1. The Whitsun WeddingsBy,Philip Larkin

2. Philip Larkin 3. Philip LarkinPhilip Larkin was born in 1922 August 9 in the place Coventry . Philip Larkin is amajor British poet and typical representative of a new movement in English poetry .His early poems shows the influence of W.B.Yeats . Larkin and other poets of the newmovement repeat the intellectual poetry of Ezra Pound and W.H.Auden . Larkinspoetry is distinguished for its final sense of form , clarity of expression , intelligentcraftsman ship and thoughtful realism . His Notable works include The WhitsunWeddings (1964), High Windows (1974)etc. 4. Poem 5. About the poemLarkin describes a stopping-train journey southwards from Paragon Station,Kingston upon Hull, where Larkin was a librarian at the university, on a hot WhitsunSaturday afternoon. It has always been supposed the poem was based on an actualtrain journey Larkin made in 1955 on Whitsun Saturday, a day which was popular forweddings at that time[1] though since there was a rail strike on that weekend Larkinscholar John Osborne now thinks the journey an unlikely one to have taken place.Larkin's letters mention two journeys, one to Grantham (not at Whit, some weddings),and one to London (not at Whit, no weddings), that may have been conflated in thepoem. 6. The technical brilliance of LarkinThe Whitsun Weddings is technically perfect . The poem takes us throughthe English country side to the urban landscapes . The very movement is that of aleisurely journey , the lines frequently pausing as if at so many stations . Just as atrain halts and proceeds the verse also shows enjoyment , the continuation of sensewithout 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 thepoem proceeds through interconnected stanzas, just like the compartments of atrain . The descriptions are highly realistic , there is a logical development of ideasand a regular stanza structure . 7. THEME AND LANGUAGE OF THE POEMThematically also the poem is important . The three most important aspects ofhuman life are birth , population and death according to T.S. Eliot . The poet investsthe railway journey with importance by peopling it with marriage parties . A marriagecan be successful or a total failure. Whatever the outcome the participants arechanged forever. While the couples are totally absorbed in the landscape , Larkin sitslooking at them thinking about the future of their married life . Then the train stopsand a sense of decline and doom comes to the poet . There is the inevitable sense offalling as arrows fall . The rain means dampness and cold . The images of arrows andrain also suggest the vigor of the couples . Rain is the symbol of fertility also . That lifeis a progression , 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 isalso brought out well in the poem . The poems greatness lies in the way in whichseeing and understanding the actions of the different couples harmonizes theirvarious experiences 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)