Philip Larkin

Larkin's poetry cynically portrays a society in which the proletariat “are deluding themselves” rather than presenting a hopeful picture of society where “they go beyond the limits which society sets for them” to what extend do you agree with this?



In many of Philip Larkin's poems, he has shown how the proletariat are restricted within that society. For example, in the poem 'The Large Cool Store', Larkin shows how they are trapped as it says ' timed for factory, yard and site'.This shows that everyday they have to go to such places like this to make money so that they are able to live that life. It also shows that the proletariat are trapped because they don't get a say whether or not they would want a better job because that's the only jobs that they would get. Larkin also uses words such as 'browns and greys, maroons and navy' this shows how the proletariat are entrapped within this dull life as these are dull colours portrayed. The bourgeois would have brighter and bolder colours because they get to do much more with their life as they have that power, and in this case the power is money so if you don't have money then you don't get those privileges. Larkin suggests near the end 'To suppose they share that world' this portrays that maybe the bourgeois had pretended to give the proletariat a life that is equal to them when they know that they aren't. As they say 'suppose', the proletariat are just thinking that and its not actually true.

Another one of Larkin's poems are 'Mr Bleaney', in this poem it shows where he used to live and describes the place as ' flowered curtains, thin and frayed...bed, upright chair, sixty watt bulb, no hook. 'This indicates  how this is all Mr Bleaney had left in his room to show the amount of power that the bourgeois had and that the proletariat didn't have enough money to have anything efficient in their homes. This also shows how he was trapped in that room with nothing else to show for himself because he couldn't afford it. Further down into the poem it says 'I'll take it' this shows how easy it is to take this room by saying I'll take it because there isn't anything valuable in there which shows the amount of power that the proletariat had. Further down the poem it says 'stuffing my ears with cotton wool to drown the jabbering' this shows that you were able to hear what the people living next to you were saying, this shows the quality of the flat that the proletariat lived in wasn't very good and they didn't have an option for the kind of place they lived in because they didn't have enough money. At the end of the poem it says 'And at his age having no more to show than one hired box should make him pretty sure, He warranted no better, I don't know.' This shows that at the end of his life, he had nothing to show for it and many proletariats didn't because they didn't have the money, whereas if a wealthy person had died, they would've have a lot more to show for their life because they had money and money gives you an identity.It also shows how he didn't fight it and just went along with it and died like that because its trying to show how the bourgeois had set those standards in society that this is right.       
Another one of Philip Larkin's poems are 'Ignorance', from looking at the title of the poem which is ignorance might be portraying what the bourgeois are or showing that the proletariat are blind to what the bourgeois are restricting them from. It also might be saying that the bourgeois are the ones who are controlling their lives and so they have no way to get out of that loop that they are in. It says' Strange to be ignorant of the way things work Their skill at finding what they need,' This shows that the bourgeois aren't particular aware of what they are doing to the lower class, and don't look at what the lower class actually need and leave them in that society where its hard to get out, so which is why they are being called ignorant. At the end of the poem it says 'and yet spend all our lives on imprecisions, that when we start to die, we have no idea why.' This shows that the proletariat live this life like this all the way through but then when they have finished with their life, they don't understand where its all gone, but it also could be interpreted from the bourgeois side that they are controlling the superstructure all their life and so busy on controlling the proletariat's lives, that when they start to die, they don't know why.

The next poem of Philip Larkin is 'Here', this is similar to 'The Large Cool Store', the reason for this  because both of the poems are showing that the proletariat are wanting to be like the bourgeois. In the first part of the poem it says 'Push through plate-glass swing doors to their desires' this shows how the proletariat are pushing against the stereotypes of living in a society where they are restricted and they are pushing to living their dreams and doing what they want to do. Further down the poem, it says 'A cut-price crowd, urban yet simple, dwelling..' this shows how the proletariats life is like, simple and cut price, so its showing how dull their lives are because they cant afford it to be any better. Furthermore, it says 'Loneliness clarifies.' this shows how the proletariat are feeling, they fell lonely because they don't have the luxuries like the bourgeois and are trapped within that society and cant go out to socialise and speak to other people and then feel lonely. The last line of the poem which is 'Facing the sun, untalkative, out of reach.' this shows how the proletariat lives are live that their dreams of breaking out of that society is 'out of reach' and they are 'un talkative', that they don't have anyone to speak to but the other proletariats, not the wealthy.
 
To conclude, some of Philip Larkin's poems do show that the proletariat are just deluding themselves like 'The Large Cool Store' but then some of the other like 'Here' show that the proletariat trying to break out of that society that they are being held in.