(reflections on Philip Larkin by way of an essay published on line in CONTEMPORARY POETRY REVIEW.)
The late writer Rachel Wetzsteon begins her essay "Philip Larkin and Happiness" with a disclaimer: the title isn't one of those jokes, along the lines of a slim volume called "German Humor." For the famous curmudgeon, she writes, happiness was key to his work, even in its absence.
The article cites a poem that took me by surprise a week ago. Called simply, "Coming," the poem conjures the look and feel of sunset outside a row of suburban homes at that time of year when days are getting longer. When a thrush sings, "astonishing the brickworks," Larkin reflects that the feeling is like that of a child "Who comes on a scene / Of adult reconciling." Without understanding why, the child "starts to be happy."
Reading this at a deli as the sun rose on a Saturday, following an exhausting Friday, I felt that happiness unfold in me.
I've written elsewhere on this blog about the joys of Larkin. I recommend Ms.Wetzteon's essay, which focuses on a marvelous poem called "Born Yesterday."
1 comment:
Glad you wrote about Philip Larkin: he's one of those poets I like, but forget about until someone mentions him. It was good to know about "Coming." My reading of Larkin is kind of hit and miss, and I had missed that one. It reminds me a bit of the affect of two I have read and like a lot, "New Year Poem" and "The Mower," both of which have that a-ha moment at the end that can make you cry. An aesthetic moment that fringes into the religious moment? (Yes, I know he's an atheist, but he does this just the same-- at least when I read him.)
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