Compare and contrast subject
Wild oats:
- about 2 girls
- subject is misguided young love
- marriage / engagements
- tragedy & regret
IAVB:
- burnt a girl (to catch attention?)
- marriage/engagements alluded in symbolism
- pain, hurt and regret
Contrast the context of the poems (8)
Wild Oats:
- Larkin never married
- young relationship (he was 20 and with a 16 year old)
- never completely commits
- autobiographical approach
- his story is complicated by more than one person being in his life
IAVB:
- worked as a prison guard and uses their stories
- part of a larger anthology
- not his story (adopts a persona)
Contrast the deeper themes of the poems (7)(6)
Wild Oats :
- Both confessional
- Both about approaching relationships in an inappropriate manner
- Both have feelings of failure from their relationships
- Unfaithful emotionally
- guilt to what he contributed to his relationship ?
- More ambiguous on what he did
- lack of care for girl. Just takes is as an experience rather than a regret
IAVB :
- Guilt?
- Love
- About relationships built on trust and how he betrayed that
- more direct and physical outcome, clear what he did
- Both have self awareness somewhat
- did they learn from this ?
Contrast the titles of the poems
Wild Oats:
- Play on words of the idiom “sow your wild Oats” which encourages people to be promiscuous and wild before settling into maturity.
- this is ironic because Larkin regrets not sowing his wild Oats with the bosomy English rose
- hints at regret from childhood
- selfishness in that he regrets not bettering his situation with the English rose instead of regretting how he played with the emotions of the girl in specs
IAVB:
- all is focused upon how bothered (or not) he is about what he did
- This is selfish either way
- This is about what he did do
