Here - Larkin

The poem 'Here' by Philip Larkin is about a journey on a train to Hull within the eyes of the persona. Throughout the poem the reader is encapsulated into the journey through the references to movement and speed. Larkin also shows the positive and negative thoughts of the setting around him while he is on his train journey. Larkin describes attractive descriptions of places. However on the other hand, he also highlights references to places that show revulsion. Like many of the other Larkin poems that we have studied in class, the beginning of the poem comes across as being concrete. However Larkin reveals the epiphany to the reader and then these more abstract and philosophical ideas are then communicated across to us. The poem ends with the philosophical idea that loneliness is a positive thing, that in each of us, it gives us the chance to think. This is the main theme that is within this poem

In the first stanza Larkin paints the picture of a rural setting in a positive light. For example he uses words such as 'rich, gold and shining' to describe the rural landscape that the train is travelling through. However the manner in which the train is travelling comes across as rather violent and jerky. For example we get the repetition of the word 'swerving' three times. This could represent the fact that when people are on a train they don't actually appreciate the rural, idyllic setting that they are travelling through. Their main focus is to get from one location to the other, to the big cities. Larkin is communicating that people in general don't appreciate the peace and quiet of the countryside anymore.

This adds to our understand of why Larkin describes the industrial settings in the second stanza in a more negative light. Words such as 'grain-scattered, barge-crowded and raw' adds to this idea that Larkin thoroughly dislikes the urban setting. This in turn establishes the idea that the setting of 'the manmade' adds to Larkin's distaste. Nearer the end of this stanza Larkin uses a listing device to show his view on the community of the urban setting through the quote 'Push through plate-glass swing doors to their desires - cheap suites, red kitchen-ware, sharp shoes, iced lollies, electric mixers, toasters, washers, driers, a cut priced crowd, urban yet simple'. This highlights to the reader the extent of the materialistic lifestyle of the people within the urban setting. The enjambment of the paragraph also acts as a metaphor for the continuation of their materialistic desires. Larkin is representing the fact that this will never stop.

Near the end of stanza three is when the reader is really exposed to the epiphany and overall message of the poem, it's philosophical meaning in other terms. The phrase 'isolated villages' represents the community away from the urban materialistic people. The 'isolation' clarifies their own view of what materialism is. They won't actually know what materialism is because they have never been exposed to this segment of life before. Larkin also communicates the message that this 'loneliness' gives you a chance to think and when you think you begin to think about the greater more challenging things in life. This is how it acts as the beginning of the philosophical meaning to this poem. This is further reinforced through the quote 'here silence stands'. Larkin is implying that this is a reference to how crowded life has become. It is the opposite to movement, which in general implies that world has become to hectic, that everything just needs to stop and 'stand'. Now that Larkin is somewhere else he describes here as 'unnoticed thicken'. This implies that wherever this place is it is more fruitful, we get the sense that nature can now breathe. This is different to the urban setting that Larkin describes, where we get the ideas that things can't breathe and that life their has just become to busy. The quote 'weeds flower' acts as an oxymoron. Weeds are a negative plant, however the fact that they are flowering gives off the connotations of something beginning to come alive. This is also represented in further description of setting within this stanza 'neglected waters quicken'. We get the sense that this natural world that has come from the urban area can now flourish and come alive within this setting. Then we get a bizarre line 'Luminously-peopled air ascends' automatically we know that we have now been taken somewhere else. The last few lines of the poem seems to paint an image of looking across the vastness of an ocean. Larkin describes this ocean having an 'unfenced existence'. This acts as the natural freedom for people, that it is everybody's dream escape. In a sense, it seems that Larkin is painting an image of a utopian world, where anything is possible, that you can put all your worries and woes behind you and just do anything with this freedom. Larkin also represents this freedom in a positive light further 'facing the sun' suggests seeing a new way forward to life, to not look back and begin a new start. 'Untalkative' highlights the aspect again of loneliness being a good aspect where you can think. And lastly 'out of reach' suggests that you can be hopeful to get there or achieve something in life.