traditions and tried to reinvent it, used new ways of communication, such as the telephone and cinema, to demonstrate the new modern social norms, and express the pain and suffering of the First World War.
Very few novels occur over a single day, with the notable exceptions of Ulysses by James Joyce, and Ian McEwan’s Saturday. When using this as a device, every detail of the story must serve a specific purpose, thematically or otherwise. An example might include using a character or event to represent a recurring theme. McEwan, in particular, enjoys exploring how the public affects the personal, as seen in his article “Beyond Belief”. Throughout, he constantly refers to his personal reaction; sitting “hungrily, ghoulishly” in front of the television “in a state of sickened wonderment” (“Beyond Belief”). In his novel Saturday, McEwan uses the squash game to highlight Henry’s aggressive nature, to demonstrate how public events influence our private
The ironic use of rhyme and meter, or the lack thereof, is one of the devices Larkin uses to emphasize his need to break out of industrial society. The typical rhyme scheme is not followed, but instead an ironic rhyme scheme is used in the sonnet in the form of abab cdcd efg efg. Larkin writes this poem as a sonnet but at the same time diverges from what a typical sonnet is supposed to be. He is commenting on society’s inclination to form restrictions on those within it. By writing out of the accepted form of a sonnet, his writing becomes more natural because of a lack of constraints due to following certain rules and fitting a certain form. He breaks free and writes as he pleases and does not conform to society. Just as with the rhyme, ...