Here - Larkin

Question 1

Summary - Here

Answer 1

• train journey from London to hull
• train journey allows for a philisophical reflection
• reflection on an ordinary, lower - middle class life
• finding meaning in the ordinary

Question 2

What are the three clear movements in Here?

Answer 2

Stanza 1 = journey/ countryside
Stanza 2 + 3 = Hull
Stanza 4 = sea - the end of the line

Question 3

Key themes - Here

Answer 3

• journey and transition - movement from urban to rural - mirrors the search for meaning
• isolation and freedom
• observing the ordinary

Question 4

Structure and Tone - Here

Answer 4

• written in four long stanzas - each represent a stage of the journey
• continuous enjambment reflects movement
• begins observational and critical of urban life
• ends with a sense of detachment

Question 5

Context - Here

Answer 5

• typical of Larkin’s focus on ordinary English life and landscapes
• reflects post war concerns with urbanisation
• the moment - ordinary life, clear and accessible language, scepticism

Question 6

key quote Here - ‘swerving east’ ‘swerving through fields’, swerving to solitude’

Answer 6

• lines 2 - 6 - alliteration grouped in pairs
• repetitions of swerving - constant movement
• creates a sense of what here is
• quick moving stanza

Question 7

key quotes Here - ‘lonliness clarifies.’

Answer 7

• end stop line draws attention
• syntax between stanza’s 3 + 4
• long sentence mirrors the long train journey
• people who live on the fringes of hull are defined by lonliness, absence and isolation

Question 8

key poems to compare with Here

Answer 8

Larkin - The Whitsun Weddings
Duffy - Never go back
Duffy - Nostalgia