The Theme of Literature
Part 1
Great literature is defined as writings that are considered to have permanent value, excellence of form and great emotional values. Philip Larkin's 'This be the Verse' does not contain many if at all any of those such values but it does contain some important others. When I first read this poem it gave me the feeling that Larkin just hates kids and that we are all faulty at heart; but after reading it a couple more times it gave me the impression that there was an underlying tone that he was trying to get across. He isn't trying to say that kids are bad and that we are all faulty but rather that we are born, and the person who we become is derived by the way in which we are brought up. When he states that "man hands on misery to man" it feels like he is saying that when a parent is showing negative side effects that it is the duty of the child to learn and understand what those are. Also when he says that "they fill you with the faults they had" it appears to me that rather than taking it into a negative light it should be taken as a teaching that you learn from others mistakes. Another important feature of this poem is that it does contain a universal theme. The theme of learning from each others own mistakes can be placed into every household and every ideal of life. When one of my family members makes a mistake I am not likely to make that same mistake after them, because if I did make that same mistake it would just go along with the the simplistic first impression that we are all destined to be faulty. The vulgarity and the embellished negative effect that this poem portrays (at least for the first read) would not put it into the category of great literature but nonetheless it does carry some aspects of great literature and therefore it should be appropriately placed into the section of good readable literature.
Part 2
The reading of 'Simple Recipes' gave me a new thought of the meaning behind Larkin's 'This Be the Verse'. 'Simple Recipes' told of the things that children learn as they grow up. At first the child is in absolute awe of what the parent can do, everything that they do and accomplish is absolute magic. Children gobble it up and only see the magical components of everything. But as one gets older that singular belief that the adult is such a magician falters and is replaced by what is the truth. In the story the little girl realizes that her once magical father is really not so strong and magical at all, but rather he himself is fragile. He has one glaring weakness that becomes more clear as the years go on. He is scared of and cannot handle the fact that he is raising children that will grow up and rebel upon those who raised them. The story helps amplify Larkin's poem by making you rethink what you had determined the poems meaning to be. 'Simple Recipes' and 'This Be the Verse' both state in different forms that children are born innocent and that they retain everything that they see which will in turn form them into the adults that they will eventually be. The theme that can be discovered by both pieces of work is that the innocence of children will help enable the eventuality that they will obtain the characteristics that their parents try ever so hard to keep from them. This theme gives Larkin's poem great meaning is that children are born clean of slate but will retain all of which their parents intended on shielding them from.
Great literature is defined as writings that are considered to have permanent value, excellence of form and great emotional values. Philip Larkin's 'This be the Verse' does not contain many if at all any of those such values but it does contain some important others. When I first read this poem it gave me the feeling that Larkin just hates kids and that we are all faulty at heart; but after reading it a couple more times it gave me the impression that there was an underlying tone that he was trying to get across. He isn't trying to say that kids are bad and that we are all faulty but rather that we are born, and the person who we become is derived by the way in which we are brought up. When he states that "man hands on misery to man" it feels like he is saying that when a parent is showing negative side effects that it is the duty of the child to learn and understand what those are. Also when he says that "they fill you with the faults they had" it appears to me that rather than taking it into a negative light it should be taken as a teaching that you learn from others mistakes. Another important feature of this poem is that it does contain a universal theme. The theme of learning from each others own mistakes can be placed into every household and every ideal of life. When one of my family members makes a mistake I am not likely to make that same mistake after them, because if I did make that same mistake it would just go along with the the simplistic first impression that we are all destined to be faulty. The vulgarity and the embellished negative effect that this poem portrays (at least for the first read) would not put it into the category of great literature but nonetheless it does carry some aspects of great literature and therefore it should be appropriately placed into the section of good readable literature.
Part 2
The reading of 'Simple Recipes' gave me a new thought of the meaning behind Larkin's 'This Be the Verse'. 'Simple Recipes' told of the things that children learn as they grow up. At first the child is in absolute awe of what the parent can do, everything that they do and accomplish is absolute magic. Children gobble it up and only see the magical components of everything. But as one gets older that singular belief that the adult is such a magician falters and is replaced by what is the truth. In the story the little girl realizes that her once magical father is really not so strong and magical at all, but rather he himself is fragile. He has one glaring weakness that becomes more clear as the years go on. He is scared of and cannot handle the fact that he is raising children that will grow up and rebel upon those who raised them. The story helps amplify Larkin's poem by making you rethink what you had determined the poems meaning to be. 'Simple Recipes' and 'This Be the Verse' both state in different forms that children are born innocent and that they retain everything that they see which will in turn form them into the adults that they will eventually be. The theme that can be discovered by both pieces of work is that the innocence of children will help enable the eventuality that they will obtain the characteristics that their parents try ever so hard to keep from them. This theme gives Larkin's poem great meaning is that children are born clean of slate but will retain all of which their parents intended on shielding them from.