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Comment 12 of 32, added on November 19th, 2005 at 11:38 AM.
Surely the 'long slide' referred to is ambiguous. It sounds like a helter skelter, which is fun but normally a long slide is a slippery slope downwards - to hell, not paradise. Maybe this paradise is only an illusion.
chris from United Kingdom
Comment 11 of 32, added on November 16th, 2005 at 2:14 PM.
Another interpretation is that the last stanza is Larkin realising how irrelevant such matters such as the apparent immorality of the younger generations are in the grand scheme of things and also to God. The religious theme in the poem cannot be ignored. In the last line of the poem, it supports this: Nothing - God is not a physical presence. Nowhere - God is omnipresent and therefore is nowhere at any one time. Endless - God lasts forever. He always has been here and will always will be.
the dawg from United Kingdom
Comment 10 of 32, added on November 13th, 2005 at 5:04 PM.
My interpretation of the poem is that it’s about how every generation is freer than the previous one from the bonds of such things as religion, marriage, god and chivalry, as they become aware of how superficial all this is. The persona Larkin adopts is that of a member of an older generation who realises how his life has been suppressed by these things, and how the next generation are having a better time, being younger and freer from these bonds, creating their own rules. Here is my analogy of the poem:
The narrator’s train of thought about all this is triggered off by the sighting of two “kids”, who he suspects are having care-free pre-marital sex. He proclaims his jealousy of their freedom quite simply with the lines “I know this is paradise everyone old has dreamed of all their lives”.
He then goes on to make an interesting comparison of the bonds to “an outdated combine harvester”. Something that has processed and striped us but now is pushed aside, outdated.
The next thought that enters the narrators head is whether or not anyone observed him in the same light when he was the same age, at how he didn’t live in constant fear of hell and god, and of course the priest. The narrator imagines this observer from an older generation thinking that the narrator and his generation will “go down the long slide [life] like free bloody birds”.
Then the last part of the poem, the high windows section, is the narrator’s final reflection, making an analogy of his situation to that of someone stuck indoors looking longingly out at a clear blue sky. The “sun comprehending glass” is the narrator’s new found state of mind, his understanding of why the younger generation is better off. His state of mind to their situation is like the glass is to the sun/outdoors, understanding the other for what it is, for its true identity as a better place to be. And then beyond the glass, “the deep blue air, that shows nothing, and is nowhere, and is endless.” This is quite simply freedom, and that is what the narrator is looking longingly out on, that is where the younger generations are.
That was my personal interpretation of the poem, but it could also be seen to have a “grass is always greener on the other side” analogy, saying how all generations will feel like this in their old age as they approach death, and instead of regretting what happened during your life, you should look forward to the mystery of what happens when you die. This afterlife is “the deep blue air, that shows nothing, and is nowhere, and is endless.”
Joe from United Kingdom
Comment 9 of 32, added on November 12th, 2005 at 2:25 PM.
Bla, bla, bla. His flat had high windows. He looked through these windows, to look outside. To see what?--sky. Uncomprehending, meaningless, empty, blue sky. All is meaningless because we're going to die. Everything else is distraction from that point. The speaker realizes that--the only logical response is his--useless contemplation of the nothing out there.
D
Comment 8 of 32, added on October 31st, 2005 at 3:44 PM.
This poem is about the loss of faith and traditional values, and the realization that, for Larkin, there is nothing to replace it. He imagines how happy young people must feel not to be accountable to any moral authority. But the alternative is emptiness.
P. Corwin from United States
Comment 7 of 32, added on October 6th, 2005 at 12:47 PM.
Surely the high windows that Larkin writes of are representative of a place after death that humans are unable to reach, a paradise that humans cannot and will never reach because they are uncapable of living without sin and resisiting temptation. The almost surreal language in the last two lines of the last stanza poses the question that if humans are unable to reach this paradise (or whatever it may be), can such a place really exist? As how can this place truly exist if noone has been there and noone will?
Tom from United Kingdom
Comment 6 of 32, added on April 17th, 2005 at 11:30 AM.
