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Comment 15 of 15, added on December 11th, 2008 at 8:26 AM.
you'll have to excuse us but we have lives and have been using your wonderful comments to help us do our analysis. love you xxx
P.S especially you Jenny C
Hayley, Hannah&Jay from United Kingdom
Comment 14 of 15, added on June 9th, 2006 at 5:32 AM.
There is an interesting reference to Philip Larkin's views on love in the film 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'. Unfortunately people tend to dwell on the Auden poem John Hannah reads at the funeral rather than the director's, Richard Curtis, interesting interpretation of Larkin's intended meaning in The Whitsun Weddings.
Just before Charles (Hugh Grant) fully realises his love for Carrie, Matthew (John Hannah) is shown wearing Philip Larking glasses which has not happened at all throughout the rest of film, nor does it happen again, giving his short speech authority. When Charles runs out after Carrie, proving his love for her, it begins to rain- '...an arrow-shower / Sent out of sight, somewhere becoming rain.'
I think that by watching this part of the film, it may help to give people who find it hard to make sense of this poem an interesting understanding of its meaning.
A moving film and a powerful poem.
Abel from United Kingdom
Comment 13 of 15, added on June 1st, 2006 at 7:04 AM.
I think it's also worth noting in the last stanza the passive: 'There we were aimed.' and other uses of the passive. I can't help but feel that there are connotations of a higher force compelling these actions, which is an interesting enough notion in itself when we're discussing Larkin's poetics; especially if you take these in conjunction with poems like 'Ambulances' and 'Here', which, in my opinion seem very strongly linked with the nihilist and perhaps absurdist* mood of the time, which was recently coming to light.
* Branch of existential philosophy explored by Albert Camus in 'L'étranger', 1942.
Walker
Comment 12 of 15, added on April 28th, 2006 at 5:28 AM.
Stanza five relates to the fact that an attempt has been made to make the weddings special and something better than they are. This is shown by the bunting dressing up the plain yards. The weddings are cheap - shows larkins pessimism. As the couples leave on the train, they are fresh. This could emphasise the decay that Larkin suspects will eventually set in on their marriages. The zeugma of confetti and advice being thrown suggests that others think that they know better than the couples. The children staring at something dull shows that the wedding means nothing to them, they are bored and the fathers feel proud and yet do not understand what all of the fuss is about. In the 3rd stanza...sun destroys... is referring to the fact that the speaker can not see what is happening on the platform because he is being blinded by the sun. Hope this helps.
L.M from United Kingdom
Comment 11 of 15, added on April 19th, 2006 at 10:19 AM.
Hello, I read what you had all said and it really helped me, I must say that I was quite confused when I read the poem (and I still am, unfortunately)!! Is there a known reason for larkin's pessimistic view on weddings? If somebody could explain the 5th stanza (see below), I really would appreciate it.
Marked off the girls unreally from the rest.
Yes, from cafés
And banquet-halls up yards, and bunting-dressed
Coach-party annexes, the wedding-days
Were coming to an end. All down the line
Fresh couples climbed aboard: the rest stood round;
The last confetti and advice were thrown,
And, as we moved, each face seemed to define
Just what it saw departing: children frowned
At something dull; fathers had never known
I don't understand either the meaning of "sun destroys / the interest of what's happening in the shade" (3rd stanza)..
Could somebody help me? Thank you very much!
Sarah.
sarah from United Kingdom
Comment 10 of 15, added on April 5th, 2006 at 7:51 AM.
we are being forced to study this against our will by an evil slave-driver with a cough *cough cough* our teacher is trying to convince us that larkin is not boring.
dan fawcett
Comment 9 of 15, added on April 1st, 2006 at 1:00 PM.
This is one of my favourite modern poems (generally I'm more of a nineteenth century poetry person!) I think "the last confetti and advice were thrown" is one of the neatest and most evocative examples of syllepsis I've ever come across. I also love the lines: "and none
Thought of the others they would never meet
Or how their lives would all contain this hour" because it's very simple on the face of it and yet it stays with you and you can spend an awfully long time mulling over this idea!
Kathryn from United Kingdom
Comment 8 of 15, added on March 17th, 2006 at 3:08 PM.
My father first intorduced me to this poem a few years' ago. After he had read it to me he wept at the desolation of its images. Larkin was not one of life's optimists....
Guy from Germany
Comment 7 of 15, added on November 17th, 2005 at 5:09 AM.
hey i like the poem so does jack slinglesby lol we r doing an essay in english on it n its abit challenging!! bye xx
Leanne from United Kingdom
Comment 6 of 15, added on October 29th, 2005 at 3:24 AM.
Dear everyone,
I am teaching this poem in India for MA class and these are some of my observations:
That Larkin's Poetics derives itself from a curious perspective towards looking at things in a negative manner. Yet realism calls for observing the positive side as well and thus the compounding and contrasts used in his poetry.
As far as the Whitsun Weddings go: the third stanza from last, depicts Larkin's perceptive perspective, he views the marriage in a strange paradox of funeral happiness and religious wounding. The contrast catches the exact moment of the couples' faces, amplifying the effect of the image. We can compare this technique to the cinematic technique of zooming in, which amplifies the effect of whatever is being shown.
Hrishikesh from India
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you'll have to excuse us but we have lives and have been using your wonderful comments to help us do our analysis. love you xxx
P.S especially you Jenny C
Hayley, Hannah&Jay from United Kingdom