Poetry Analysis: Philip Larkin’s “Whitsun Weddings” | Rukhaya M.K Poetry Analysis: Philip Larkin’s “Whitsun Weddings” November 30, 2014 / rukhaya / 1 Comment “It would be not too much to claim that it is one of the best poems written so far in this century,” says Galvin Ewart of Philip Larkin’s “Whitsun Weddings.” The poem reminds us of W.H.Auden’s “The Night Mail” passing through many locations. Whitsun is the seventh day after marriage. In the 1950s, British tax law made the Whitsun weekend a financially advantageous time to be married. Larkin, therefore, commercializes marriage as an institution here, by adopting the specific title. Philip Larkin describes his stopping-train journey through East Yorkshire from Paragon Station, Kingston upon Hull to Kings Cross, London on a hot and humid Whitsun Saturday afternoon in the late 1950s. Larkin through his simple, yet elegant style divulges the details of a commonplace journey into a beautiful poem.

The poem describes a train journey, and the poet occasionally stops at certain lines as though he is pausing at railway stations. Larkin’s intricate detailing of the scenes he sees, hold our attention right at the beginning: the backsides of houses with windows, fish-dock not seen, but felt through the senses, the confluence of two rivers that form the estuary of River Humber. The afternoon was a stiflingly humid one as the train shot past fields with grazing cattle, canal contaminated with industrial wastes, a glass house growing plants, the smell of the grass contrasted with the stale smell of the upholstery, dumped dismantled cars. etc. The poet contrasts natural scenic beauty with the ugliness of the pseudo-modern civilized world. The river’s level drifting breadth began, Where sky and Lincolnshire and water meet. Here the poet juxtaposes the earth, water and sky, and signal their meeting point-The author at the point, was himself above elemental thinking. Larkin, a librarian, immerses himself in reading as well. The poet focuses on the various bridal couples waving good bye to their friends and dodging fresh showers of confetti as they board the train.

He does this with his “piquant mixture of lyricism and discontent.” The observant bachelor-poet comprehends their feelings which they are too pre-occupied to do. His curiosity is struck as he watches the various people before him. With his typical misogynistic stance, he describes the women around him as parodies of fashion and as moving jewelry shops. He claims that the ‘wedding days’ was coming to an end. The initial excitement would die out and lose colour gradually. In the beginning, he uses”I”,; later he uses “we’ signifying the movement of the individual to the universal. The poet juxtaposes his social isolation in the train, as well as in real life, with marriage-a social institution. He uses the term “happy funeral” to refer the institution of marriage signaling the end of freedom. He also terms it a “religious wounding.” A marriage is supposed to be a happy event and an occasion of jubilation. But to Larkin, it carries within it the seeds of discontent and despondency that are likely to sprout in the course of time. Larkin’s cynical and misogamist views regarding marriage are explicit here.

Although he had a couple of affairs, Larkin dreaded marriage and family, and never married. “Two can live as stupidly as one,” he said. Being a bachelor poet, he notices the fathers first: fathers with broad belts under their suits and seamy foreheads; mothers loud and fat, an uncle shouting obscene language. From the descriptions, it is evident: Larkin’s concept of Marriage and Family gathers overtones of being ‘loud’ and bombastic and not subtle. Anthony Thwaite states that rain emblematizes tragedy and failure in Larkin’s poetry. However, here it could alternatively be regarded as a happy one, since the falling rain make crops grow, just how marriages being celebrated now will lead to the bearing of children tomorrow. Again, rain is the traditional symbol of fertility. The phrase “like an arrow shower” may signify ‘Cupid’s arrow’. Rain comes out in the end. There is somewhere indeed an indication of hope in spite of all the skepticism. The journey ends and the train finally halts at the London Station It sped past stationary buses, Pullman porters and black-mosses walls. When it stops, the poet captures the scattering of passengers in different directions like arrow showers.

