Introduction
Contemporary poetry is often concerned with defining characteristics of the society and culture in which it is created. The postmodern age is full of contradictions in that people are brought intimately close together through the media of the internet and high speed transportation even as they are pushed further apart by the confusing and conflicting demands on their time and attention. Philip Larkin’s four stanza poem “Here” focuses on the theme of loneliness and isolation in the postmodern world. He does this by creating a sense of these emotions in his readers through skillful use of literary devices. Through disembodied voice, shifting settings and disjointed format, Larkin encourages his reader to feel disconnected and isolated in a world that has lost its values.
Main body
Larkin never allows his readers to ‘see’ his speaker or get any sense of his physical presence. That there is a presence is made clear in the descriptive use of “swerving” in lines 1, 2 and 5. Before something can ‘swerve’ it must be present, our minds reason, so we assume the speaker exists. This idea is further supported in the second stanza when the speaker “gathers to the surprise of a large town” (9). Again, surprise cannot be felt by something that is not there.
However, because Larkin carefully avoids using any kind of pronoun within the text of the poem, we cannot be entirely sure whether this speaker is male or female nor can we understand where this elusive speaker might be within the context of the scene. While we may assume at first that he/she is in a vehicle of some kind, the ‘swerving’ taking place is too erratic, too disembodied and the observations made of others seems to be taking place from an omniscient point in limitless space. “A cut-price crowd, urban yet simple, dwelling / Where only salesmen and relations come” (17-18). This disembodied voice keeps readers at a distance at the same time that it emphasizes its own isolation and disconnection with the world around it.
This disconnection is also brought out in the shifting settings that Larkin introduces throughout the poem. From the images of “rich industrial shadows” (1) introduced in the beginning of the poem to the pastoral beauty “of skies and scarecrows, haystacks, hares and pheasants, / and the widening river’s slow presence” (6-7) to the “grain-scattered streets, barge-crowded water” (11) of a large town, there seems to be no space for rest.
Imagery provided regarding the kind of people encountered leave the audience with little desire to join them: “cheap suits, red kitchen-ware, sharp shoes, iced lollies, / electric mixers, toasters, washers, driers – // A cut-price crowd, urban yet simple” (15-17). The town is characterized by “tattoo-shops, consulates, grim head-scarfed wives” (21) while even those areas beyond the town are filled spaces where “loneliness clarifies” (25).
The format of the poem also serves to create a sense of isolation and disconnection. Although it is not easy to notice, the poem does contain a specific rhyme pattern. The first stanza is given a rhyme scheme of ABABCDDC. The second stanza follows an inverse pattern – EFFEGHGH. The third stanza returns to the ABABCDDC pattern while the fourth pattern again returns to EFFEGHGH.
Readers who assume there is no rhyme scheme feel disconcerted by the seeming lack while readers who notice the format of the first stanza feel abandoned by the second. Once the full scheme is revealed, the reader is aware of the unifying structure of the poem, but this is not as comforting as it might seem. The way in which the rhyme scheme is inverted from one stanza to another continues the feeling of disorientation because it refuses attempts to fit it within a regular rhythm and isolates each stanza from the one before or after it, reinforcing the idea that they are disconnected one from another.
Through voice, setting and format, Larkin conveys a sense of disconnection and isolation not only for his readers, but for the various elements of his poem as well. The speaker never fully appears within the poem, forcing the reader to simply assume there is one and never knowing whether it is male or female, or where to find him/her within the space of the poem. The swerving described throughout the first stanza is adopted by the mind of the reader and is never fully brought to rest until the end of the poem. There is no sense of connection within these lines, no sense of satisfaction or inner contentment.
Regardless of the setting in which the voice finds itself, it feels compelled to continue wandering, yet it finds no relief in the traditional places, the picturesque sunsets or the pastoral fields of wheat. The city is crowded and the town is full of superficial isolated simpletons. Even the fundamental format of the poem defies all attempts to unify it, shifting focus and thought from one stanza to another as well as shifting rhyme schemes. Although these stanzas are linked by continuing ideas and inverse rhyme schemes, these connections are difficult to observe and provide little comfort when found. The last line of the poem emphasizes its character as being “untalkative, out of reach” (32), leaving the reader equally out of reach and alone.
Works Cited
Larkin, Philip. “Here.” Nothing to be Said. (2005). Web.