A Study of Reading Habits Rhyme Scheme

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A Study of Reading Habits

Themes

Advent and reality: Dissimilar some of Larkin's other poems with this theme, he is not being unknowingly deceived by something. On the reverse, he is choosing to replace reality with the fantasy world of his books. He allows himself to become then lost in his narratives that he kids himself he tin can "deal out the onetime correct hook/to dingy dogs". Equally he has grown older, he has realised how these fantasies practice non provide fulfilment. On the contrary, they highlight the disappointment of reality. He so implies that 1 should turn to booze ("go stewed") as an alternative; all the same this is another way to escape reality, albeit a more than destructive one.
Identity: Every bit a child, the persona clearly struggled with his identity. The only way he could "go on cool" was through adopting the characters of books. All the same, in doing so he avoided facing his ain shortcomings. When books could no longer provide him with fulfilment, Larkin was left with the same problems as before. I think we can all resonate with Larkin'south childhood fantasies. There is something acceptable and expected about retreating into a superhero persona as a young kid. So why is he so disquisitional of this? Our sense of identity is very fluid, and tin can be hands influenced by the globe around us. In the same way, Larkin is faced with a crisis when he reaches adulthood: he no longer considers himself the hero but the failure who exacerbates the charm of the star human action.
Change and growing older: The characters with whom Larkin relates alter as he grows upward. This could be because his perceptions have inverse, the person he wants to be has changed or the person he is has changed. He begins by associating himself with potent heroes, then in the second stanza he resonates with the villains. This could reflect the different ways he would like to combat his bug at these stages in life, or the qualities he values in others. There is a dramatic shift in tone with the tertiary stanza, one of bitterness and blues. The language used here is less like the descriptiveness of the previous stanzas (these reflect the mode of novels). The sentences are more disjointed, with the enjambment and caesura seeming more prominent. Has Larkin really changed? He nevertheless seeks escapism from his life as a coward ("the chap/who's yellow"); he merely seeks this through different means. His conclusion as an developed is actually more harmful that that which he fabricated equally a child. Yet we know that Larkin wasn't an alcoholic, posing the question whether this is a persona or himself. I would debate that he is presenting an culling view of literature that he has considered himself, but does not necessarily hold.
Women: Larkin ever finds a way to make a disparaging comment about women somehow. Here we see that he "broke them up like meringues", presenting them as weak objects of consumption. All the same, each stanza is written from the perspective of the persona at the stage in life he is describing. Arguably he did once consider women similar this, but now recognises that this does non represent reality. Interestingly, Larkin refers to the female person species every bit "women" equally a seeming boyish, and then as "daughter[due south]" every bit an developed. This could be a reflection of his deteriorating intellect, or the way in which he esteemed girls highly equally a teenager; they were something to aspire to achieve. At present they are 'girls' as they make him miserable, reminding him of his failures and inadequacies adjacent to the heroes.
Escapism: Perhaps the biggest theme in this poem, every bit Larkin reads every bit a child in order to escape the mundaneness of his babyhood. Books "cured virtually things" for him, suggesting an affliction with life or a feeling ill with himself. Like all methods of escapism though, one must render eventually to reality. Larkin's childhood fantasising almost "the old right hook" and "cloak and fangs" just accentuated the mundaneness of his own life, exacerbating his unsolved problems. Moreover, he was left with the aftereffects of his habit: "inch-thick specs". Equally an adult, he flippantly refers to a new form of escapism (I don't recall he ways this literally though, it is more than a throwaway blasé comment) - alcohol. This is even less sensible than reading, equally it increases one's problems.
Innocence, babyhood and naivety: The poet still seems to retain his previous naivety. In the same mode every bit he did when he was a child, he resonates with certain characters in books - just non the ones he wants to. The artless idea that books still correspond reality remains. Whilst on the surface it seems he has now discovered reality, he remains naive to the fact that no form of escapism tin deliver him from his problems. The persona in the second stanza is less innocent than his younger self. He empathises with evil characters, his motives women and sex activity. Withal the descriptive language is synonymic of a novel and he refers to vampires. Clearly he has non recognised he is living in a fantasy world. There is a sense that he recognises his stupidity; he reminisces about his "inch-thick specs", providing an interesting antithesis to the vampiric imagery. This mocking is accentuated by the pun on his name and casual adjective "lark".

