Larkin’s use of language Essay

The rimes that I have elect to comment on from the collection The Whitsun Weddings by Philip Larkin be Here, Nothing to be verbalize and Faith Healing. I have chosen to write about these three because they are all very different in terms of theme, language, verse form and Larkins message and purpose. Here is the opening poem of The Whitsun Weddings. It locates the lector in Larkins England and centres most a journey the protagonist is make from London to Northumberland via Larkins hometown of Hull.Larkin uses a spew of language and writing devices to express his feelings and at beats his prejudices by his poetry and he does this especially well in Here. The source stanza begins with veering eastern. The volume swerving suggests a dangerous movement and a deprivation of influence from the person or thing that is swerving. When someone swerves it is usually to countermand something so by using the devise swerving Larkin is immediately presenting the reader with a se nse of avoidance and lack of control.Larkin hence goes on to say that the fields are too thin and thistled to be called meadows. This shows that he is passing through an area of land, which can non preferably be classed as countryside entirely is not rather urban. This could possibly be a representation of how Larkin is feeling at the time about support because even the countryside is not genuine therefore Larkin may be commenting on the falsity of life because of its middle(a) state.The words Thin and thistled are irate enceinteing words that make up alliteration. This alliteration may have been apply to mimic the gentle assibilation sound of the train or can miserable along the track or road. The approximative sounding words are believably applied as a vent-hole for Larkins disdain on a philosophical take for the falsity and lack of true meaning in life and on a smaller level for the land he is passing through that is not quite beautiful bountiful to be countryside. A technique that interests me is apply in the line harsh-named cheque. This word uses a repeating of the /h/ sound, which is quite a hard sound to pass judgment and therefore truly halts the readers rhythm. This includes alliteration of the /h/ sound but also a kind of onomatopoeia because the word halt is actually a word that sounds like a stoppage or halt and actively brings the reader to a momentary pause. The word harsh is actually a harsh word, which adds more speech pattern to the phrase.This technique is very effective because it immerses the reader in the journey of the protagonist as it actually halts their flow when the protagonists train comes to a halt. Larkin uses a attractor of alliteration in Here, an example of this occurs in the early stanza when alliteration occurs four time in the space of two lines turn to solitude of skies and scarecrows, haystacks, hares and pheasants. There is a repetition of the word swerving which reiterates the lack of control of the protagonist.It also shows the part of the journey that is pickings him through the countryside and he is swerving east away from the towns and towards the countryside. The repetition of the /s/ hissing sound gives a sense of hasten and also replicates the sound of the train or car moving. The /s/ sound runs end-to-end two lines which links them together and helps march the onward movement of the protagonist and the personation of time. The actual shape of the letter /s/ is sleek and therefore mimics the journey flowing onward.In the last line of the first stanza Larkin describes the entrance to a town by saying the shining gull-marked grind to a halt gathers to the impress of a large town. Gull-marked mud can be used as a comparison to harsh-named halt a few lines previously and demonstrates the difference amidst town and country. The comparison among harsh-named halt and gull-marked mud can also be drawn through the hyphen between the first two words (which could be u sed to show the onward bowel movement of the journey) and the alliteration used of the /h/ and /m/ sounds.