This unquickened world : a study of the poetry and novels of Philip Larkin

Feltham, James Calvin (1974) This unquickened world : a study of the poetry and novels of Philip Larkin. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This thesis is intended as a study of the writings of Philip Larkin. It works from the basic premise that both Larkin's poetry and novels have as their major element and thematic concern the underlying tragedy of the ordinary man's existence, that for the most part the life of the average individual is bounded by sadness, only occasionally quickened by joy, and has one absolute certainty, the passing of time into death. -- Chapter One comments on Larkin's early book of poetry, The North Ship (1945). It attempts to trace the major influences on the young poet as indicated by Larkin himself and outlines both those aspects of the early poetry which differ from the later poems and those which point forward to the mature poetry of The Less Deceived and The Whitsun Weddings. -- Chapter Two is an analysis of Larkin's two novels, Jill (1946) and A Girl in Winter (1947). It discusses the literary merit of the novels as well as how they represent a second stage in Larkin's development as a writer. The themes revealed in the novels relate closely to the major concerns of the poetry. -- Chapter Three has three sections, organized in chronological order, which deal with The Less Deceived (1955), The Whitsun Weddings (1964) and the uncollected poems up to February, 1973. (One poem has been published since.) There are few stylistic developments from stage to stage. As a group the poems present a varied but unified view of the "unquickened world" of Philip Larkin.

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