The Recurring Theme of Death in the Poetry of Philip Larkin. Essay

The Recurring Theme of Death in the Poetry of Philip Larkin.In reading the poetry of Philip Larkin for the first time, one isstruck by the characteristically dismal atmosphere that pervades most ofhis poems. The vast majority of his verse is devoted to what isgenerally taken to be negative aspects of life, such as loneliness anddejection, disappointments, loss, and the terrifying setting ofimpending death. Evidently, there are uplifting and humorous sides tohis work as well, but for certain reasons Larkin is invariablyidentified with a downhearted, pessimistic temper and quality of voice,conveying a constant sense of failure and of disappointment thatunderlies all the more specific emotions and reflections of individualpoems.Frequently, Larkin is just sad, and one is amazed then at the widerange of things and events, from money (Money I listen to moneysinging It is intensely sad. (198)), to a delayed plane(Autobiography at an Air-Station, where the person obviously hadhoped to lea ve originally sunset, but cannot, because his machine isseveral hours delayed. When he says I set So much on thisAssumption. Now its failed (78), this response would appear a littleoversensitive, did not the rubric indicate that something more is macrocosmdealt with here than just an afternoon at the airport), that candepress him.Larkin can be violently energetic as well, and so deep is hisembitterment at times that he believes himself to be maliciouslytricked out of something he had originally been entitled to - althoughhe is very vague about who or what it was that cheated him, or thenature of his initial hopes. An illustrative case in point is thetitle of his second substantial volume of verse, ... ...is no sense of human tie and interaction, orwant of it.For Larkin, a sense of loss seems to be inevitable as life goes on,and his fatalistic - and somewhat bewildering - contention is that thecourse of ones life is basically independent of ones actions.However, Larkin does not explicitly point the finger at one person,group or institution, although he comments on parents, society andlove as being flawed in other poems. Larkins message of his poetry,coupled with the recurring theme of death, is that things just happento be the way they are, without anyone particularly wanting them to beso - a conclusion that furthermore is very much in line with Larkinsfatalistic frame of mind.WORKS CITED1 Larkin history found on www.philiplarkin.com (Philip Larkin Society)2 Larkin, Philip. Collected Poems. London The Marvell Press, 1988.