The people ultimately reach their various destinations. And the journey at once transforms into the journey of life. ©Rukhaya MK 2010 The content is the copyright of Rukhaya MK. Any line reproduced from the article has to be appropriately documented by the reader. ©Rukhaya MK. All rights reserved. Philip Larkin special train marks 50th birthday of Whitsun Weddings poem | Stage | The Guardian Immersive theatre Philip Larkin special train marks 50th birthday of Whitsun Weddings poem Bill Nighy will read poetry as actors fill journey from Hull to London with stories and music, as prelude to 2017 UK city of culture events Whitsun weddings were popular because couples could take a bank holiday for their honeymoon.

Photograph: Kirn Vintage Stock/Corbis Immersive theatre Philip Larkin special train marks 50th birthday of Whitsun Weddings poem Bill Nighy will read poetry as actors fill journey from Hull to London with stories and music, as prelude to 2017 UK city of culture events Close This article is 2 years old In The Whitsun Weddings, one of the best loved poems of the 20th century, Philip Larkin transformed a dull bank holiday weekend train journey into a characteristically grumpy transport of romance and delight. The poem will be celebrated next month in a 200-mile onboard performance between Hull and London, involving scores of actors, 200 miles of track, eight towns and cities, recordings of some of the poet's beloved jazz tunes, and the voice of actor Bill Nighy reading his work over the train's Tannoy. The event will be a prequel to Hull's surprise victory in the contest to become the nation's next city of culture in 2017 , in which the work of one of its most famous residents will play a major role.

Larkin was born in Coventry, but published most of his best known verse in the years he spent as the Hull university librarian. The poet Philip Larkin outside Hull University library where he worked as a librarian. Photograph: Jane Bown for the Observer The Whitsun Weddings , the title poem of a collection published in 1964, has regularly been voted one of the nation's favourites. It opens with Larkin in typically dismal form, "late getting away" escaping Hull on a sunlit Saturday afternoon, on an almost empty train smelling of hot cushions and the pervasive reek of the town's fish dock. He gradually notices noisy wedding parties at each station, waving farewell to happy couples taking the train towards a cheap honeymoon. The half-century anniversary of the poem will be celebrated on 6 June – a week late for the Whitsun bank holiday, but otherwise just as Larkin described: "All down the line / Fresh couples climbed aboard: the rest stood round; The last confetti and advice were thrown." At several stops along the way actors in period dress will board the train, and fill the time until the next station by telling stories of marriages glad and sad.

The poem was believed to be based on an actual journey Larkin took in 1955, but scholars have since argued about the date: the Whitsun weekend that year was hit by a truly British bank holiday event, a rail strike. This year's performance is being created by Hull's Ensemble 52 theatre company, which specialises in putting on work in what it describes as " unconventional, unloved, disused property " - obviously not including the Hull to London train service. Director Andrew Pearson promised: "This will be one of those events that will forever stay in the minds of those that join us on board." On the following day a permanent commemoration of poem and poet, a slate plaque carved by the sculptor Martin Jennings, will be unveiled at King's Cross station in London. Tickets for the theatrical train journey, costing up to £65 depending on the boarding station, are available through e52.co.uk or whitsunweddings.eventbrite.co.uk . Philip Larkin | Comments about "The Whitsun Weddings" | Page 2 | poetry archive | plagiarist.com 2006-04-25 Added by: anna i love this poem.

its the best thing i have ever read in my life! anyone that disagrees is silly! 2006-04-28 Added by: Josh Larkin is a genius and just because you do not understand this poem does not mean it is boring. Philip Larkin 2006-05-17 Added by: Waring Kim, are you out of your mind? Whistun Weddings is a beautiful poem on the move, sweeping from a book reading train passenger into sunlight and provincial, familial celebration and finally to the relenting of all that has been seen and felt into a metaphor that does what a metaphor should - produce a feeling in the heart perfectly indescribably in any other way. 2006-05-20 Added by: anonymous This poem describes a train journey on a hot Saturday afternoon. Newly wed couples board at each station. Larkin watches them, and their families left behind on the platform. He thinks about the transition that marriage represents, and the ï¿½frail travelling coincidenceï¿½ which the passengers share as they journey onward. Time and voice: The poem is written in the past tense and the first person.

