The Whitsun Weddings by Philip Larkin
Page 7 of 8 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Purchase full notes for £4.95 (aprox $7.72)
His pointless scholarly wit is undermined by the see-saw rhythms of Larkin’s satirical verse form, and, quite possibly, by the allusions too, as First Corinthians 13 is the famous Hymn to Love (‘Love is patient, love is kind…’) which hardly seems appropriate to this character.
Most damning of all is the reference to ‘Morgan Forster.’ This is the novelist officially known as E. M. Forster. He was known to his friends as ‘Morgan,’ but Larkin’s character only knows someone who once met him! Given that Forster’s watchwords were ‘Only connect,’ there is probably irony in the choice of the name the speaker chooses to drop, as he is quite incapable of connecting with other people.
Broadcast
This poem apparently describes a concert performance broadcast over the radio. Television is just possible, but unlikely, as the speaker seems more aware of his external surroundings than is probable if he were watching a screen. He also imagines a scene, which again is less likely if he is being fed visual images.
The venue is presumably a church or cathedral: ‘Sunday-full and organ-frowned-on.’ The national anthem is played at the end and everybody stands, which was a common occurrence at the time – it doesn’t imply that the Queen was present. The speaker knows someone in attendance whom he describes as ‘Beautiful and devout.’ The poem is about the way the connection established between event and remote listener by a radio broadcast parallels, indeed intensifies and evokes, the imaginative sympathy between two people who are parted but fond of one another. The speaker picks out the person he knows from the crowd – ‘your face among all those faces’ – and imagines her stillness among ‘Cascades of monumental slithering,’ which could conceivably describe the music being played, but could also suggests an image of her still contemplation after the music has stopped, when everyone else is moving and shifting around, perhaps between movements of the work being performed. This would be characteristic behaviour for someone ‘Beautiful and devout.’
He becomes aware of his own separation and distance as the night draws in:
Most damning of all is the reference to ‘Morgan Forster.’ This is the novelist officially known as E. M. Forster. He was known to his friends as ‘Morgan,’ but Larkin’s character only knows someone who once met him! Given that Forster’s watchwords were ‘Only connect,’ there is probably irony in the choice of the name the speaker chooses to drop, as he is quite incapable of connecting with other people.
Broadcast
This poem apparently describes a concert performance broadcast over the radio. Television is just possible, but unlikely, as the speaker seems more aware of his external surroundings than is probable if he were watching a screen. He also imagines a scene, which again is less likely if he is being fed visual images.
The venue is presumably a church or cathedral: ‘Sunday-full and organ-frowned-on.’ The national anthem is played at the end and everybody stands, which was a common occurrence at the time – it doesn’t imply that the Queen was present. The speaker knows someone in attendance whom he describes as ‘Beautiful and devout.’ The poem is about the way the connection established between event and remote listener by a radio broadcast parallels, indeed intensifies and evokes, the imaginative sympathy between two people who are parted but fond of one another. The speaker picks out the person he knows from the crowd – ‘your face among all those faces’ – and imagines her stillness among ‘Cascades of monumental slithering,’ which could conceivably describe the music being played, but could also suggests an image of her still contemplation after the music has stopped, when everyone else is moving and shifting around, perhaps between movements of the work being performed. This would be characteristic behaviour for someone ‘Beautiful and devout.’
He becomes aware of his own separation and distance as the night draws in:
I lose
All but the outline of the still and withering
Leaves on half-emptied trees.
previous next
Purchase full notes for £4.95 (aprox $7.72)
If you have found our critical notes helpful, why not try the first Tower Notes novel, a historical fantasy set in the time of the Anglo-Saxon invasions.
Available HERE where you can read the opening chapters.