Philip Larkin as a Movement Poet II Philip Larkin as a Modern Poet II Features of Movement Poetry

 

INTRODUCTION:

Philip Larkin (1922 – 1985) was one of the most distinguished movement poet of English literature during the 20^th century. He published two novels, four volumes of poetry and a few critical essays on jazz music. According to Alan Brownjohn Philip Larkin has produced without pomp and show “the most technically brilliant and resonantly beautiful, profoundly disturbing yet appealing and approachable, body of verse of any English poet in the last twenty-five years.”

MAJOR WORKS OF PHILIP LARKIN:

TWO NOVELS:

1.   Jill (1946)

2.   A Girl in Winter (1947)

FOUR VOLUMES OF POETRY:

1.   The North Ship (1945)

2.   The Less Deceived (1955)

3.   The Whitsun Weddings (1964)

4.   High Windows (1974)

PHILIP LARKIN AS A MOVEMENT POET:

Scholars and critics of Philip Larkin’s poetry are divided into two groups; the first group says that Philip Larkin is a modern poet whereas the second considers him anti-modernist and a leader of Movement Poetry. Majority of critics agree that Philip Larkin was a prominent “Movement Poet”. Let’s examine Larkin as a Movement Poet.

WHAT IS MOVEMENT POETRY?

The term “Movement Poetry” was coined by J. D. Scott (the editor of ‘The Spectator’) in 1954. The poetry of the 1950s was anew and different from that written in 1920s to 1940s. This new poetry was a reaction against the poets like T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Dylon Thomas and others. The major Movement Poets of the 1950s were Philip Larkin, Kingsley Amis, Elizabeth Jennings, Thom Gunn, John Wain, D J Enright and Robert Conquest.

1.   The Movement Poetry was a reaction against spontaneous outburst of feelings and emotion. It appealed more to the head than to the heart of readers.

2.   It focused more on presenting harsh realism after the World War II.

3.   They took the world as materialistic and fundamentally evil. They did not lament for the loss of glory of human life as was done by Eliot in ‘The Wasteland’.

4.   The Movement Poets preferred writing poetry in traditional metrical from and syntax. This was a reaction against the free verse style of modern poetry.

5.   They neglected over-experimentation of the modern poets. They stressed more in simplicity and clarity of expression.

6.   They also rejected too much figurative language and too many allusions and references to and ancient mythologies and philosophies.

7.   They used colloquial speech and irony to express the harsh realities of life.

SIMPLICITY, CLARITY AND COLOQUIAL DICTION:

Pearl K. Bell avers:

“In all the poems there is a lucidity of language which invites understanding even when the ideas expressed are paradoxical or complex.”

·      ‘Talking in Bed’ is also an important example of Movement Poetry. So far as its structure is concerned, it is very much clear; language is plain and straightforward; subject matter of the poem is the ironic viz. relationship between nature and people; the poem is clear; there is no ambiguity in it.

·      ‘Mr. Bleaney’ is also a great example of movement poetry. This poem has simple and colloquial language. It has clarity in it. In fact, it is self-explanatory, therefore, needs no explanation. It has no far-fetched images and mysticism.

REALISM IN LARKIN’S POETRY:

·      In most of his poems like ‘Faith Healing’, ‘Dockery and son’, ‘Water’, ‘High Windows’, ‘Sad Steps’ etc. we see a touch of realism which is one of the features of Movement Poetry. The major themes of his poems are death, religion, fear, terror and isolation. Peter R. King comments that a close reading of Hardy taught Larkin “that a modern poet could write about the life around him in the language of the society around him. He encouraged (Larkin) to use his poetry to examine the reality of his own life.”

TRADITIONAL METER IN LARKIN’S POETRY:

If Larkin’s style was traditional, the subject matter of his poetry was derived exclusively from modern life.

·      ‘Aubade’ is a poem written in traditional iambic pentamenter lines. The poem follows a strict rhyme scheme: ABABCCDEED. The poem begins with iambic pentameter.

I work all day, and get half-drunk at night.

Ian Hamilton wrote:

“Supremely among recent poets, [Larkin] was able to accommodate a talking voice to the requirements of strict meters and tight rhymes, and he had a faultless ear for the possibilities of the iambic line.”

PESSIMISM IN LARKIN’S POETRY:

Larkin was much influenced by pessimistic novels of Thomas Hardy and this pessimism is evident in many of his poems. Andrew Motion comments:

"Larkin has often been regarded as a hopeless, inflexible pessimist"

Many of the poems express the pessimistic outlook of Larkin on religion, society and present government. One such poem is ‘Church Going’. Here, he expresses his dark view about church and religion. This poem depicts the decline of religious faith and a decrease in the number of people attending church services. Entering a church, LARKIN looks around himself and describes everything that meets his eyes, the fading flowers which had been placed there on Sunday last, the Bibles, and so on. He wonders what would happen to the churches when people have lost their faith completely. He speculates upon the future of these churches some of which might become museums with their display.

CONCLUSION:

Thus, we may summarize by saying that Philip Larkin was one of the most influential leader of the Movement Poetry of the 1950s. His use of simple, clear and colloquial language, his dislike for mysticism and ambiguity, his realism, his pessimism and his use of traditional rhyming and meters make him a true Movement Poet and a true Anti-Modernist poet.

Click to watch a video lecture on Movement Poetry.