Topic > Larkin's depiction of place in "I Remember, I Remember" and "Places, Loved Ones"

Philip Larkin wrote his poetry collection The Less Deceived in 1955, and it became a work that earned him recognition public. His poems often include a deep sense of his feelings of inadequacy and contain his view of not belonging to society or at least never having met the requirements of society's expectations. As a result his works often contain a melancholy and negative mood. An example of how Larkin does not meet society's expectations can be found in the fact that he never felt that he belonged to a specific place, this opinion is expressed in his two poems, I "Remember, I Remember" and "Places, Loved Ones ". .:Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayThe poem "I remember, I remember: portrays Larkin's physical journey on a train passing through. the place where he was born, Coventry. This is demonstrated by the lexical choice of the word “line" at the opening of the poem and the subsequent reference to a “whistle”, both with connotations related to the railway environment. Despite this journey to his place of origin, it turns out that Larkin is simply stopping on a motionless train to another unspecified destination of attachment to the place of her birth; throughout the transience of the poem she remains on board the train. The reason for her lack of attachment is described later in the poem, when her peaceful childhood is revealed people normally associate with their place of origin is illustrated through Larkin's use of references to the literary works of authors who romanticized the world of childhood such as Enid Blyton. Larkin makes this reference in stanzas four and five of his poem. His use of imagery such as "Spoken by an old hat" and "flowers and fruits" provides a direct contrast to the nature of his childhood. He feels no connection to Coventry's location because he did not have the idyllic childhood illustrated in so many literary works. The use of the negative to portray this area of ​​Larkin's life is characteristic of Larkin, lending a typical melancholy and depressed tone to the atmosphere of the poem. This is another indication of Larkin's personal feelings of not fitting in with the average member of society, he has not had the same childhood experiences as most people. Larkin portrays his disconnection from his place of origin through the lack of emotional response he has to being there. At the end of the poem he describes his peaceful childhood as not being "the place's fault", once again revealing his feelings of inadequacy, he does not blame the place but himself for not having had the idyllic childhood presented by the authors he references. to rooms four and five. The poem's regular structure and rhythm once again reveal his lack of strong emotions or attachment to the place of his birth. This is suggested by the constant regularity. Just as one might see an irregular structure to emphasize the strong emotions that take over the structure of the poem, the orderly and coherent regularity of Larkins' poem acts to highlight the absence of strong emotions. The smooth and consistent rhythm of iambic pentameter mimics the passage of time within the poem and also reflects the theme of growth. The regular rhyme scheme, A, A, B, B, C, once again reflects the quiet nature of his childhood. The only break in this regularity and uniformity of the poem is the final line in which Larkin comes to the conclusion that the places are interchangeable, he could have “not.