The Wish to Be Alone: Solitude, Distance, and Proximity in the Poetry of Philip Larkin

Bc. Dominika Dovčíková

Master's thesis

Abstract:

Tato práce se zabývá způsobem, jak se přání Philipa Larkina zůstat sám proniká do jeho poezie tím, že ve čtenáři vytváří dojem odstupu, zatímco reprodukuje své zkušenosti. Toto je objasněno na základě analýzy vybraných Larkinových básní, konkrétně „Church Going“, „Vers de Société“, „Poetry of Departures“, „Home is so Sad“, „The Importance of Being Elsewhere“, „Talking in Bed“, „Love“ a „This Be The Verse“. Rozbor zmíněných básní je založen na literární kritice Larkinových děl a na podkladech z jeho biografií, což jsou primárně Philip Larkin: A Writer’s Life od Andrewa Moriona a Philip Larkin: Life, Art and Love od Jamese Bootha.

Abstract:

The present work analyses the way Philip Larkin’s wish to be alone pervades his poetry by creating a sense of distance while endeavouring to reproduce his experience in his reader. In order to illustrate this, the present work focuses on examining several of his poems, namely “Church Going”, “Vers de Société”, “Poetry of Departures”, “Home is so Sad”, “The Importance of Being Elsewhere”, “Talking in Bed”, “Love”, and “This Be The Verse”. The analysis is based on close reading of the aforementioned poems, secondary sources focused on the criticism of Larkin’s work, and Larkin’s biographies, primarily Philip Larkin: A Writer’s Life by Andrew Motion and Philip Larkin: Life, Art and Love by James Booth.

Keywords

Philip Larkin, solitude, proximity, distance, Church Going, Vers de Societe, Home Is So Sad, Poetry of Departures, Importance of Being Elsewhere, Talking in Bed, This Be The Verse

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 17. 5. 2019

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 17. 6. 2019
• Supervisor: doc. Michael Matthew Kaylor, PhD.
• Reader: Ph.D. Stephen Paul Hardy

Masaryk University

Faculty of Arts

Master programme / field:
Philology / English Language and Literature