Friday Night At The Royal Station Hotel - A poem by Philip Larkin

Philip Larkin - Friday Night At The Royal Station Hotel

Light spreads darkly downwards from the high
Clusters of lights over empty chairs
That face each other, coloured differently.
Through open doors, the dining-room declares
A larger loneliness of knives and glass
And silence laid like carpet. A porter reads
An unsold evening paper. Hours pass,
And all the salesmen have gone back to Leeds,
Leaving full ashtrays in the Conference Room.

In shoeless corridors, the lights burn. How
Isolated, like a fort, it is -
The headed paper, made for writing home
(If home existed) letters of exile: Now
Night comes on. Waves fold behind villages.

Added: on March 12th, 2006 at 5:22 PM | Viewed: 6238 times | Comments (11)

Friday Night At The Royal Station Hotel - Comments and Information
Poet: Philip Larkin Poem: Friday Night At The Royal Station Hotel Volume: High Windows Year: Published/Written in 1966 Poem of the Day on: Apr 9 2008 Comment 11 of 11, added on May 23rd, 2006 at 9:21 AM. the last line could symbolise what has been written on a 'letter of exile' by previous travellers who have stopped at 'The Royal Station Hotel' and travellers tend to note down things like waves, etc. Maybe? Let me know - e-mail me your thoughts?? xx Bekz from United Kingdom Comment 10 of 11, added on March 31st, 2006 at 6:00 AM. the last line to me carries the idea of loss of homeland, in the way it talks of night coming on, ths can be interpreted as the hardship faced by immigrants to the country. The word 'villages' makes me think of the villages wiped out by tsunamis and that made me think of immigrants. The way the hotel is presented, as dark, forboding maybe reflects the feelings of new arrivals to the country. It also kind of reminds me of limbo and the underworld. i dunno probably crap but hey. josh from United Kingdom Comment 9 of 11, added on March 12th, 2006 at 5:22 PM. the whole poem is onabout the loneliness and isolation of this hotel, the beginning line being an oxymoron showing us that even the light cant even brighten the place up. the significance of the knives and glass being the loneliness of them, we always assosciate knives with forks and glass with drinks, the lack of these necessary things again emphasises loneliness. the people are the life of this hotel when they leave so does the life. the lines in italics are in reference to the fact we have a beautiful sight of waves but they are situated behind the villages as if the beaury is hidden away, the beauty of this hotel isnt noticed as it has itself been left alone and isolated. k8e from United Kingdom More Comments >> Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, Friday Night At The Royal Station Hotel, has received 11 comments. Click here to read them, and perhaps post a comment of your own. Of course you can also always discuss poems by Philip Larkin with others on the Poetry Connection poetry forum!

Poem Info
Friday Night At The Royal Station Hotel Volume: High Windows Year: Published/Written in 1966 Last read: 2009-11-20 21:20:08 Poem of the Day on: Apr 9 2008 Viewed 6238 times. Added on March 12th, 2006 at 5:22 PM.

Larkin Info
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