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CLASS XII
CLASS XII
Syllabus
Syllabus
- Church Going by Philip Arthur Larkin
- About the Author
- About the poem
The Poem : Read by the poet Christopher Hitchens.
- Summary
- Analysis
- Stanza Wise Analysis
THEMES
Church Going
Church Going
Philip Arthur Larkin
Philip Arthur Larkin
Philip Arthur Larkin
Philip Arthur Larkin
Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, The North Ship, was published in 1945, followed by two novels, Jill (1946) and A Girl in Winter (1947), and he came to prominence in 1955 with the publication of his second collection of poems, The Less Deceived, followed by The Whitsun Weddings (1964) and High Windows (1974). He contributed to The Daily Telegraph as its jazz critic from 1961 to 1971, articles gathered in All What Jazz: A Record Diary 1961–71 (1985), and he edited The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse (1973). His many honours include the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. He was offered, but declined, the position of Poet Laureate in 1984, following the death of Sir John Betjeman.
After graduating from Oxford in 1943 with a first in English Language and Literature, Larkin became a librarian. It was during the thirty years he worked with distinction as university librarian at the Brynmor Jones Library at the University of Hull that he produced the greater part of his published work. His poems are marked by what Andrew Motion calls "a very English, glum accuracy” about emotions, places, and relationships, and what Donald Davie described as "lowered sights and diminished expectations". Eric Homberger (echoing Randall Jarrell) called him "the saddest heart in the post-war supermarket"—Larkin himself said that deprivation for him was “what daffodils were for Wordsworth”. Influenced by W. H. Auden, W. B. Yeats, and Thomas Hardy, his poems are highly structured but flexible verse forms. They were described by Jean Hartley, the ex-wife of Larkin's publisher George Hartley (the Marvell Press), as a "piquant mixture of lyricism and discontent", though anthologist Keith Tuma writes that there is more to Larkin's work than its reputation for dour pessimism suggests.
Larkin's public persona was that of the no-nonsense, solitary Englishman who disliked fame and had no patience for the trappings of the public literary life. The posthumous publication by Anthony Thwaite in 1992 of his letters triggered controversy about his personal life and political views, described by John Banville as hair-raising, but also in places hilarious. Lisa Jardine called him a "casual, habitual racist, and an easy misogynist", but the academic John Osborne argued in 2008 that "the worst that anyone has discovered about Larkin are some crass letters and a taste for porn softer than what passes for mainstream entertainment". Despite the controversy Larkin was chosen in a 2003 Poetry Book Society survey, almost two decades after his death, as Britain's best-loved poet of the previous 50 years, and in 2008 The Times named him Britain's greatest post-war writer.
In 1973 a Coventry Evening Telegraph reviewer referred to Larkin as "the bard of Coventry", but in 2010, 25 years after his death, it was Larkin's adopted home city, Kingston upon Hull, that commemorated him with the Larkin 25 Festival which culminated in the unveiling of a statue of Larkin by Martin Jennings on 2 December 2010, the 25th anniversary of his death. On 2 December 2016, the 31st anniversary of his death, a floor stone memorial for Larkin was unveiled at Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.
About the poem
About the poem
Many readers and critics have misinterpreted it as a religious poem but Philip Larkin has denied this interpretation. Though the poem is about churches yet it is not a religious poem, says Philip Larkin. According to him, it is a pure secular poem, in which no specific sect or religion has been criticized; instead, he just talks about the future of churches. He just gives his opinions. He also depicts the future of people with respect to religion and superstition beliefs. World war left impact on many prudent minds. Religion was fading because their prayers were not being answered.
Philip Larkin about “Church Going” said:-
“It is of course an entirely secular poem. I was a bit irritated by an American who insisted to me it was a religious poem. It isn’t religious at all. Religion surely means that the affairs of this world are under divine supervenience, and so on, and I go to some pains to point out that I don’t bother about that kind of thing, that I am deliberately ignorant of it.”
It should be kept in mind that the poem is not religious at all. However, critics (whom Philip Larkin calls irrational) do not agree with remarks of the poet. They believe that somehow, religion is involved. Church is directly proportional to religion, therefore, either intentionally or unintentionally religion has been linked.
