Comment 1 of 1, added on March 30th, 2005 at 11:26 AM.
Paul Tereszczak
Wild Oats Philip Larkin
“Wild Oats” is a short poem by Philip Larkin which is principally about failed love. There are actually two loves, one unspoken, and one unsuccessful, also there is a period of 20 years, humour, pathos, and irony. The poem takes the form of a short story in which the persona recalls the meeting of two girls, one of whom is strikingly beautiful, one of whom is less so. He manages to have a long term relationship with the less desirable one which ultimately fails, probably because he always hankered after the mammillary delights of the prettier one, and still does.
The title of the poem is deliberately misleading so as to be ironic, “This expression alludes to sowing inferior wild oats instead of good cultivated grain, the verb sowing-that is, ‘planting seed’-in particular suggesting sexual promiscuity. (Mid 1500s)” (Ammer) The poem is actually a lament to the fact that there are no “wild Oats” sown in this tale. The tone of the piece is, therefore quite sombre as the persona reflects on his experience.
The poem consists of three, eight line stanzas and each stanza describes a distinct stage in the story. There is very little in the way of sound effects to hold the poem together, only the bare minimum of rhyme is used and there is no regular metre. Rhyme, when it appears is at the end of alternate lines and is subtle such as, “ago” and “rose” or, “snaps” and “perhaps.” There is no alliteration, no simile, just everyday speech. The result is a conversational piece which comes across as very intimate and personal, almost confessional in style.
In the first stanza, the fact that the poem is a reflection on past events is established in the first line “About twenty years ago” a time scale which gives a clue about the maturity of the speaker. Then we are introduced to the two girls with the only metaphor in the poem which is repeated later, his admiration of this girl is thus established; “Bosomy English rose.” The “friend in specs” is tagged on almost as an afterthought, even though it is her that he has a relationship with. The line, “Faces in those days sparked the whole shooting match off” refers to the fact that these events happened in a more innocent era than that in which the verse is actually written. It also alludes to the events that follow, “shooting match” meaning “The whole of something, including everything that is connected with it” (Cambridge) In other words, if “Bosomy English rose” had not been present, he would have never embarked on the futile seven year relationship. The enjambment at lines six to seven serves to emphasize this and even seems to hint resentment at the trouble her beautiful face has unintentionally caused him.
“And I doubt
If ever one had like hers;”
The second stanza records the drawn out relationship with the “friend in specs” Four hundred letters is more than one a week over seven years, and a “ten guinea ring” could only be an engagement ring. This has the appearance of a serious relationship, but there is no marriage, their meetings are “unknown to the clergy” and his ring is returned. During this time he “meets beautiful twice” and feels that she finds him ridiculous. Again the use of enjambment at lines fifteen to sixteen emphasize the hurt caused by “Bosomy rose.”
“She was trying
Both times (so I thought) not to laugh”
The final stanza deals firstly with the acrimonious break up with the second choice. “Five rehearsals” is a concise but telling way of describing the untidy end to this doomed relationship, a turn of phrase which leaves much to the imagination but isn’t hard to picture. He admits his failings and sweeps what must have been a major portion of his life’s experience to one side with the poignant line, “Well, useful to get that learnt.” The irony emphasizes his bitterness at the whole, useless episode. The last three lines refer to “bosomy rose” whose photographs he has presumably carried about in his wallet for twenty years. The “snaps” show her “with fur gloves on”; her hand denied him even in a photograph, as this most effective of insulation freezes him out. The last line, “Unlucky charms, perhaps” is a frank admission that longing for what he could never own has been the reason for his failure in love.
The poem works on many levels as there is much that one can relate to, especially if you are also able to reflect on twenty years of adult experience. My personal reaction to this poem was to find it funny in the first instance, but on closer scrutiny, I felt ashamed of myself for laughing at the heartfelt outpourings of the poet and his poor track record in the romance department. I have since learnt a little about Philip Larkin and have discovered that, in fact he was very much, a successful ladies’ man and it is not likely that he is telling this story purely out of personal experience, if at all. In truth, we will probably never know because he ordered the destruction of his personal correspondence and papers after his death but this is why I have referred to the “persona” rather than the poet in this essay. Although there is much more than humour in this verse, I now feel justified in returning to my original reaction to it and enjoy the rather dry but well written joke that it is.
Any comments? TER18.B4@bostoncollege.ac.uk
Ammer, Christine, The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, 1997, Houghton Mifflin Company, USA.
Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms, 2004, Cambridge University Press.
