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Essay / Larkin's depiction of place in "I Remember, I Remember" and "Places, Loved Ones"
Philip Larkin wrote his collection of poems The Less Deceived in 1955, and it became a work that earned him public recognition. His poems often include a deep sense of his sense of inadequacy and contain his view that he had no place in society or at least never lived up to the demands of society's expectations. As a result, his works often contain a melancholic and negative mood. An example of Larkin not meeting society's expectations can be found in the fact that he never felt like he belonged in a specific place. This view 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 Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayThe poem “I Remember, I Remember: Depicts Larkin's physical journey on a train that he passes through. the place where he was born, Coventry. This is evidenced by the lexical choice of the word "line" at the beginning of the poem and the later reference to a "whistle", both of which have connotations with the railway environment. Despite this journey to his place of origin, Larkin is revealed to be stopping on a stationary train to another unspecified destination. This shows his lack of attachment to the place of his birth, throughout the transience of the poem he remains on the train. The reason for his lack of attachment is described later during the poem, when his uneventful childhood is revealed. The classic imagery that people normally associate with their place of origin is illustrated by Larkin's use of references to the literary works of authors who fictionalized the world of childhood such as Enid Blyton. Larkin realizes this reference in stanzas four and five of his poem. His use of images such as "Spoken by an Old Hat" and "Flowers and Fruits" provide a direct contrast to the nature of his own childhood. He feels no connection to the Coventry location because he did not have the idyllic childhood depicted in so many literary works. The use of the negative to describe this area of Larkin's life is characteristic of Larkin, lending a typical melancholic and depressed tone to the mood of the poem. This is another indication of Larkin's personal feeling of not fitting in with the average member of society. He didn't have the same childhood experiences as most people. Larkin depicts his disconnection with his place of origin through the lack of emotional response he feels. has to be there. At the end of the poem he describes his uneventful childhood as not being the "fault of the places", once again revealing his feelings of inadequacy, he blames not the place but himself for not having had the idyllic childhood presented by the authors to whom he refers. in stanzas four and five. The regular structure and rhythm of the poem once again reveal his lack of strong emotion or attachment to the place where he was born. This is suggested by the constant regularity. Just as an irregular structure might be seen to emphasize strong emotions that echo the structure of the poem, the ordered, coherent regularity of Larkins' poem acts to emphasize the absence of strong emotion. The regular and consistent iambic pentameter rhythm imitates the passage of time in the poem and also reflects the theme of growth. The regular rhyming pattern, A, A, B, B, C, again reflects the uneventful nature of his childhood. The only break in this regularity and uniformity of the poem is its final verse where Larkin comes to the conclusion that the places are interchangeable, he could have "not spent" his childhood anywhere in the world..