|
1 2 3 [4] 5 6
Comment 21 of 51, added on May 25th, 2006 at 1:17 PM.
i do think that larkin creates a persona in "this be the verse" and almost mocks it; to say he is going to far, i think, is the point although larkin never had kids himself i still believe this to be a comical personal that larkin aims to mock and so the poem should not be taken too literally.
jenny from United Kingdom
Comment 20 of 51, added on May 15th, 2006 at 12:12 PM.
I relish the double-entendre of the first line most. Not only do your parents "fuck you up" figuratively, as most would construe it. They also "fuck you up" literally as well, so long as you are not conceived with the aid of reproductive techonologies. This is one of the finest & most hilarious opening lines in poetry.
Jared from United States
Comment 19 of 51, added on May 13th, 2006 at 10:41 AM.
This poem hits me deep. Both my parents have NPD, and my brother shot himself last year. Anyone who has had a Narcissistic parent can relate to this direct, blunt, wonderful piece of work.
As far as the closing advice, I think that's taking it a bit far. Once you recognize those parts of you that are "fucked up," you can recognize it and make efforts to not pass it on. It only flows through the generations if you live in denial (like most).
Paul from United States
Comment 18 of 51, added on May 8th, 2006 at 10:01 PM.
I'm just speechless at the number of people who think Larkin was treating his subject matter "farcically" in this poem, or feel called on to say his position is inaccurately depressing. Have they read the paper recently? Human nature is so loath to examine itself that most parents do a crackerjack job of fucking up their young. Anyone who looks straight at the misery humanity manufactures for itself on a daily basis would have to admit it, and further admit that bringing more people into the world is an act of self-indulgent cruelty.
It's been pointed out in a couple of studies that "depressive" people have a more accurate appraisal of reality than so-called healthy individuals. Some people can't tolerate that thought. I'd say Larkin was impatient with self-delusion: this poem reads almost as an appeal to the young, while they are still acutely aware of the way their parents "fuck them up," not to repeat the crime.
Kate from United States
Comment 17 of 51, added on May 8th, 2006 at 2:17 PM.
i am studying larkin for AS eng lit and 'this be the verse' was the first of larkin's poems we (as a class) read and the only poem with which i feel i can personally relate to. most of the time Larkin just seems to me like a grumpy old man that has a fear of old age and death and insists on enforcing his pessimistic views on life through poetry (with the exception of one line in 'the old fools' where he says 'to bring to bloom the million-petalled flower of being here). However much of what is said in 'this be the verse' is very true, all parents do to a certain degree fuck up their kids (i dont know about then passing this onto the next generation because i, myself do not have children) but i hope this isn't neccessarily true as i hope to have children in the future and don't want to fuck them up.
E from United Kingdom
Comment 16 of 51, added on April 26th, 2006 at 11:47 PM.
i can totally relate to this poem. i think my parents have been fucked up by their own parents, and they as well fucked me up. and i plan not to marry or have children because of that reason when i grow up. cuz i don't wanna fuck my own kids.
Billie from United States
Comment 15 of 51, added on April 14th, 2006 at 12:11 PM.
i agree with bryan - if you take larkin at face value, "It deepens like a coastal shelf" implies that misery is compounded as the generations progress, which is comically over the top in its grand poetic darkness. i think this poem is light-hearted all the way through, while acknowledging how mum and dad fuck u up.
benjoya from United States
Comment 14 of 51, added on March 28th, 2006 at 3:19 PM.
this poem is funny because it uses fuck in it
lisa from United States
Comment 13 of 51, added on November 23rd, 2005 at 12:41 PM.
I don't feel too terribly much like elaborating, but I couldn't help but smile while reading the last 2 lines aloud. I don't think Larkin thought he was saying anything new or exciting by saying we all fuck with each other, especially in family situations, it's been said countless times before. I think he was, instead, saying "man, we're goofy. But what 're ya' gonna do: shit happens."
The first two stanzas remain fairly light and almost nonchalant - i took the use of "fuck" more like some old guy who drops it casually than dark and monstrous. He definitely mocks the somewhat juvenile, angsty sentiments literally expressed by treating it in so stereotypical a manner, turning the common phrases and structures of the relationship described into little jokes about it. Of course, he has to ackknowledge that it has merit beyond adolescent whining, and the first two lines of the last stanza are certainly dark and serious. He very much acknowledges a validity and hopelessness in it all.
However - i guess this is where i differ from most of you it seems - i saw another mood shift in the last two lines, one going back beyond adolescent musings to childish simplicity. I really can't really see the last lines as sounding dark, they sound playful. Through the exceptional simplicity and starkness (a two line answer of simple words to answer the previous 10) of what he says, he invalidates it as the ultimate answer for everyone.
this is why I see the poem more as something fairly comical and very satirical of our whole situation. While we all want to complain and about how much the world sucks, we (as the many of the people posting here illustrate) can't except these simple little solutions, like just not having kids, because somehow, we love the shittiness of the world around us, it nourishes us like a parent nourishes a child. He doesn't suggest that we are propogating our own distruction and that the clock is ticking (as you'll notice the shorelines, even those made of shitty realtions, grow endlessly), he merely makes us look silly. He proposes no solutions, he simply asks us to evaluate the human experience and acknowledge it's flaws, and even to a degree love them.
bryan from United States
Comment 12 of 51, added on November 12th, 2005 at 2:58 PM.
The poem is sardonic and resigned. Every son and every dad will know the underlying sentiments to be true. Parents can't help but pass on themselves to their children, and children fully realise that only when they themselves mature. All children both resent and feel inadequate when compared to their parents, hence the "here's some extra" line. This poem only sank with me when I had children! Larkin never had children, but there you go.
Steve from United Kingdom
This poem has been commented on more than 10 times. Click below to see the other comments.
1 2 3 [4] 5 6
|
i do think that larkin creates a persona in "this be the verse" and almost mocks it; to say he is going to far, i think, is the point although larkin never had kids himself i still believe this to be a comical personal that larkin aims to mock and so the poem should not be taken too literally.
jenny from United Kingdom