The Saturday poem: Philip Larkin

[nodbear]

I know we have had Larkin before now on TSP but this somehow leapt out to me of possible poems to choose. It is'Water,' a relatively early poem ( From The Whitsun Weddings published in 1964 )but has the distinctive tones which were to become so well known later.

Comments

[mylodon]

That reminds me of something by Adrian Plass, which I must fish out and share - maybe in Lent?

[nodbear]

Indeed ! am sure that would be a good idea.

probably coming much sooner than one would like = Lent that is !

[anteros_lmc]

Larkin is one of these English poets who has rather passed me by. What little I have read of him seems quite foreign to me. This is lovely though; clever and witty. It made me smile :) Also, do you know that contemplation of pure water is a recurring theme in Gaelic poetry? I think it may also go hand in hand with contemplation of the divine.

[nodbear]

I did have some vague idea about the water thing in Celtic poetry and certainly many places in Wales which were sacred both before and after the coming of Christianity are fountains and springs and some of them still with votive offerings left beside them today.

[anteros_lmc]

I'm not sure if the water thing is a feature of Welsh poetry too, I will ask himself sometime.

certainly many places in Wales which were sacred both before and after the coming of Christianity are fountains and springs and some of them still with votive offerings left beside them today.
Yes indeed, same up here. Holy wells are some of the earliest CHristian sites in Scotland and they undoubtedly preserve older traditions.

[eglantine_br]

Water is life, after all. The first life we ever knew was in water. And we are drawn to it, for practical and other reasons.

The poem is lovely. But for some reason I was imagining a church with stained glass, and pews and all, and up in front one of those chemical showers they have in labs, with a string you pull for a soaking! How silly.