From the
poem by Larkin called ‘Ignorance’, I got the feeling that Larkin believes that
you have to see something to believe it. This can be seen in “never to be sure
of what is true or right or real”. This suggests that you can never be sure of
anything in life to either believe it or discard it. The title of this poem
also suggests an uncertain approach to the poem as the word ignorance means
uninformed and unaware. Throughout the poem there is a focus on abstract
thoughts rather than concrete lexis. This could suggest further that Larkin is
pessimistic to other people’s beliefs and ideas which cannot be proven. I
believe that this poem could also link in with ‘Dockery and Son’ through the
line “we think truest or most want to do”. This could suggest that we can only
understand what we want and cannot understand that of others.
From the
poem by Larkin called ‘Days’, I got the feeling that Larkin was again being
quite pessimistic as he is suggesting that life is what you make of it. This is
shown in “they wake us, time and time over”. This suggests that if you don’t
make the most of each day, it will become repetitive and become an endless
cycle. The quote “where can we live by days?” could suggest that people can get
caught up looking at each day as a whole rather than taking each minute as it
comes. I believe that by the use of short sentences leaves the poem with a
quite simple feel when it focuses on more of a complex idea about the belief
that people have in their own lives.
The poem
‘Nothing To Be Said’ is quite puzzling as it seems to suggest that as you get
older your life slowly becomes increasingly lifeless. This can be seen in “Life
is slowly dying”. This suggests that there is a negative aspect to this poem as
every day your life is losing its importance. The quote “Or birth, advance on
death equally slowly”. This suggests that our life is a continuous cycle which
creates a similarity with everyone else as we all live a continuous cycle
making decisions throughout our lives. This links in with ‘Reference Back’ and
the idea that we are making conscious life choices all the time. I also found
the quote “others it leaves nothing to be said” quite interesting as I believe
it suggests the difference between those that ask questions about other
people’s beliefs and those that simply accept the ideas within our society.
From the
poem called ‘Water’, I got the impression that Larkin was mocking religions as
he seems to believe that the only use you could get about going to church would
be to “make use of the water” and “to dry, different clothes”. This suggests
that Larkin is not a believer in any religion and does not understand those
that can be. Although, it seems at first to be quite a religious poem, as you
delve deeper you find that Larkin is being quite negative towards people’s
beliefs by suggesting that instead of going to church to pray that they should
make use of their help and the holy water.
The poem ‘As
Bad as a Mile’ is about failure to do with the Garden of Eden and the fruit
that Eve picked from the Tree of Knowledge. This is suggesting that ‘As Bad as
Mile’ is in fact a poem about religion; however it is again not looking at in a
positive way. Larkin is talking about failure linking it with the aspect of
Christianity reflecting this. I believe that this poem suggests that everyone
has failure inside of them, however you have to delve deeper inside someone to
find this which reflects getting to the core of an apple.
The poem
called ‘First Sight’ seems to be quite positive at a first glance but it is in
fact not. It focuses on natural imagery and seems to create a new life feeling
to the poem. It seems to suggest that you are unable to grasp the things that
you most want to in life and that new life will struggle with this the most.
In conclusion,
I feel that Larkin is mocking religion and can never understand how people can have
such strong beliefs in facts that cannot be proven. This therefore shows that
Larkin is not in any way religious.