The Poem
The Poem
Once I am sure there's nothing going on
I step inside, letting the door thud shut.
Another church: matting, seats, and stone,
And little books; sprawlings of flowers, cut
For Sunday, brownish now; some brass and stuff
Up at the holy end; the small neat organ;
And a tense, musty, unignorable silence,
Brewed God knows how long. Hatless, I take off
My cycle-clips in awkward reverence,
Move forward, run my hand around the font.
From where I stand, the roof looks almost new-
Cleaned or restored? Someone would know: I don't.
Mounting the lectern, I peruse a few
Hectoring large-scale verses, and pronounce
"Here endeth" much more loudly than I'd meant.
The echoes snigger briefly. Back at the door
I sign the book, donate an Irish sixpence,
Reflect the place was not worth stopping for.
Yet stop I did: in fact I often do,
And always end much at a loss like this,
Wondering what to look for; wondering, too,
When churches fall completely out of use
What we shall turn them into, if we shall keep
A few cathedrals chronically on show,
Their parchment, plate, and pyx in locked cases,
And let the rest rent-free to rain and sheep.
Shall we avoid them as unlucky places?
Or, after dark, will dubious women come
To make their children touch a particular stone;
Pick simples for a cancer; or on some
Advised night see walking a dead one?
Power of some sort or other will go on
In games, in riddles, seemingly at random;
But superstition, like belief, must die,
And what remains when disbelief has gone?
Grass, weedy pavement, brambles, buttress, sky,
A shape less recognizable each week,
A purpose more obscure. I wonder who
Will be the last, the very last, to seek
This place for what it was; one of the crew
That tap and jot and know what rood-lofts were?
Some ruin-bibber, randy for antique,
Or Christmas-addict, counting on a whiff
Of gown-and-bands and organ-pipes and myrrh?
Or will he be my representative,
Bored, uninformed, knowing the ghostly silt
Dispersed, yet tending to this cross of ground
Through suburb scrub because it held unspilt
So long and equably what since is found
Only in separation - marriage, and birth,
And death, and thoughts of these - for whom was built
This special shell? For, though I've no idea
What this accoutred frowsty barn is worth,
It pleases me to stand in silence here;
A serious house on serious earth it is,
In whose blent air all our compulsions meet,
Are recognised, and robed as destinies.
And that much never can be obsolete,
Since someone will forever be surprising
A hunger in himself to be more serious,
And gravitating with it to this ground,
Which, he once heard, was proper to grow wise in,
If only that so many dead lie round.
Read by the poet Christopher Hitchens.
Read by the poet Christopher Hitchens.
Summary
Summary
“Church Going” by Philip Larkin describes the emotions experienced by a speaker who is inexplicably drawn to the exploration of churches.
The poem begins with the speaker entering into a building the reader later discovers is a church. He is not sure why exactly he wants to be there, and is even more confused by what he sees inside. He has seen many altars, pews, and bibles before and does not feel any type of reverence towards them. The speaker reads briefly from the Bible and exits.
Upon leaving the church he contemplates what the building represents and what it will mean when all the believers are long dead. He pictures the very last explorer of the building and wonders whether he or she will be like him, curious but emotionless.
The poem concludes with the speaker deciding that no matter what the building might mean, it is important for humanity that churches be maintained. He sees them as being places of coming together and acceptance of one’s common humanity with the rest of the world.
Analysis
Analysis
“Church Going” is one of the best of Philip Larkin’s poems. The title itself is puzzling. It gives us two different meanings. One meaning is that it is a regular visit to a church. The other shows the decline of the institution because people lost faith in God and religion. His greatest virtues are clarity and close observation of social life, perfect control over feeling and tone. The language is always simple and lucid and the idiom has great variety. Through his poetry Larkin advises us not to be deceived by illusions or ideals. He asks us to have a better awareness of man’s weaknesses. Larkin is called a sceptic poet. He enters the church as a sceptic who does not have any faith in the church. But he slowly realizes the truth that church fulfils a deeply felt human need and that it is “a serious house on a serious earth it is”.
