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Philip Larkin - Love Songs In Age

She kept her songs, they kept so little space, 
  The covers pleased her: 
One bleached from lying in a sunny place, 
One marked in circles by a vase of water, 
One mended, when a tidy fit had seized her, 
  And coloured, by her daughter - 
So they had waited, till, in widowhood 
She found them, looking for something else, and stood 

Relearning how each frank submissive chord 
  Had ushered in 
Word after sprawling hyphenated word, 
And the unfailing sense of being young 
Spread out like a spring-woken tree, wherein 
  That hidden freshness sung, 
That certainty of time laid up in store 
As when she played them first. But, even more, 

The glare of that much-mentionned brilliance, love, 
  Broke out, to show 
Its bright incipience sailing above, 
Still promising to solve, and satisfy, 
And set unchangeably in order. So 
  To pile them back, to cry, 
Was hard, without lamely admitting how 
It had not done so then, and could not now.

Added: on May 11th, 2006 at 6:18 AM | Viewed: 6362 times | Comments (2)


Love Songs In Age - Comments and Information

Poet: Philip Larkin
Poem: Love Songs In Age
Volume: The Whitsun Weddings
Year: Published/Written in 1957

Comment 2 of 2, added on May 21st, 2006 at 11:30 AM.

Note how the structure is such that there are 3 sentences that gradually get shroter and shorter as if spiralling from a happy past to realisation of the harsh reality.

Phil J from United Kingdom
Comment 1 of 2, added on May 11th, 2006 at 6:18 AM.

I believe the theme of this poem is love. The love songs themselves are unassuming - 'they kept so little space' and they are 'submissive'. Like her perhaps, they show their age - 'bleached', 'marked in circles', 'mended'. These are old companions, but they have not kept their promise. What is this promise? Love was'Still promising to solve, and satisfy'. It has not yet done so and the lady who is the subject of the poem still finds it hard to admit that the promise was empty when she first heard it, and is now. 'It had not done so then, and could not now'. This leaves it 'hard' 'to cry', and so we are left with regret for the lady who cannot be honest with herself - and perhaps for these sweet songs too.

Sarah Collins from United Kingdom

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