Paul Tereszczak from
United Kingdom
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Paul Tereszczak
Wild Oats Philip Larkin
“Wild Oats” is a short poem by Philip Larkin which is principally about failed love. There are actually two loves, one unspoken, and one unsuccessful, also there is a period of 20 years, humour, pathos, and irony. The poem takes the form of a short story in which the persona recalls the meeting of two girls, one of whom is strikingly beautiful, one of whom is less so. He manages to have a long term relationship with the less desirable one which ultimately fails, probably because he always hankered after the mammillary delights of the prettier one, and still does.
The title of the poem is deliberately misleading so as to be ironic, “This expression alludes to sowing inferior wild oats instead of good cultivated grain, the verb sowing-that is, ‘planting seed’-in particular suggesting sexual promiscuity. (Mid 1500s)” (Ammer) The poem is actually a lament to the fact that there are no “wild Oats” sown in this tale. The tone of the piece is, therefore quite sombre as the persona reflects on his experience.
The poem consists of three, eight line stanzas and each stanza describes a distinct stage in the story. There is very little in the way of sound effects to hold the poem together, only the bare minimum of rhyme is used and there is no regular metre. Rhyme, when it appears is at the end of alternate lines and is subtle such as, “ago” and “rose” or, “snaps” and “perhaps.” There is no alliteration, no simile, just everyday speech. The result is a conversational piece which comes across as very intimate and personal, almost confessional in style.
In the first stanza, the fact that the poem is a reflection on past events is established in the first line “About twenty years ago” a time scale which gives a clue about the maturity of the speaker. Then we are introduced to the two girls with the only metaphor in the poem which is repeated later, his admiration of this girl is thus established; “Bosomy English rose.” The “friend in specs” is tagged on almost as an afterthought, even though it is her that he has a relationship with. The line, “Faces in those days sparked the whole shooting match off” refers to the fact that these events happened in a more innocent era than that in which the verse is actually written. It also alludes to the events that follow, “shooting match” meaning “The whole of something, including everything that is connected with it” (Cambridge) In other words, if “Bosomy English rose” had not been present, he would have never embarked on the futile seven year relationship. The enjambment at lines six to seven serves to emphasize this and even seems to hint resentment at the trouble her beautiful face has unintentionally caused him.
“And I doubt
If ever one had like hers;”
The second stanza records the drawn out relationship with the “friend in specs” Four hundred letters is more than one a week over seven years, and a “ten guinea ring” could only be an engagement ring. This has the appearance of a serious relationship, but there is no marriage, their meetings are “unknown to the clergy” and his ring is returned. During this time he “meets beautiful twice” and feels that she finds him ridiculous. Again the use of enjambment at lines fifteen to sixteen emphasize the hurt caused by “Bosomy rose.”
“She was trying
Both times (so I thought) not to laugh”
The final stanza deals firstly with the acrimonious break up with the second choice. “Five rehearsals” is a concise but telling way of describing the untidy end to this doomed relationship, a turn of phrase which leaves much to the imagination but isn’t hard to picture. He admits his failings and sweeps what must have been a major portion of his life’s experience to one side with the poignant line, “Well, useful to get that learnt.” The irony emphasizes his bitterness at the whole, useless episode. The last three lines refer to “bosomy rose” whose photographs he has presumably carried about in his wallet for twenty years. The “snaps” show her “with fur gloves on”; her hand denied him even in a photograph, as this most effective of insulation freezes him out. The last line, “Unlucky charms, perhaps” is a frank admission that longing for what he could never own has been the reason for his failure in love.
The poem works on many levels as there is much that one can relate to, especially if you are also able to reflect on twenty years of adult experience. My personal reaction to this poem was to find it funny in the first instance, but on closer scrutiny, I felt ashamed of myself for laughing at the heartfelt outpourings of the poet and his poor track record in the romance department. I have since learnt a little about Philip Larkin and have discovered that, in fact he was very much, a successful ladies’ man and it is not likely that he is telling this story purely out of personal experience, if at all. In truth, we will probably never know because he ordered the destruction of his personal correspondence and papers after his death but this is why I have referred to the “persona” rather than the poet in this essay. Although there is much more than humour in this verse, I now feel justified in returning to my original reaction to it and enjoy the rather dry but well written joke that it is.
Any comments? TER18.B4@bostoncollege.ac.uk
Ammer, Christine, The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, 1997, Houghton Mifflin Company, USA.
Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms, 2004, Cambridge University Press.
Paul Tereszczak from United Kingdom