The Whitsun Weddings (poem)
Encyclopedia
"The Whitsun Weddings" is one of the best known poems by British poet Philip Larkin
. It was written and rewritten and finally published in the 1964 collection of poems, also called The Whitsun Weddings
. It is one of three poems that Larkin wrote about train journeys.
The poem comprises eight verses of ten lines, making it one of his longest poems. The rhyming scheme is a,b,a,b,c,d,e,c,d,e - (a rhyme scheme used in various of Keats' ode
s).
Larkin describes a stopping-train journey southwards from Paragon Station, Kingston upon Hull
, where Larkin was a librarian at the university
, on a hot Whitsun
Saturday afternoon. This was based on an actual train journey he made in 1955 on Whitsun Saturday, a day which was popular for weddings at that time.
The poem's narrator describes the scenery and smells of the countryside and towns through which the largely empty train passes. The train's windows are open because of the heat, and he gradually becomes aware of bustle on the platforms at each station, eventually realising that this is the noise and actions of wedding parties that are seeing off couples who are boarding the train.
He notes the different classes of people involved, each with their own responses to the occasion - the fathers, the uncles, the children, the unmarried female relatives. He imagines the venues where the wedding receptions have been held.
As the train continues into London, with the afternoon shadows lengthening, his reflections turn to the permanence of what the newly-weds have done, yet its significance, though huge for them, seems to give him an ultimately disappointing message, suggested by the poem's final phrase
Philip Larkin
Philip Arthur Larkin, CH, CBE, FRSL is widely regarded as one of the great English poets of the latter half of the twentieth century...
. It was written and rewritten and finally published in the 1964 collection of poems, also called The Whitsun Weddings
The Whitsun Weddings (book)
The Whitsun Weddings is a collection of 32 poems by Philip Larkin. It was first published by Faber and Faber in the United Kingdom on 28 February 1964. It was a commercial success, by the standards of poetry publication, with the first 4,000 copies being sold within two months. A U.S...
. It is one of three poems that Larkin wrote about train journeys.
The poem comprises eight verses of ten lines, making it one of his longest poems. The rhyming scheme is a,b,a,b,c,d,e,c,d,e - (a rhyme scheme used in various of Keats' ode
Ode
Ode is a type of lyrical verse. A classic ode is structured in three major parts: the strophe, the antistrophe, and the epode. Different forms such as the homostrophic ode and the irregular ode also exist...
s).
Larkin describes a stopping-train journey southwards from Paragon Station, Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
, where Larkin was a librarian at the university
University of Hull
The University of Hull, known informally as Hull University, is an English university, founded in 1927, located in Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire...
, on a hot Whitsun
Whitsun
Whitsun is the name used in the UK for the Christian festival of Pentecost, the seventh Sunday after Easter, which commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Christ's disciples...
Saturday afternoon. This was based on an actual train journey he made in 1955 on Whitsun Saturday, a day which was popular for weddings at that time.
The poem's narrator describes the scenery and smells of the countryside and towns through which the largely empty train passes. The train's windows are open because of the heat, and he gradually becomes aware of bustle on the platforms at each station, eventually realising that this is the noise and actions of wedding parties that are seeing off couples who are boarding the train.
He notes the different classes of people involved, each with their own responses to the occasion - the fathers, the uncles, the children, the unmarried female relatives. He imagines the venues where the wedding receptions have been held.
As the train continues into London, with the afternoon shadows lengthening, his reflections turn to the permanence of what the newly-weds have done, yet its significance, though huge for them, seems to give him an ultimately disappointing message, suggested by the poem's final phrase
- ...there swelled
- A sense of falling, like an arrow-shower
- Sent out of sight, somewhere becoming rain.