1. The Whitsun WeddingsBy,Philip Larkin

2. Philip Larkin 3. Philip Larkin Philip Larkin was born in 1922 August 9 in the place Coventry . Philip Larkin is a major British poet and typical representative of a new movementin English poetry . His early poems shows the influence of W.B.Yeats . Larkin and other poets of the new movement repeat the intellectual poetry of EzraPound and W.H.Auden . Larkins poetry is distinguished for its final sense of form , clarity of expression ,intelligent craftsman ship and thoughtful realism . His Notable works include The Whitsun Weddings (1964), High Windows(1974)etc. 4. Poem 5. About the poem Larkin describes a stopping-train journey southwards from Paragon Station,Kingston upon Hull, where Larkin was a librarian at the university, on a hotWhitsun Saturday afternoon. It has always been supposed the poem was based on an actual train journey Larkinmade in 1955 on Whitsun Saturday, a day which was popular for weddings at thattime though since there was a rail strike on that weekend Larkin scholar JohnOsborne now thinks the journey an unlikely one to have taken place. Larkin's letters mention two journeys, one to Grantham (not at Whit, someweddings), and one to London (not at Whit, no weddings), that may have beenconflated in the poem. 6. The technical brilliance of Larkin The Whitsun Weddings is technically perfect . The poem takes us through the English country side to the urban landscapes . The very movement is that of a leisurely journey , the lines frequently pausing asif at so many stations . Just as a train halts and proceeds the verse also shows enjoyment , thecontinuation of sense without a pause beyond the end of the line . The rhyme scheme is ab ab cde cde . The rhyming scheme helps to link beginnings to end and end to beginnings,suggesting the jaults and movement of a slow train . After the first two stanzas the poem proceeds through interconnected stanzas,just like the compartments of a train . The descriptions are highly realistic , there is a logical development of ideas and aregular stanza structure . 7. THEME AND LANGUAGE OF THE POEMThematically also the poem is important . The three most important aspects of humanlife are birth , population and death according to T.S. Eliot . The poet invests therailway journey with importance by peopling it with marriage parties . A marriage canbe successful or a total failure. Whatever the outcome the participants are changedforever. While the couples are totally absorbed in the landscape , Larkin sits looking atthem thinking about the future of their married life . Then the train stops and a senseof decline and doom comes to the poet . There is the inevitable sense of falling asarrows fall . The rain means dampness and cold . The images of arrows and rain alsosuggest the vigor of the couples . Rain is the symbol of fertility also . That life is aprogression , toward decay and destruction is recurring theme in Larkins poem . Here, it is mixed with happiness and the sense of doom , the sense of alienation is alsobrought out well in the poem . The poems greatness lies in the way in which seeingand understanding the actions of the different couples harmonizes their variousexperiences into a unified impression . 8. languageThe description in the poem is graphic as is always the case with the imagery inLarkins poems . The poet saw the backs of the houses on the way , the rivers broad andlevel , wide farms , the cattle casting shadows on the ground canals with industrial froth and acres of dismantled cars . The poem also contains a graphic description of the peopleon the railway platforms and the people getting into the train . The girls are described aspomaded, the fathers with seamy foreheads , the mothers loud and fat and an uncleshouting's smut. The references to the newly married couples are also interesting . Thepoem is full of chronical and satirical phrases. Marriage described not only as a joyfuloccasion but also as a happy funeral and a religious wounding.When the train finally stops , there is a sense of decline and doom to the poet . Likethe train which stops at the terminus , with passengers lacking bonds of love, going theirseparate ways , there is the note of inevitable dissolution . The poem ends on a note ofhappiness and the sense of doom on the part of the poet. The speeding arrow symbolizesthe train. It falls somewhere, there is rain germination , energy of life. When the traincomes to a halt , life also grinds to a halt . There is the inevitable sense of falling anddissolution both in the trains journey and in life . Thus the sense of alienation in themodern world . It is also brought out well in the poem . 9. The poets who influenced Philip LarkinThomas hardy William BUTLER YEATS 10. Headstone marking Larkin's grave at Cottingham municipal cemetery 11. Larkin's home from 1974 to his death in 1985 (photo2008)