It is based on an autobiographical experience, which Larkin had in 1955. Whitsun was originally a church festival where newly baptised people wore white. This makes it an appropriate holiday to associate with weddings, which are also festivals of change, where the bride wears white. Structure: The poem has eight rhymed stanzas, of ten lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDECDE. The lines in each stanza have five stresses except the second line, which has only two. The shorter line introduces a visual contrast and may suggest to you the alternating but regular rhythm of a train. This rhythm is also created by run-on lines which pause briefly in the middle of sentences: ï¿½all sense / Of being in a hurry goneï¿½; ï¿½ we ran / Behind the backs of housesï¿½. Language and imagery: The language of the first part of the poem appeals to our senses - the feel of the ï¿½hot cushionsï¿½, the sight of carsï¿½ ï¿½blinding windscreensï¿½ reflecting the sun, the smell of the fish-dock, of grass and of the trainï¿½s upholstery.

A warm, sleepy atmosphere is created which draws the reader in. Larkin gives us quick snapshots of the passing landscape. As in the poem ï¿½Hereï¿½, we see industry as well as countryside. The canalï¿½s ï¿½industrial frothï¿½ and the ï¿½new and nondescriptï¿½ towns with ï¿½acres of dismantled carsï¿½ suggest that Larkin doesnï¿½t find modern scenery entirely sympathetic. When he finally notices the wedding parties he is ruthless in his description of their style ï¿½ the womenï¿½s dresses are ï¿½parodies of fashionï¿½, they are ï¿½grinningï¿½ (a word often associated with stupidity) and ï¿½pomadedï¿½ (covered in hair gel). The mothers are ï¿½loud and fatï¿½, the uncles ï¿½shout smutï¿½ the fathers are sweaty (ï¿½seamy foreheadsï¿½). You might consider whether Larkinï¿½s presentation of the wedding parties also reflects his view of their social class.

Gradually, Larkin and the reader become involved in the moment of transition when the newly married couples leave their families and join the train. This ï¿½moving onï¿½ is both actual and symbolic. Women ï¿½share the secret like a happy funeralï¿½: a conjunction of words, which at first seems contradictory. How can a funeral be happy, or a wedding resemble a funeral? Larkin uses the odd juxtaposition to suggest the conflicting emotions, which marriage inspires ï¿½ it is both joyful, and represents a loss. Part of this loss can be a loss of sexual virginity, implied by the ï¿½religious woundingï¿½, which awes the girls. The vocabulary of Larkinï¿½s poems is typically familiar (look for everyday words like ï¿½permï¿½, ï¿½nylonï¿½, ï¿½Odeonï¿½) but in the last two stanzas the imagery becomes more metaphorical.

London in the sun seems like a golden field, its postal districts ï¿½packed like squares of wheatï¿½, the train with all its passengers is compared to ï¿½an arrow-showerï¿½ shooting forward ï¿½ a positive image of shared experience. Change brings energy and ï¿½powerï¿½. Larkin stands halfway between involvement and detachment ï¿½ observing marriageï¿½s rite of passage without directly participating in it. 2006-05-23 Added by: Ian I just popped in to see the comments and sure everyone is entitled to their opinion, but it seems a shame that this last comment has stood for a while. Neither boring nor weird, this poem is a thing of genius. Just read it. 2006-06-08 Added by: Abel How can you say that? Have you never marvelled at how you share a space in time with someone or in this case a group of people, who you will never meet and yet will always remember. How many people get married and think of their day as so special despite the fact that many marriages are the same: 'Fathers with broad belts under their suits'.

