The Large Cool Store

Analysis of The Large Cool Store by Philip Larkin

"The large cool store selling cheap clothes/ Set out in simple sizes plainly"

- Could be a positive or negative view of the shop. 'Cool' - could mean trendy, or literally cold, unpleasant. 'Cheap' - would be an advantage to shoppers, but could mean tacky. 'Set out in simple sizes plainly' - could mean it's easier to find what you're looking for, but could be degrading to the shoppers, saying they are simple natured and can't handle complexity. 

"In browns and greys, maroon and navy"

- Boring, bland colours for the working class during the day.

"Lemon, sapphire, moss-green, rose"

- Feminine colours for nightwear - not just yellow, blue, green, and pink. Different sides to personality?

"To suppose/ They share that world"

- Incredulous; can't believe someone can wear such different clothing.

- Commoners have no taste, the clothes they wear are man-made and of poor quality, and it's weird that they can wear different types of clothes.

 

Home Is So Sad

Analysis of Home Is So Sad by Philip Larkin

"It stays as it was left" "As if to win them back" "bereft of anyone to please, it withers so"

- House is personified; adds sympathy. 'withers' - like the house is dying.

"Having no heart to put aside the theft"

- House has been robbed of its family.

"And turn again to what it started as,/ A joyous shot at how things ought to be"

 - House is supposed to have people in it, but the time has passed and it has to move on.

 

 

Reference Back

Analysis of Reference Back by Philip Larkin

- Get the feeling he doesn't want to be with his mother; in separate rooms, shouting to each other across the house, wasting his time.

"Three decades later made this sudden bridge/ From your unsatisfactory age/ To my unsatisfactory prime."

- Bridge - musical term - literally made a reference. He's in the prime time of life but is still no happier than his old mother. Can we ever be truly satisfied?

"They link us to our losses: worse,/ They show us what we have as it once was,/ Blindingly undiminished, just as though/ By acting differently we could have kept it so"

- Music - reminds you of what you've lost and what could have been, we shouldn't have long memories because remembering is too painful.

- Similar to 'Love Songs In Age' - unsatisfied with life.

As Bad As A Mile

Analysis of As Bad As A Mile by Philip Larkin

'Watching the shield core

Striking the basket, skidding across the floor

Shows less and less of luck, and more and more

Of failure spreading back up the arm

Earlier and earlier, the unraised hand calm,

The apple unbitten in the palm.'

- Presents the idea of human greed; the satisfaction of eating the apple wasn't enough, the persona wanted even more. Disappointment in life is inevitable because we always want too much.

- Such a simple task that when it's failed, it feels even worse - even if the apple core was only an inch away from the bin, it feels like a mile.

The Importance of Elsewhere

Analysis of The Importance of Elsewhere by Philip Larkin

"Lonely in Ireland, since it was not home,/ Strangeness made sense"

It makes sense to be an outsider in a new place because it's obvious to everyone that you're a tourist.

"Living in England has no such excuse"

 "Here no elsewhere underwrites my existence"

It's okay that he's different in Ireland because it's not his home, not where he belongs, but when he's at home there's no excuse, he should fit in but he doesn't.

Sunny Prestatyn

Analysis of Sunny Prestatyn by Philip Larkin

- Sexuality used to promote the place - mainly breasts and thighs.

- Uses crude language to describe how she has been defaced - makes a point of demonstrating the lack of maturity. The language becomes more degrading as the poster gets more defaced.

- We see something beautiful and want to make it more realistic so we give it flaws and things we can laugh about.

- Was the cancer poster there and being covered up by something nice? Or is it replacing a nice thing because the reality is life sucks and if you ruin one thing it leads to more bad things?

MCMXIV

Analysis of MCMXIV by Philip Larkin

"Those long uneven lines/ Standing as patiently/ As if they were stretched outside/ The Oval or Villa Park"

People lining up to go war - a lot of the time in the trenches was spent waiting around bored. Cricket - game ground were common places of recruitment.

"Grinning as if it were all/ An August Bank Holiday lark"

Happy - unaware of what they're signing up to - propaganda giving false reality.

"And the shut shops, the bleached/ Established names on the sunblinds,/ The farthings and sovereigns/ And dark-clothed children at play"

Everything that is being left behind, peaceful last image of life before going to war.

"And the countryside not caring"

Nature doesn't care for men, the war is so different to what they're used to - countryside is supposed to be a peaceful safe place.

"Never such innocence,/ Never before or since"

The war had a lasting effect on England due to what it brought with it - first time weapons etc - but did this innocence we long for actually exist before the fall? Or do the war memorials create the idea of something that never existed in the first place?

"Without a word-- the men/ Leaving the gardens tidy"

 Trying to leave things in a nice way because they probably won't be coming back

"The thousands of marriages,/ Lasting a little while longer"

Getting married in desperation before going to war - they can die together.