When was ‘The Whitsun Weddings’ published?
1964
What were Larkin’s parents like?
Had a bad marriage, father was fascist, authoritarian, atheist - “they fuck you up”
Where and when did he go to Uni
Oxford uni 1940
Where did he live for most of his life?
Hull - appealed to him because it was “on the edge”
What religious and political environment did Larkin live in?
Post- war Britain still facing the pressures of social traditions/constructs of a C of E society with fixed ideas about morality and presentation
However there was a gradual liberalisation of values as austerity fades away…
Larkin and relationships?
- Had female relationships but has been seen to be a misogynist - arundel tomb inspired by Monica jones
- felt a duty towards his mother - ‘love songs in age’ and ‘home is so sad’
Who wrote and Autobiography about Larkin?
Andrew Motion
What does Larkin expose of middle England - which he supposedly spoke for?
The more sinister side - racism, sexism
Larkin’s literary influences?
- Hardy - pessimistic realism
- TS Eliot - ideas of the contemporary decline of civilisation
- Ted Hughes - both cynical, but also rivals
- ‘The Movement’ - including Davie, Jennings and Gunn - economy of expression and tightness of verse form
Who were the ‘Angry Young Men’?
Novelists who were part of the generation disappointed by post war Britain, cumulating in a sense of portrayal in their writing - Larkin wrote ‘Jill’ which was full of irony and mockery typical of this group
When was ‘Mean Time’ published?
1993
When and Where did Duffy study philosophy?
Liverpool uni from 1974-1977
What is Duffy today?
A poet laureate awarded an OBE
What is Duffy’s experience of religion?
- She comes from a Roman Catholic background which she rejected in adulthood, seeing it as male-dominated and stifling
- see poems ‘Confession’, ‘Litany’, and ‘Prayer’
Politics and Duffy?
Socialist sympathies which were at odds with the capitalist, Tory government
Experienced liberalisation - general sense of of optimism and trepidation in her poetry
Duffy’s literary influences?
- sonnet form from English Renaissance
- conceits from the metaphysical poets
- sensualism from John Keats
- monologues from Browning
- The Liverpool poets - poetry that can be performed - auditory !
- intimate reading style from Seamus Heaney
