THE WHITSUN WEDDINGS (Poem) by Philip Larkin

The Whitsun Weddings is one of Phillip Larkin's longer poems and the themes in it seem to stray a little from the rest of his usual work.

Through the course of this poem, Larkin presents the idea of a journey in which the persona is travelling alone and, throughout the course of his trip, he comes to a realisation; an epiphany, about life and, in particular, marriage. As the title suggests, the poem is set during the Whitsun weekend, which was a popular time to get married due to the weather, and the long weekend among other various reasons. I refer to the main voice in this poem as the persona because although the poem was inspired by a train journey of Larkin himself, he may not share the views and opinions of the voice he writes with.

I found This poem quite slow paced and almost thoughtful in the speed that the poem moves at. This feeling is created by words such as slow, floating, approach. All of these give the impression of slower movement. Although we know that the persona is on a train, which is fast moving, we could take these words to mean that he is moving slower than he was previously. "All sense of being in a hurry gone" tells us that previous to us meeting him on the train, the person telling the story was living a hectic life, maybe had a busy job and now finally has had the chance to slow himself down a little and give himself time to think. Once your on a train, there's nothing you can do other than sit back and enjoy the journey. At the end of the poem, we see the benefits of having this time to think and observe.

The poem is clearly split into a number of sections, structured to reflect the thought process of the persona. The first two stanzas are uniform and neat, both ending in a full stop. This I believe is the first of the different sections. Here he merely describes what is around him and what his previous circumstances have been - "I was late getting away". I find it fascinating how Larkin has managed to describe the heat and the hot weather through so many of the different senses. Initially he uses touch to describe the physical heat of the cushions, but after that he focuses on how the heat is affecting his other senses, such as his sight and how he cannot see properly for the 'blinding windscreens'. Or how all the different aromas are changed and enhanced by the heat of the sun. I must say that the smell of a fish-dock in the warm weather is not an appealing one, neither is the 'displaced reek of buttoned carriage-cloth'. However all of the things that he describes as being blinding or foul smelling are man-made things. This is recurring theme throughout Larkin's poems, as he compares the foul industrialisation by man, to the free rural countryside. This theme is seen incredibly clearly in Larkin's poem Here.

In the middle section of the poem there are a number of places where you can split it into a number of different sections. However during the most of this part of the poem, the persona's thoughts are focused on the people that are getting on the train (the newly weds) and the people who are waving them off on they're honeymoon.

We know something has stirred within him when he says "struck, I leant//More promptly out next time, more curiously//And saw it all again in different terms:" He has taken an interest now and is watching the people on the platform. The observations that he gives about these people are so detailed and yet so blunt: "Mothers loud and fat". He continues on like this, describing and observing the people until half way through the sixth stanza when he switches to focusing on the couples who are now on the train with him; describing them as 'free at last'. As if, through the 'religious wounding' of marriage, these young people have been freed from their homes and their families and are now able to leave the nest and make their own lives.

The term 'religious wounding' is an interesting one and something worth exploring I feel. Its very unusual for someone to relate something like and injury or a wound to something so splendid and magical as marriage, however here, it becomes evident that the persona is one who prefers the idea of staying single and not having a family. This also is another recurring theme through many of Larkin's poems. I feel that with the phrase 'religious wounding' Larkin could be describing how marriage tears children away from their parents and families as they take off together in a new life. However I also feel that this could maybe viewed in a positive light as many of Larkin's ambiguous phrases and ideas can be. If you were to try and create a skin graft, you would first need to create a wound in order for the two new pieces of skin to join together and become one. It may sound a little gruesome, but could this be what Larkin is trying to say marriage is like; doing whatever it takes to allow two people to grow together and become one unit? Possibly.

The final section of the poem is my favorite part of the whole thing. I love the metaphorical and almost philosophical way that Larkin had written the last stanza. There are so many ways in which this stanza could be interpreted because it is so ambiguous. Right from the beginning of the last stanza, Larkin uses words like 'aimed' and 'loosed' which all have connotations with archery and arrows and this metaphor is confirmed in the wonderful last two lines 'like an arrow shower, sent out of sight, somewhere becoming rain'. The idea of the arrow could be taken to represent marriage in two different ways.

1. It could be suggesting that when a new couple get married, they get 'fired' out into life with encouragement and the novelty of being married, and eventually this will wear off, causing the arrow to begin to fall and eventually crash to the floor.
2. Or it could be different, that the encouragement and excitement of being married stays with them and cause them to stick together and slowly fly towards their target together.

In stanza two the idea of the train curving southward could also be mirroring the flight of and arrow.

I think that also, this last stanza is also where the persona ha his epiphany and he realises that marriage has potential to be one of the good things in life, however it could also be something that is potentially dangerous and is something to be wary about, but in the right circumstances can be a wonderful thing.

The poem itself physically seems to slow down at the end of the poem as well, as the persona's thoughts travel back to the train from his own thoughts. The train is slowing down and so does the poem.