Making sure that nothing is going on inside, the speaker of the poem enters the church and closes the door behind him. He finds that it is just like any other church. He also notices the furniture, furnishings such as the plate, the pyx, prayer books, the Bible, flowers cut for Sunday holy Mass, matting, seats, the baptismal font and the organ. There are no worshippers in the church and the silence tensed him. He looks around him with contempt and he feels a bad smell when he stands staring at the altar where the church services are conducted. Having observed these details, the speaker takes off his cycle-clips in an act of mock-reverence. He did not wear a hat.
The speaker then moves forward and touches the baptismal font with his hands. He notices that the roof looks almost new but he does not know whether it has been cleaned or restored because he is not a regular church-goer. Then he mounts the lectern and began to read out a few verses from the Bible. After that he comes back to the door and signs the visitor’s book and donates an Irish six pence which has no value in England. Thus all his activities and manners inside the church show that he is a sceptic who has no faith in the church service. Finally he thinks that his time is wasted, because the place is not worth visiting at all.
But the speaker could not avoid the church. Over and again he visited the church and each time his skeptical attitude grew less and less. This time he stood inside the churching thinking about its future. As science and technology began to develop, people lost faith in the institution of church. In future, churches will become empty and completely out of use. A few cathedrals may be preserved as museums for future generation because of its great art and architectural value. Their parchment, the plate and the pyx may be kept in locked cases. But other church buildings will become sheltering centers for sheep and other animals and poor people during rainy time. Sometime people may avoid such places as unlucky because of its graveyard. The speaker of the poem thinks that perhaps the church will become the centre of superstitions in the coming years. But if faith disappeared, naturally superstition will also be disappeared because both are connected with each other. Finally the church buildings will tumble down and only its concrete pillars would be standing as silent witness of the past glory of the church. The church path will be over grown with grass, weeds and creepers. It will become a deserted place. In course of time future generation will forget even the shape of the churches.
Now the speaker of the poem reflects who will be the last person to visit the church for its purpose. It may be a lover of antiquity who is eager to see very old things or some Christmas-addict who visits church only on important occasions such as the Easter or Christmas and he wants to enjoy the smell of myrrh burnt, the flowers, the choir music, the dress worn by the choir and the priest and the music of the organ.
Finally the speaker realizes that the church is a serious house on a serious earth. A church is a symbol of man’s sincere search for the ultimate meaning of life. Science and technology cannot solve his spiritual needs. That is why the speaker himself comes to the church again and again when he is tired of the problems of life. A church is equipped with baptismal fond, flowers and the graveyard where “all human glories are buried” with his bones. Thus the ceremonies of most important events in man’s life such as birth, marriage and death are conducted in the church. In this sense we can say that this is a religious poem. Thus the first meaning of the title “Church Going” is affirmed. The poem underlines the truth that the power and the glory of God cannot be destroyed by the advancement of science and technology. On the other hand the church will continue to be the centre focusing universal love and peace and giving spiritual solace to man’s problems and sufferings in his life.
STANZA WISE ANALYSIS
STANZA WISE ANALYSIS
- Stanzas-I & II
Speaker is the poet himself, who tells his incident. He said that he, after ensuring that no ritual ceremony was going on in the church, visited it. He entered and “thud shut” the door. He describes the scenery of church while illustrating that there were some books, flowers, which were kept on last Sunday (now faded), matting floor and also an organ to produce music; it was played during worship. The poet had no hat, therefore, he took off his bicycle’s clip in order to show some respect. He gives further description about church-building. He saw the church had been renovated and cleaned. He read some verses from Bilble; when he finished, he shouted “Here endeth”. In reply to his action, he heard some mocking sounds. Then he put his signatures on the book, drop sixpences in charity box and exited. He did not find his visit worth instead he called it wastage of precious time.
Attitude of the poet towards religion and church, in first two stanzas of the poem, is worst. He had not mocked anyone but himself. Perhaps, it was the first time, when he visited the church or he was confused. It seemed that he had no etiquette. He thud shut the door. He did not pray with a strong belief; rather he examined the church like a tourist. At the end, he realized that his visit was worthless.
Philip Larkin is representative of his era. People in those days were fed up from religion. Due to chaos, people could not find peace in it. In fact, their beliefs on religion were fading day by day. The poet is not only telling his own story but the story of every person, belonging to his age. He has no faith on religion. He does not consider church a useful place, It is just a building for him like other buildings of his city. There is no peace for him in it. Larkin said that the poem was not a religious poem but secular. Be that as it may, it reveals the downfall of religion.
