How is sexual desire presented in Dry Point?
- Constant, inescapable and deeply restrictive force.
- Leads to disappointment and dullness.
- A life free from sexual desire is pure and almost holy, but unobtainable.
‘Endlessly time-honoured irritant’
- Sexual desire constant and inescapable cycle, a distraction that restricts us.
‘It will grow again, until we begin dying.’
- Emphasised via end stop.
- Desire is continuous.
- References the experience of an orgasm, in French, referred to as ‘le petit morte’ meaning ‘little death’ - our insatiable sexual desire is only fulfilled during this moment.
‘it inflates, till we’re enclosed’
‘the struggle to get out’
- As sexual desire intensifies, feeling of pressure and restriction does too - trapped.
‘Bestial, intent, real’
- Asyndetic listing.
- Sexual desire has a tangible effect on us.
- Desire is animalistic, illogical, distracts and motivates us.
‘the bright blown walls collapse’
- Plosive alliteration and metaphor - moment of release - powerful moment of change in attempting to satisfy sexual desire.
‘sad scapes’
‘ashen hills’
‘shrunken lakes’
- Metaphor of desolate landscapes.
- Sexual gratification leads to sadness, disappointment and lack of fulfilment.
‘Birmingham magic all discredited’
- Reference to city famous for manufacturing jewellery/wedding rings.
- Sexual desire degrades and corrupts purity of ‘sacred’ marriage.
What does the final stanza communicate in Dry Point?
Imagines a life free from burden of needing to satisfy sexual desire. Craves existence free of suffocating/oppressive nature.
‘how remote that bare and sunscrubbed room’
‘that padlocked cube of light’
- Distant - almost unobtainable. Untainted by corruption - clean.
- Image of purity - state of innocence is padlocked beyond his ‘bestial’ urges.
‘Where you, we dream, obtain no right of entry’
Impossible to achieve a life that is not defined by oppressive sexual desire. His desires will recur, and lead to disappointment and unfulfiment - cycle.
What did Larkin famously say about sex?
‘Sexual intercourse is always disappointing, often repulsive - like asking someone else to blow your nose for you.’
True or False: Sex is considered a societal deception in this poem, like religion and marriage, places, but will not bring happiness expected.
TRUE
What is the main theme of Dry Point?
Desire.
