Home Is So Sad - Larkin

Home Is So Sad is a poem that encompasses the themes of belonging and death. The word 'Home' in this case is personified as being sad because it has something missing. Home has the connotations of the person, the family and the memories and if it doesn't have all of this then Home is nothing. This poem is about the description of Larkin's mothers' home.

In the first stanza we get the sense that Larkin is longing for his mother's return after her death. This is represented through the quote 'Shaped to the comfort of the last to go as if to win them back'. We also get negative connotations of words within this stanza. 'bereft', 'withers', 'no heart' and 'theft' are all words that hint of the mother's death and represent Larkin's negative feelings and grief.

In the last stanza we get the quote 'a joyous shot' representing that this is how life starts out, however this shot just falls and life is disappointing for everybody. This stanza describes the mothers home through words such as 'cutlery', 'the music' and 'look at the pictures'. It creates visionary imagery in the mind of the reader. However, it is also a representation that the home is just a shell now because the owner is dead. It is symbolic that home is not complete without an owner. The poem ends with 'that vase' it ends without a sentence, signifying how fast death can come upon all of us and that it was a shock to Larkin when it happened.

The main theme that Larkin is trying to get across through this poem is that life starts out with love, hope and expectation however the Home represents that it ends with disappointment

. This poem links nicely to other poems such as Dockery and Son and Reference Back.