The early philip larkin and the apocalyptic spectacle

Abstract EN

Some of Philip Larkin’s early verse is marked by an inclination towards the abstruse and the complex, which the later Larkin vehemently rejected in favour of the simple and the common.

Likewise, religious and semi-biblical references find their way to his early poems as the young poet was endeavouring to flesh out his poetical themes.

The current study investigates Larkin’s interest in the apocalyptic, not in the fashion of the Apocalypse Poets of the late 1930 and early 1940s.

In a broader sense, the apocalyptic in the current study is a symbolic or surreal event that may have a biblical dimension, conjured up to advance secular arguments relevant to the futility of existence, precariousness of the world, defeatism of human pursuits and the inevitable final downfall.

It is hence more affiliated to Apocalyptic Literature without officially going under that label.

The study examines poems from Juvenila and The North Ship to expose that the apocalyptic spectacles dating in the early verse were not mere accidents, but carefully contemplated motifs and well-designed symbolic mappings.