Are you not inspired by how amazingly Larkin describs the view from his train window. It is so accurately England, it makes me want to say, 'I've seen that, that's how I feel.' I don't know how this thought provolking and uncharacteristically uplifting poem (I believe that ultimatly many of his poems, contrary to common belief are optimistic though not necessarily uplifting) can fail to move any reader. hi 2006-11-24 Added by: holly we are doing a project for english on the 3 weddings and a prize, based on the whitsun weddings by phillip larkin. i found this a very interesting poem. x We English » Blog Archive PHILIP LARKIN, THE WHITSUN WEDDINGS | We English PHILIP LARKIN, THE WHITSUN WEDDINGS May 31st, 2009 admin Today is Whitsun so what better way to celebrate than Philip Larkin’s beautiful poem, ‘The Whitsun Weddings’.

In the poem Philip Larkin describes his stopping-train journey through East Yorkshire from Paragon Station, Kingston upon Hull to Kings Cross, London on a hot and humid Whitsun Saturday afternoon in 1955. Larkin through his simple, yet elegant style divulges the details of a commonplace journey into a wonderful poem. The Whitsun Weddings by Philip Larkin, 1958 That Whitsun, I was late getting away: Not till about One-twenty on the sunlit Saturday Did my three-quarters-empty train pull out, All windows down, all cushions hot, all sense Of being in a hurry gone. We ran Behind the backs of houses, crossed a street Of blinding windscreens, smelt the fish-dock; thence The river's level drifting breadth began, Where sky and Lincolnshire and water meet. All afternoon, through the tall heat that slept For miles inland, A slow and stopping curve southwards we kept.

Wide farms went by, short-shadowed cattle, and Canals with floatings of industrial froth; A hothouse flashed uniquely: hedges dipped And rose: and now and then a smell of grass Displaced the reek of buttoned carriage-cloth Until the next town, new and nondescript, Approached with acres of dismantled cars. At first, I didn't notice what a noise The weddings made Each station that we stopped at: sun destroys The interest of what's happening in the shade, And down the long cool platforms whoops and skirls I took for porters larking with the mails, And went on reading. Once we started, though, We passed them, grinning and pomaded, girls In parodies of fashion, heels and veils, All posed irresolutely, watching us go, As if out on the end of an event Waving goodbye To something that survived it.

Struck, I leant More promptly out next time, more curiously, And saw it all again in different terms: The fathers with broad belts under their suits And seamy foreheads; mothers loud and fat; An uncle shouting smut; and then the perms, The nylon gloves and jewellery-substitutes, The lemons, mauves, and olive-ochres that 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 Success so huge and wholly farcical; The women shared The secret like a happy funeral; While girls, gripping their handbags tighter, stared At a religious wounding. Free at last, And loaded with the sum of all they saw, We hurried towards London, shuffling gouts of steam.

Now fields were building-plots, and poplars cast Long shadows over major roads, and for Some fifty minutes, that in time would seem Just long enough to settle hats and say I nearly died, A dozen marriages got under way. They watched the landscape, sitting side by side - An Odeon went past, a cooling tower, And someone running up to bowl - and none Thought of the others they would never meet Or how their lives would all contain this hour. I thought of London spread out in the sun, Its postal districts packed like squares of wheat: There we were aimed. And as we raced across Bright knots of rail Past standing Pullmans, walls of blackened moss Came close, and it was nearly done, this frail Travelling coincidence; and what it held stood ready to be loosed with all the power That being changed can give. We slowed again, And as the tightened brakes took hold, there swelled A sense of falling, like an arrow-shower Sent out of sight, somewhere becoming rain. © from The Collected Poems (Faber, 1993), by permission of the publisher, Faber & Faber Ltd . You can hear an audio clip of him reading the poem here .