- Stanzas-III & IV
Every time the poet visits the church, he feels that it is wastage of time. He goes in the church with enthusiasm but returns hopeless. He finds every visit useless. The poet also depicts the future of churches, which is gloomy. He is sure that one day people will stop visiting the churches; buildings will be converted to museums and things will be kept in locked-boxes so that people can see them. People will consider churches as unlucky places. Superstition beliefs will reborn with the downfall of religion. There is another possibility that women would come to churches in order to find cure for their children. They would get amulets for treatment of their children. It is also possible, says poet, that people would find souls of deads in the churches. But eventually superstition beliefs will also come to an end. What will happen next?
In these stanzas, downfall of religion has been shown. A very sad future has been prophesied by the poet. He does not consider religion everlasting. It is temporary for him. The poet has not criticized God nor the people but the purpose of going to churches. If religion fades, superstition beliefs will become stronger. Church-buildings will become relics or museums. People will come and see holy objects. Religion and superstition beliefs are interlinked with each other. Where there is religion there must be superstition beliefs. From secular point of view, this poem is not an attack on religion; rather it satirizes the superstition beliefs. It indicates the weaknesses of people. After end of religion there come the superstition beliefs but what after it?
The poem is also about the change. Rarely, any person shows consistency to religion or superstition beliefs. Both these things are switched by people according to their needs. If there is no peace in hearts of the people then how can religion give them peace? From Secular point of view, the poem is not about religion but about people. Alfred Alvarez argues on the poem and says: -
“Church Going presents in concentrated form an image of the post-war Welfare State Englishman…. It is the image of a shabby Englishman who is not concerned with his appearance but who is poor, having a bike not a car, who is gauche (or clumsy) but full of agnostic piety; who is under-fed, under-paid, over-taxed, hopeless, bored and wry.”
Alfred Alvarez on Critical Analysis of Church Going
It is right that from secular point of view, chaos is reflected in the hearts of people, therefore, they are hopeless. Hope is necessary to find peace in religion which lacks in this case.
- Stanzas V, VI & VII
Last three stanzas of the poem depict the horrible condition of churches. With the passage of time churches will no longer be recognized due to growth of grass and plants. People will never know about these buildings. They, like poet, will wonder about them. They will never know what purpose they serve. The poet also wonders who will be the last visitor, whether he will be an antiquarian or a worshiper. There is possibility that churches would be used for the purpose of ritual ceremonies such as marriage and death. Buildings will remain intact but they will not serve any serious purpose. In last stanza of the poem, Larkin gives hope to the readers. He says that whenever people will come in these dead buildings, they will wonder about their purposes but soon will realize that they are religious places, therefore, spiritual essence of churches would never be ignored nor forgotten. People would think that a visit to church would make them wise as dead bodies are buried there.
The poet is purely secular. In these lines, definitely he has exaggerated the future of churches. He has shown nature as the supreme commander of everything. Plants, trees and grass will hide the churches; people will come only for ritual ceremonies viz. marriage and death. The poet still has hope; he ends the poem while saying that spiritual importance of churches can never be forgotten nor can it be underestimated. He has not shown any disrespect to religion. He has revealed his innersole. He writes what he feels.
There may be many meanings of the poem. It is also possible that the poet is criticizing people; they go to churches so that their destinies can be changed. They should struggle instead of just praying. Visiting church twice a day does not give anyone success but hard work gives them the same. When people go to church time and again and they do not find anything they give up on their prayers. They should know that God helps those who help themselves. Only prayer is not enough, struggle and hard work is also necessary.
It is also possible that after world war people became hopeless; there was neither charm nor peace in their lives, therefore, they did not find churches helpful. The poet may be a frustrated hopeless person who is not expecting any good future.
So far as artistic qualities of the poet are concerned, this poem is a masterpiece. Like some other poems of Philip Larkin, this poem is also a dramatic monologue. It is full of symbols. A lot of symbols can be found in it. Images are also there. Meanings of the poem depend on minds of readers. For example, some consider it a religious poem, whereas remaining secular. In short, the poem is finest piece of literature.
