The Time, Memory, and Mortality in Philip larkin’s Poetry

An analysis of the focus in Larkin on the subject of time and human finitude, referring to such poems as Aubade and Dockery and Son.

Abstract

The question of time, memory and mortality prevails in the poetical writing of Philip Larkin and
in this case, they remain in the central position within his literary imagination. These issues are
discussed in this paper by reading almost beside Aubade (1977) and Dockery and Son (1964) two
poems which can be perceived as various but complementary to the fact of human finiteness.
Aubade articulates an unsparing philosophy of death, which lacks the religious faith and
metaphysical reassurance, when compared to Dockery and Son who ponder the choices and the
missed possibilities which form the life in the perspective of the memory and the time. This is where
these poems are put within the larger context of the poetic oeuvre of Larkin and within discussion
with critical readings which is the essence of this argument; that Larkin constructs a poetics of
finitude that does not find meaning in transcendence but in an undress approach to time. This
discussion shows how Larkin utilizes time and mortality to communicate with the larger discourse
of existentialism in the twentieth century, making him timeless as a poet who speaks of the
universal fear in raw and uncouth terms, and with words and sentiments that are culturally tone
felt.