In 1981, more than a quarter of a century after writing ‘The Whitsun Weddings’, Larkin recalls the genius of his poem- “I caught a very slow train that stopped at every station and I hadn’t realised that, of course, this was the train that all the wedding couples would get on and go to London for their honeymoon: it was an eye-opener to me. Every part was different but the same somehow. They all looked different but they were all doing the same things and sort of feeling the same things. I suppose the train stopped at about four, five, six stations between Hull and London and there was a sense of gathering emotional momentum. Every time you stopped fresh emotion climbed aboard. And finally between Peterborough and London when you hurtle on, you felt the whole thing was being aimed like a bullet – at the heart of things, you know. All this fresh, open life. Incredible experience. I’ve never forgotten it.” This entry was posted on Sunday, May 31st, 2009 at 10:30 am and is filed under INSPIRATION . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Both comments and pings are currently closed. The Whitsun Weddings Philip Larkin Lecture 29. About the Poem The Whitsun Weddings was inspired by a train journey which the poet made from Hull to London. - ppt download Download Presentation is loading. Please wait. The Whitsun Weddings Philip Larkin Lecture 29. About the Poem The Whitsun Weddings was inspired by a train journey which the poet made from Hull to London. Published by Shayne Peare Modified over 2 years ago Embed Similar presentations More Presentation on theme: "The Whitsun Weddings Philip Larkin Lecture 29. About the Poem The Whitsun Weddings was inspired by a train journey which the poet made from Hull to London."— Presentation transcript: 1 The Whitsun Weddings Philip Larkin Lecture 29 2 About the Poem The Whitsun Weddings was inspired by a train journey which the poet made from Hull to London in 1955 on Whitsun Saturday, a day which was popular for weddings at that time The poem was finally completed in October 1958, following repeated redrafting.

The Whitsun Weddings is Larkin's longest poem, narrated in a slow, unhurried, leisurely fashion which re-enacts a sense of the long, easy train journey from Hull to London. 3 About the poem The poem's narrator describes the scenery and smells of the countryside and towns through which the largely empty train passes. The train's windows are open because of the heat, and he gradually becomes aware of bustle on the platforms at each station, eventually realizing that this is the noise and actions of wedding parties that are seeing off couples who are boarding the train. 4 About the Poem The poem reflected the marriage nowadays, and how they are and some of them end. The poetic form is quite regular with eight stanzas, each consisting of ten lines and rhyming a b a b c d e c d e which creates the rhythmic sound of a train as it gathers speed. The continuous rhyming pattern throughout the eight verses and the pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables in each iambic pentameter, re- enacts the rocking sensation of traveling on a train.

5 The Poem – Stanza 1 That Whitsun, I was late getting away: Not till about One-twenty on the sunlit Saturday Did my three-quarters-empty train pull out, All windows down, all cushions hot, all sense Of being in a hurry gone. The opening is conversational yet rhythmically firm. Description of a train journey on a hot Saturday afternoon. 6 Stanza 1 We ran Behind the backs of houses, crossed a street Of blinding windscreens, smelt the fish-dock; thence The river's level drifting breadth began, Where sky and Lincolnshire and water meet. Poet introduces the busy life of city dropping away with the trains departure. Larkin creates an image of continuity between sky and city and water that the train itself mimics; it is the central image of the poem, the form of an unfolding movement that connects distinct locations and points of time. 7 Stanza 2 All afternoon, through the tall heat that slept For miles island, A slow and stopping curve southwards we kept. Wide farms went by, short-shadowed cattle, and Canals with floatings of industrial froth; An easy movement of lines.

A description of pastoral landscape, its farms & hedges contrasted with ugliness of industrial waste. 8 Stanza 2 A hothouse flashed uniquely: hedges dipped And rose: and now and then a smell of grass Displace the reek of buttoned carriage-cloth Until the next town, new and nondescript, Approached with acres of dismantled cars. The smell of grass competes with the stale smell of the cloth seat inside the train carriage. Offers pungent realism. Nondescript: dull or insipid 9 Stanza 3 At first, I didn't notice what a noise The weddings made Each station that we stopped at: sun destroys The interest of what's happening in the shade, And down the long cool platforms whoops and skirls The poet mistook the girls for men at first. Whoops: cries of joy and excitement Skirls: shrill sound 10 Stanza 3 I took for porters larking with the mails, And went on reading.