The use of "High Windows" in the title could be Larkin exploring the idea of death and that "the deep blue air" that shows "nothing" and is "endless" is heaven linking in with the church ideas below
fes from United Kingdom
Comment 5 of 32, added on March 28th, 2005 at 10:02 AM.
what is this poem abt? similar to common larkin themes, i think this is centred around larkin's struggle with faith as he continues to seek for an answer but never able to find something satisfactory.
it is weird for the narrator to view 'paradise' as something as described. shouldn't paradise be a perfect place as what most people believed? a coarse word is used here as well, perhaps mocking at the common perception of paradise that it is something so 'holy', 'saintly' and perfect. pills and birth control methods, all these are supposedly contrary to the catholic beliefs. yet, he views this as paradise. what does he exactly think paradise is? Is paradise a true portrayal of human nature rather than a conjured perfection to console oneself?
moving on, 'everyone young going down the long slide
To happiness,'. what is this long slide to happiness? young here perhaps does not refer to people young of age, but rather people who are new to the faith. these young believers, charged with hope and excitement, are in fact all 'going down' in search for 'happiness'. instead of finding true happiness as the faith promises, the narrator felt that it is a blatant lie. he probably even felt that it is a degradation of one's mind to commit oneself to faith.
the narrator looks back at himself where he was one of those young souls seeking God and rather cynically conclude that all would 'go down the slide' like 'free bloody birds'. the use of strong language here again suggests a mocking tone, indicating that they are not really being set free, but only a deception.
'Rather than words', perhaps rather than reading the Bible to search for answers, the narrator chose to think of 'high windows'. i could not figure out the significance of the 'high windows'. could it refer to an avenue where he can eventually find a release? this avenue to him still 'shows
Nothing, and is nowhere, and is endless.' The narrator ended up, feeling lost and unable to receive any sense of direction.
It seems that the more the narrator seek to find the Truth, the more disillusioned he gets. Perhaps that sums up Larkin's mood in his various attempts to find an answer.
cata from Singapore
Comment 4 of 32, added on March 22nd, 2005 at 3:59 PM.
Foehn is right. But so is Ed, and so is mc ryle. Poetry is about communication and contemplation. Everyone must take their own personal views away from a poem in order for it to succeed. The only way for a poem to truly fail is for it to not inspire any thoughts, whatever they may be.
That being said, poetry can still be misunderstood. Often, it is misunderstood. In this particular poem, foehn is probably more in line with the author's thoughts. There is a definite change in tone in the last stanza that does give the poem a sense of hope, albeit, a weak one. The high windows do resemble church windows and I believe that Larkin is actually qouted as saying church windows are the windows he was refering to.
As for the infinite blue space, this must be compared to the uncertainity prevalent in several of Larkin's poems concerning religion, Church Going for one. In Larkin's poems, religion and God are often depicted as ungraspable senses of companionship that sometimes actually make him more lonely than before contemplating them. But this does not mean the NARRATORS in his poems are atheist. In fact, a better way to look at it, is to realize the contemplation of religion in itself is hope, beleif. Larkin's poems usually include a disdainful tone toward the lack of truth and lack of care in the world. But in his "better" poems, there is usually an altuistic want to supercede the percieved worldly quagmire in search of true companionship. Most of the time the poem searches for this in religion. The catch is that religion is not tangible to the narrator and is often hard to find, leaving the narrator meekly hoping but largely uncertain.
Basically, High Windows, and several of Larkin's other poems, attack the same doubts that most believers in religion face: "How do I know that in a world where so many other things are involved that my beliefs are supremely correct?" This poem is doubting definitly, but most people doubt at some point. To declare this poem as simple cynicism is a great injustice to teh author and the poem's depth.
David from United States
Comment 3 of 32, added on March 1st, 2005 at 12:54 PM.
he is psycho-y cant he write a coherant sentence! wot a fool!
mc ryle from United Kingdom
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Surely the 'long slide' referred to is ambiguous. It sounds like a helter skelter, which is fun but normally a long slide is a slippery slope downwards - to hell, not paradise. Maybe this paradise is only an illusion.
chris from United Kingdom