June 2003

Nomination: Home is so Sad [31 December 1958. From The Whitsun Weddings]

I nominated this poem as it shows how Larkin saw existence as being empty. How the concept of being was to please others, it tries to draw back the occupants by remaining unchanged. Larkin shows the fears people have about change (something he to was sceptical about) especially modernisation. He makes the poem personal, as if we are already aware of what is contained in the house – the last line especially. ‘ That Vase’. The poem illustrates how Larkin could often personify the Home into the grief of non-existence. Something we can all relate to.

James Blythe