Once we started, though, We passed them, grinning and pomaded, girls In parodies of fashion, heels and veils, All posed irresolutely, watching us go, Larking: having fun Pomade: greasy substance to style hair, hair gel or spray 11 Stanza 4 As if out on the end of an event Waving goodbye To something that survived it. Struck, I leant More promptly out next time, more curiously, And saw it all again in different terms: Describing vividly what he is witnessing. 12 Stanza 4 The fathers with broad belts under their suits And seamy foreheads; mothers loud and fat; An uncle shouting smut; and then the perms, The nylon gloves and jewelry-substitutes, The lemons, mauves, and olive-ochers that Smut: obscenity Perms: hair style, a permanent wave. ocher: moderate orange yellow color. 13 Stanza 5 Marked off the girls unreally from the rest. Yes, from cafes And banquet-halls up yards, and bunting-dressed Coach-party annexes, the wedding-days Were coming to an end.

Describes how each wedding party is like all the other wedding parties gathering that day – as he witnesses them. Bunting: festive decorations made of fabric or plaster or paper, triangular flags. 14 Stanza 5 All down the line Fresh couples climbed abroad: 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 Confetti: streamers of paper or metallic material 15 Stanza 6 Success so huge and wholly farcical; The women shared The secret like a happy funeral; While girls, gripping their handbags tighter, stared At a religious wounding. Farcical: absurd, ridiculous 16 Stanza 6 Free at last, And loaded with the sum of all they saw, We hurried towards London, shuffling gouts of steam. Now fields were building-plots. and poplars cast Long shadows over major roads, and for Some fifty minutes, that in time would seem 17 Stanza 7 Just long enough to settle hats and say I nearly died, A dozen marriages got under way.

The description is a mild social satire but also displays their humanity which is shared with the poet: they become we in the collective hurrying act. 18 Stanza 7 They watched the landscape, sitting side by side -An Odeon went past, a cooling tower, And someone running up to bowl -and none Thought of the others they would never meet Odeon: one of a chain of British cinemas. This helps reinforce theme of detachment running through the poem – the speaker watches the couples, the landscape & the cinema built for watching. 19 Stanza 7 Or how their lives would all contain this hour. I thought of London spread out in the sun, Its postal districts packed like squares of wheat: Compare the opening of Audens As I walked Out One Evening As I walked out one evening, Walking down Bristol Street, The crowds upon the pavement Were fields of harvest wheat. 20 Stanza 8 There we were aimed. And as we raced across Bright knots of rail Past standing Pullmans, walls of blackened moss. The train now aimed at the London destination, and becomes an arrow – arrow of Cupid – idea connected to the last lines of the stanza.

21 Stanza 8 Came close, and it was nearly done, this frail Traveling coincidence; In Italian, a coincidenza is a transfer station in railroad travel. Like both frail and traveling, it may just be a way of naming the brief encounter that the poem stages, between the speaker and those he observes. Like the coincidence, the poem itself is nearly done. 22 Stanza 8 and what it held Stood ready to be loosed with all the power That being changed can give. We slowed again, 23 Stanza 8 And as the tightened brakes took hold, there swelled A sense of falling, like an arrow-shower Sent out of sight, somewhere becoming rain. Larkin takes the dead image of the arrow-shower and revives it by turning it into an image of real rain. So the idea of marriage turning into disappointment is balance with the image of life and fertility. 24 Analysis of the poem Larkin says: "Whit Saturday is traditionally a good day for getting married in the Anglican tradition. So a lot of people got on the train to London for their honeymoons as not many people had cars.

There were 6 stations between Hull and London and there was a sense of gathering emotional momentum. Every time you stopped fresh emotion climbed aboard. Between Peterborough and London the whole thing felt like a bullet, all this fresh open life and I've never forgotten it." 25 Analysis Traditionally Whit Saturday was regarded as an auspicious day for a wedding and it was a popular choice among the British working classes. Moreover, a wedding is an expression of a loving commitment, bringing with it the prospect of future happiness and the expectation of new life. Larkin appeals to the reader's sense of touch ('cushions hot'), smell ('the fish-dock'), and sight ('blinding windscreens'). 26 Analysis There is a real paradox between the reality presented by the landscape and the ideals represented by the couples and the final image. Larkin longs for the abstracts of romance and perfect love, but he sees around him the oncoming city… The climax at the end seems to work against the surface cynicism of Larkin's tone as he experiences a tug for something more due to the mesmerizing occasion he witnesses.