Links

Essential beauty: this verse form likewise discusses the idea of appearance and reality, however humans aren't choosing to immerse themselves in the fantasy of advertising. "Giant loaves" and "well-counterbalanced families" "block the ends of streets"; we cannot escape them. Larkin on the other paw chooses to escape into the fantasy world of books, a form of escapism from "the rained-on streets". The presentation of adverts is similar to that of novels; they are "in frames as large every bit rooms". Whilst books are smaller, they also reach a broad audience. Yet the billboard posters are "pure coldness to our alive imperfect eyes", whereas novels represented a remedy for Larkin. Whilst adverts "stare beyond this earth" books transport Larkin across this globe.
Love Songs in Age: In ASORH Larkin is an adult reflecting on how books failed to offering him adequate escapism from life's difficulties. They may have been a cure when he was younger; on reflection he judges them "a load of crap". LSIA follows a similar narrative: a widower considers how her CDs used to give her an "unfailing sense of beingness immature", whereas at present they are symbols of how love failed "to solve, and satisfy". Is Larkin suggesting that nosotros shouldn't let ourselves be affected by fabric possessions? Perhaps he is saying that it is not these things which are "a load of crap", just that the human relationship we have with them is. The differences in language used by Larkin are another congruency; he describes the love associated with the CDs through elaborate imagery and metaphors. In the aforementioned mode, his childhood fantasies are outlined in a narrative style. In both poems, references to reality and disappointment are mundane and dejected in tone.
Sunny Prestatyn: In ASORH, Larkin concludes past substantially denigrating that which took him into a fantasy world, reminded him of his own failings, and didn't solve his bug. Conspicuously Larkin does all the same read (he'south a librarian), so either the person is non him or a rebellious fragment of him. Ultimately, "books are a load of crap" because they highlight the cowardice and prosaicness of his ain beingness. The glamorous model in her "tautened white satin" was somewhen violated because she was "too good for this life". Arguably, she reminded her attackers of reality's deficiencies, just as books for Larkin'southward person reminded him of his failures. Should we then obliterate all forms of escapism, everything representing fantasy and escapism? Larkin uses crude linguistic communication in both poems, notwithstanding in SP it is to accentuate the violence of the attackers whereas in the other he is personally attacking the object of his fantasies.
Return to Cardiff: Here we see Abse returning to a place that once represented "what [he]…wanted information technology to be"; information technology was the place of his childhood fantasies. When he returns in that location as an adult, he loses these "sense reflections". Similarly, what was once a form of childhood escapism for Larkin is in adulthood perceived much closer to reality. Notwithstanding Abse accepts this change, embraces information technology, so "walked on". Larkin'southward persona decides to "get stewed" instead.
Welsh Valley Movie theatre: Abse spends his childhood in the theatre, fed unrealistic story lines of "the daughter next door" being kissed by "cuff-linked Cary Grant". There is a sense, though, that Abse is enlightened of the falsehood of this presentation, clear from his bright carnival imagery and perceptive noticing of the "glycerine tears". Nevertheless, he has called to visit the cinema. The whole glamorous portrayal only heightens the bleakness of "the familiar malice of the dreary". We can link the theme of advent/reality to Larkin'southward poem, in that his problems do not disappear when he disappears into a book. As an developed, he is left with the same longing to escape life's harshness. Although nosotros know that life is non "a funfair of gaudy vivid,/changing colours" and that we are not having "ripping times in the dark", we choose to immerse ourselves in those that "cured most things".
The Game: In this poem Abse describes a football match from the perspective of its observers. They instil information technology with such intense spiritual meaning that information technology supersedes the presumably grim headlines which "threatening newsboys shout". This form of escapism is emulated past Larkin's person in ASORH, who ruins his optics through reading which "cured nearly things". The supporters in the former verse form seek a remedy for "natural…nighttime" and "appropriate…rain", simply as Larkin wants to forget his powerlessness.
A Figure of viii: The protagonist in this poem suppresses a deep anger towards authority and the messages they present him with. His concluding graffiti condemns "Winnie the Pooh" and "Mr Theophilus", perhaps the former for its part in "a story of royalty-loving Christopher Robin" and the latter because he feeds him these stories. He shares Larkin's concluding aversion to literature, because for him information technology represents a false reality. But in both poems books seem to be an outlet for a wider dissatisfaction, Larkin's with himself and the male child with authority.
Send no Money: This poem bases itself on an unpromising advertising, incorporating themes of time and appearance/reality. The poem concludes with a similarly crude reference to ASORH: "sod all". The poet has reached the conclusion that fourth dimension has proven that he wasted his youth seeking truth, which in reality was no more a "truss-advertizing". By adulthood in ASORH, the persona draws a similar conclusion about books - they "are a load of crap" and reflect the fluidity of our identity. There is a similarly artless air to both final remarks, every bit if they are being said by a spiteful teenager.
Faith Healing: These two poems share the idea that pursuing something too much will inevitably lead to disappointment. The women in FH use the healer every bit a fashion to heal their lack of beloved. Although on the surface they "re-awake at kindness", "all time has disproved" that "null cures" - not even escapist books - what we lack.

Structure

ABCBAC rhyme scheme: like most of Larkin'south poems, this has a very subtle rhyme scheme. It is marginally more perceptible than others, however it is disrupted by the enjambment. The AC on the end of the ABCB rhyme scheme creates a tone of blues and thwarting; despite the persona's attempts to escape reality, it is persistent
The enjambment and caesura are significantly more than marked in the terminal stanza, creating a less markedly poetic effect. Equally the persona loses his interest in books, his language becomes more mundane and disjointed.

Other

He is bitter because he did things in his imagination that he should have done in existent life; ignoring reality only leads to lack of fulfilment and resentment
This poem could be an ultimate expression of the Movement Larkin was a part of, aimed at the reader who doesn't appreciate fancy poetry associated with Modernism