Is Larkin's poetry excessively pessimistic?
...and a boring everyday routine. This is reflected in many of his poems such as ‘The Whitsun Weddings’, where between all happy moments, we feel loneliness and as if something deeper in people, beyond all the superficialness an materialism was missing. Larkin’s point of view is pessimistic or realistic, however he is not afraid of using it in his poems. His pessimism is created through sarcasm as we can see in ‘The Whitsun Weddings’ when he says ‘happy funeral’, he compares a very beautiful tradition to a very sad and final situation which is the funeral. Trough this he tries to give people a new meaning of what weddings are. Even though you are joining with the person you love, your freedom has come to an end. Through this extract, we can also notice the contrast that he uses within his poetry. He places two contrasting words, one optimistic and one pessimistic in order to leave the interpretation to peoples minds. Depending on each person’s perspective his poetry can be negative or positive. In this poem (‘The Whitsun Weddings’) an image is created ‘like an arrow shower’; this is also a clear example of optimism or pessimism which depends on the reader’s interpretation. It can be very optimistic, a cupid image, a sign of love. But being hit by an arrow can also be something hurtful. Moreover, this can be an image of luck, whether the arrows hit you or not. In addition, it can also be luck that two persons found each other and joined. In much simpler poems such as ‘Days’, realistic pessimism is present. The poetical voice asks ‘what are days for?’, this rhetorical question at the beginning of the poem establishes a lot of ambiguity. Through the symbolism of days he tries to realize what his life is for. Which can be a negative question, but we all try to find the meaning of life and what our lives are for. This is why I would not say that it is negative, to my mind it is a realistic question. This realistic or pessimistic question however, is followed by a very optimistic answer: ‘They are to be happy in’. He tells us to be happy even though life is not always perfect. His poems are balanced because he shows that his point of view about life is optimistic. His pessimism is shown in a critical view of society. In poems such as ‘The large cool store’ he criticizes society, his critics are dedicated to peoples hypocrisy and their fake lives. ‘Seems to be: synthetic, new, / natureless in ecstasies’. Clearly he criticizes society’s life style. Fashion and stereotypes are more important than emotions and true feelings. ‘Essential Beauty’ is another poem contai...