27 Form of the poem That Whitsun, I was late getting away: Not till about One-twenty on the sunlit Saturday Did my three-quarters-empty train pull out, All windows down, all cushions hot, all sense Of being in a hurry gone. We ran Behind the backs of houses, crossed a street Of blinding windscreens, smelt the fish-dock; thence The river's level drifting breadth began, Where sky and Lincolnshire and water meet. rhyme-scheme : abab cde cde 28 the poems rhyming structure is a sort of shortened sonnet ( the quatrain is Shakespearean, the sestet is Petrarchan). Larkin employs technique used by Keats in his odes; there is same kind of imagery of abundance yet a sense of bitter reality. The sensual imagery and the musical phrasing create at the same time a real and surreal impression.

Philip Larkin Whitsun Weddings analysis | Rukhaya M.K November 30, 2014 / rukhaya / 1 Comment “It would be not too much to claim that it is one of the best poems written so far in this century,” says Galvin Ewart of Philip Larkin’s “Whitsun Weddings.” The poem reminds us of W.H.Auden’s “The Night Mail” passing through many locations. Whitsun is the seventh day after marriage. In the 1950s, British tax law made the Whitsun weekend a financially advantageous time to be married. Larkin, therefore, commercializes marriage as an institution here, by adopting the specific title. Philip Larkin describes his stopping-train journey through East Yorkshire from Paragon Station, Kingston upon Hull to Kings Cross, London on a hot and humid Whitsun Saturday afternoon in the late 1950s. Larkin through his simple, yet elegant style divulges the details of a commonplace journey into a beautiful poem. The poem describes a train journey, and the poet occasionally stops at certain lines as though he is pausing at railway stations.

Larkin’s intricate detailing of the scenes he sees, hold our attention right at the beginning: the backsides of houses with windows, fish-dock not seen, but felt through the senses, the confluence of two rivers that form the estuary of River Humber. The afternoon was a stiflingly humid one as the train shot past fields with grazing cattle, canal contaminated with industrial wastes, a glass house growing plants, the smell of the grass contrasted with the stale smell of the upholstery, dumped dismantled cars.… Detailed Interpretations | S-cool, the revision website S-cool, the revision website Faith Healing This poem describes watching the women who queue to be blessed by an American faith healer. The encounter each woman has with the healer is very brief - twenty seconds, in which he asks her to tell him 'what's wrong' and then asks God to cure the troubled part: 'this eye, that knee'. The women are deeply affected by this experience. Larkin wonders what motivates people to need faith healing. He concludes that within everyone is a sense of the life they could have lived if they had loved more, or, particularly, if they had been loved more.

Nothing cures this ache, but the healing experience relieves by loosening suppressed emotions. Time and voice: The poem is written in the present tense - giving it immediacy. Larkin is a detached, third person observer of the experience. We share his analytical view of the emotional event he witnesses. This gives authority to his general conclusions in the final stanza 'in everyone there sleeps / A sense of life lived according to love'. Structure The poem is divide into three stanzas of ten lines, with five stresses each, and a regular but complex rhyming pattern: ABCABDABCABD. This pattern mirrors the regular succession of women who file up to meet the faith healer. The three stanzas divide the poem's action: in the first the women file forward; in the second they disperse; in the third Larkin takes over with his exclamation 'What's wrong!' and analysis. Notice how the phrase 'then, exiled' causes an abrupt break at the end of the first stanza. This makes us feel the women's loneliness as they move away from the comfort of the faith healer's grasp. The lines are not end-stopped, but run on into each other - this helps to create a sense of movement and progression.

