In what sense would you say Larkin’s poems are less deceived?

In what sense would you say Larkin’s poems are less deceived?

  At first response to this question I realised that, in fact, less deceived meant that something was not misleading or didn’t cover anything up. This idea of expressing shows the reality of life and what it really is all about, rather than the imaginations some people may believe. Larkin himself expresses this less deceived attitude in his poems as he is strong about his opinions, with them being straight forward and not misleading, this being expressed greatly in Mr Bleaney. As, within the poem the story is of a man, Mr Bleaney, who once lived in a hired ‘box’ yet whom died, and so is now being rented by the persona of the poem. However, on a deeper level Larkin expresses, threw the voice of the persona, how the hired box is significant of Mr Bleaney’s life as for an elderly man he did not have much to show for his life. Larkin says it how it is and explains how we live measures our own nature and that in fact My Bleaney’s life showed no more than a hired box. On one level this is sad, for the audience, and an emotional response is brung forward, yet on another level expresses how there is many people like this in the world and in fact Larkin is just bringing us back to the reality of life.

                                                           ‘’He stayed
                                          The whole time he was at the Bodies’’

This quotation from Mr Bleaney, shows how the character whom dominants the poem was bounded to this hired box and in fact it was his life, as he ‘stayed the whole time’. This express how less deceived Larkin is this poem, as with also expressing it is all he has to show he also express how in fact this was the entirety of his life. The idea of this poem, is to show how the persona is worried as to become like Mr Bleaney himself as he explores Mr Bleaney’s life as he lives in the box now himself.

  This idea of the reality of life is also strongly shown in Larkin’s ‘Take one home for the kiddies’, as Larkin expresses the reality of family pets. As Larkin expresses how children always want pets, as they think of the fun they can have with playing with them, yet it’s not always fun or playtime with a pet as it needs other aspects to live. This poem diminishes animals to “living toys” and explores how the idea of a new pet soon wears off, it shows how fickle children are.

                                             ‘’Mam, get us one of them to keep.’’

The colloquial language of ‘mam’ explores the innocence of the child, yet while they express how they want a pet to keep it is known that half of the time the pet will no be to keep. Yet, if in fact it is then the novelty soon wears off of having a pet in the family home. This poem shows the exact reality of pets and having them to ‘keep’, as it is well known that many people do not do this.


  The ending is the main part of course, as through the use of the imperative: “Fetch the shoebox, fetch the shovel” and then the unfeeling speech: “Mam, we’re playing funerals now”. As the child expresses the death of the pet, yet again this aspect of playing is coming through, as if the pet is just a toy. This is clearly done by Larkin, in order to give the sense of the reality of life and how if fact he literally is saying it like it is, when read into. The death of the pet, an almost universal occurrence in children’s lives, teaches them about death and the reality of life, a huge part of growing up. In its short and punchy style it is satirical – we don’t understand the rehearsal for life that we give children when we indulge them in pets. Which is in fact, just how Larkin is expresses the reality of life in his poems, to prepare for the worse in all cases.
  Finally, a huge poem by Larkin which is extremely less deceived is in fact ‘Nothing to be sad’, as it explores how life is slow dying without the use of any interpretation. Larkin believes that the whole point in life is death, he sees it as that everyone will die in the end but people just pass time with things such as building, making families, finding love and making money etc.
                                          ‘’Measuring love and money
                                                Ways of slowly dying’’

With no hesitation, Larkin is proud to express his feeling that in fact everyone is slowly dying. His bold attitude of this situation will be not understood by some, yet others will realise what in fact he relates to however they cannot argue with the situation because he will always be right. Larkin’s choices of lexis express how he is not celebrating this fact, yet he is feeling depressed about such a situation which would be an obvious first reaction, which again is less deceived and straight forward. The poem explores one of the biggest aspects of life, death, and while doing this Larkin is simply just exploring the reality of life, despite the poem seeming extremely clever in the way he pieces it together.

  As a conclusion, it is extremely interesting in the fact that all three poems by Larkin, in which I have just analysing do all, include the biggest aspect of life, death. In fact, all three poems revolve around the idea of death and which is why they all work together to express how Larkin is less deceived in his work and works at his best when exploring the reality of life.