THEMES
- Religion
The primary theme of the poem—clear from its title, "Church Going"—is religion. The speaker is not a religious person, and he takes a dismissive, even disdainful, attitude toward religious belief. Clearly, he sees religion as something quickly becoming obsolete—something "going," as the title says. Religious belief is going away, fading into the past. The dying, browning flowers in the church symbolize the dying of religion. The musty smell of the church also emphasizes this aging, dying religion. The speaker then imagines what will happen when "churches fall completely out of use." He accepts this as an inevitability, wondering wryly whether people will keep a few cathedrals as museums, with their various ritual objects on display in locked cases. The use of "chronically" to describe the way people might keep these cathedrals open adds to the sense that the speaker sees this possibility as regrettable, but not unrealistic. He is doubtless aware that, after all, such museums of religious artifacts already exist, and some cathedrals already have gift shops.
As the poem moves forward, the speaker speculates on the relationship between religion and superstition. Religious belief, like any long-held belief, deteriorates into superstition, which then also fades away: "But superstition, like belief, must die." He notes that as religion fades away, its original purpose will become increasingly obscure, just as the church building will likely be overgrown with weeds.
However, in the last few stanzas, he takes a more respectful tone toward the church and, by extension, religion, noting its important function. It has held the records of marriage, birth, and death. It has been a place where people's "compulsions" are elevated to "destinies." It has been, and may still be, a place of wisdom.
2. Time and Death
2. Time and Death
The passage of time is a common theme in Larkin's poetry. "Church Going" is not the only poem with "Going" in the title. He wrote "Going," which also appeared in The Less Deceived, and "Going, Going," which appeared in his 1974 collection High Windows. Time, loss, aging, and death often intertwine in Larkin's poetry, as they do in life. Time is a destructive force on the church in "Church Going", both as the building physically ages and as religion becomes more irrelevant to modern sensibilities.
In the first stanza, he notes that the church has a musty odor that has been brewing "God knows how long." The church is already painfully old, and getting older with each passing Sunday service. He reads the lesson from the lectern and pronounces "Here endeth" too loudly. This "Here endeth," echoing in the empty church, emphasizes the old-fashioned language of the church and also its literal end. Speculating on the future of the church, as weeks pass and the weeds and brambles overgrow the building, also stresses the passage of time. He imagines churches falling "completely out of use," maintained only to display artifacts or support superstitions that themselves "must die."
The speaker's mind jumps easily from the decline of the church and the religion it represents to his own decline, and death, as time passes. Stanza 6 is characterized by the awareness of death; the last line suggests that wisdom comes from close proximity to death. The shift seems appropriate; religious practice and belief include coming to terms with death.
3. A Serious Hunger
3. A Serious Hunger
From the earliest lines of the poem, the speaker has a question—why does he, a nonreligious person, regularly stop in churches? This church is "another" church, into which the speaker has ventured. Part of him feels it is a waste of time: "the place was not worth stopping for." Yet, even as he thinks this, he admits he "often" stops and always end up feeling "at a loss." He stops and goes into these churches irrationally and compulsively, not for any reason he can name.
In the last few stanzas, he begins to put words to the reason for his compulsion. He notes that the church is a "serious house on serious earth." It is a place where human compulsions—perhaps even his own compulsion to visit old churches—are seen as the workings of destiny. A sense of destiny gives meaning and purpose to human desires and needs. He is surprised to discover the "hunger to be more serious" in himself, yet he sees it as a human hunger. Ultimately, confronting this hunger for seriousness in himself and realizing it is tied to his compulsion to visit churches is the point of the poem. Despite the inevitable obsolescence of religion, there is a human hunger for purpose and meaning behind religion.
ASSIGNMENT
ASSIGNMENT
What is the overall impression of organized religion that this poem gives you? Why do you feel that way?
According to the speaker of the poem, what are some of the differences between religion and superstition?
Why do you think Larkin uses the title "Church Going"?
REVISION
REVISION
To be submitted in the form of Mind Maps.
Deadline: Saturday, 21st March, 2019
Email : somerita.banerjee@dpsn.org.in
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