Language and Imagery: One important image is of rain/tears. Do you see the 'warm spring rain of loving care' in line 5? This is a metaphor: rain releases the fruitfulness of the soil that has been hardened by winter's frost; similarly, the healer's loving care releases the women's pent-up feelings. This links to the 'tears' and 'eyes squeezing grief' in stanza 2, and 'thawing, the rigid landscape weeps' in stanza 3. Another image is of being a child. The faith healer's repeated words 'now, dear child' are emphasised by italics, in stanzas 1 and 3. His silver hair and blessing make the healer himself seem like God, and emphasise his fatherly role. In stanza 2 Larkin imagines that 'a kind of dumb, idiot child' is reawakened in the women by their experience - they cry and lose control of speech like young children. Look at the phrase 'tongues blort' in line 19.

A made-up word, near to 'blurt', its sound suggests their lack of rationality, an excited confusion echoed by 'jam', 'crowd' and 'rejoice'. Larkin uses the vocabulary of Christianity (which refers to worshippers as 'children' and 'sheep') to suggest that the women's need for religious blessing arises from a common craving for human, especially parental, love. The poem's title could therefore be a play on words - perhaps it is simply the act of trust in others, rather than religion, which heals us. The Whitsun Weddings This poem describes a train journey on a hot Saturday afternoon. Newly wed couples board at each station. Larkin watches them, and their families left behind on the platform. He thinks about the transition that marriage represents, and the 'frail travelling coincidence' which the passengers share as they journey onward. Time and voice: The poem is written in the past tense and the first person. It is based on an autobiographical experience, which Larkin had in 1955. Whitsun was originally a church festival where newly baptised people wore white.

This makes it an appropriate holiday to associate with weddings, which are also festivals of change, where the bride wears white. Structure: The poem has eight rhymed stanzas, of ten lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDECDE. The lines in each stanza have five stresses except the second line, which has only two. The shorter line introduces a visual contrast and may suggest to you the alternating but regular rhythm of a train. This rhythm is also created by run-on lines which pause briefly in the middle of sentences: 'all sense / Of being in a hurry gone'; 'we ran / Behind the backs of houses'. Language and imagery: The language of the first part of the poem appeals to our senses - the feel of the 'hot cushions', the sight of cars' 'blinding windscreens' reflecting the sun, the smell of the fish-dock, of grass and of the train's upholstery. A warm, sleepy atmosphere is created which draws the reader in. Larkin gives us quick snapshots of the passing landscape. As in the poem 'Here', we see industry as well as countryside.

The canal's 'industrial froth' and the 'new and nondescript' towns with 'acres of dismantled cars' suggest that Larkin doesn't find modern scenery entirely sympathetic. When he finally notices the wedding parties he is ruthless in his description of their style - the women?s dresses are 'parodies of fashion', they are 'grinning' (a word often associated with stupidity) and 'pomaded' (covered in hair gel). The mothers are 'loud and fat', the uncles 'shout smut' the fathers are sweaty ('seamy foreheads'). You might consider whether Larkin's presentation of the wedding parties also reflects his view of their social class. Gradually, Larkin and the reader become involved in the moment of transition when the newly married couples leave their families and join the train. This 'moving on' is both actual and symbolic. Women 'share the secret like a happy funeral': a conjunction of words, which at first seems contradictory. How can a funeral be happy, or a wedding resemble a funeral? Larkin uses the odd juxtaposition to suggest the conflicting emotions, which marriage inspires - it is both joyful, and represents a loss.

Part of this loss can be a loss of sexual virginity, implied by the 'religious wounding', which awes the girls. The vocabulary of Larkin's poems is typically familiar (look for everyday words like 'perm', 'nylon', 'Odeon') but in the last two stanzas the imagery becomes more metaphorical. London in the sun seems like a golden field, its postal districts 'packed like squares of wheat', the train with all its passengers is compared to 'an arrow-shower' shooting forward - a positive image of shared experience. Change brings energy and 'power'. Larkin stands halfway between involvement and detachment - observing marriage's rite of passage without directly participating in it.

Question: Which poem by Philip Larkin describes a train journey on a hot bank-holiday Saturday?
Answer: The Whitsun Weddings