Self's the Man

Self's the man is about Larkin's comparison with Arnold's life dwelling on the fact that Arnold got married therefore implying that he has wasted his life. He therefore imposes quite negative thoughts about women throughout the whole poem.
One of the things that I found interesting about this poem was the line "He married a woman to stop her getting away Now she's there all day". This can be seen as a reply to all those that have called him selfish. This phrase is also presented in quite a jolly way reminding the reader of a lymeric suggesting that we might not be able to believe all of what he is saying.
Larkin also suggests many different things about married life. This can be seen in the line "And if it was such a mistake, He still did it for his own sake". This suggests that when you get married you are doing it for yourself. Through this and other aspects of the poem you can see that Larkin is implying that married life is repetitive, busy, pressurized and stressful which Larkin has managed to avoid all of his life. This can also be seen  in stanza six as Larkin is suggesting that marriage is actually quite selfish and that the married man got what he wanted from his own life, just like the persona did. This can be supported with "So he and I are the same". This is suggesting that both men lived their lives how they wanted to so why should we pity him as the married man should have known what he could stand.
'Self's the Man' can be linked to 'Dockery and Son' through the persona/Larkin comparing his life to somebody else's and the life choices that affected them both along the way.