Literature poems
Tweedegraads Engels
2B
Contents
Church going by Philip Larkin
Dover beach by Matthew Arnold
I wandered lonely as a cloud by William Wordsworth
London by William Blake
Death by George Herbert
,First look title: Going to church, attending mass on Sundays.
Paraphrase/summary: The speaker sneaks into a church after making sure it's empty.
He lets the door thud shut behind him and glances around at the decorations, showing
his ignorance of (or indifference to) how sacred all these things are supposed to be. After
a short pause, he walks up to the altar and reads a few lines from the notes that are
sitting on a lectern. Then he walks out of the church and slides an Irish sixpence into the
collection box (which is basically like donating an old shirt button).
The speaker thinks that the place wasn't worth stopping to check out, bhe also admits
that he did stop, and that this isn't the first time. He can't help but wonder what he's
looking for when he keeps coming back to this place, and also asks himself about what
will happen to churches when there are no more believers left in the world. He wonders
if they'll make museums out of the churches, or if they'll just leave the buildings' doors
open so that sheep can hang out inside them.
Nearing the end of the poem, he wonders what will happen to the world when religion is
gone altogether. Then he wonders what the very last religious person will be like. Will
they be an obsessive compulsive, who just can't stop wanting to smell incense? Or will
they be more like the speaker, someone who's bored and ignorant about the church, and
just passing by without knowing what they're looking for?
Finally, the speaker just comes out and admits that he's pleased by the church because
it's a serious place for serious questions. Humanity, he concludes, will always have a
hunger to ask those big questions like "Why are we here?" and "Where do we go when
we die?" And for this reason, the kind of urge that created religion in the first place will
never go away, even if organized churches do.
Narrator: First person
People involved: The speaker
Structure: The poem has seven stanzas, each one with nine lines and ten syllables per
line. There is also an irregular rhyme scheme of ABABCDECE, which altogether gives
the poem a strict structure however the irregularities make the poem seem uneven.
Larkin uses this to illustrate the breaking down of the church as well as to make the
reader feel at unrest so that the reader can relate to how the narrator feels when he
enters the church.
Furthermore, one syllable per line usually indicates iambic pentameter, however Larkin
uses commas and other forms of punctuation so that the feeling of stress-unstress is
lost. There are also irregularities; some lines are 9 syllables while others are 11.
, Larkin also sets the rhyme structure so that it seems like it's ABABCECE, however the
random addition of the D line throws the reader off to further emphasise his point that in
the narrator's opinion religion and church buildings have an uncertain future and are
prone to fall apart or change.
According to the structure of the poem, it is split into three parts. In the first one the
narrator enters and describes the church, in the second he reveals his deep thought and
dissaproval for the church and in the third stanza the narrator acknowledges that the
church is important afterall. This organised structure may suggest the nature of religion
and how it is uptight or strict in the eyes of the narrator.
Symbolic reading (metaphor): The two columns of the poem indicate the two people
involved in this marriage or relationship. The blank space stands for the invisible net in
their emotional worlds implying the distance in their relationship and also the boundaries
between them. The words on each side of the invisible net are like a tennis ball going
back and forth between them.
Connotation:
The poem uses an irregular rhyme scheme of ABABCDECE in order to portray that
religion and the church have faults too, showing that the narrator does not agree with the
perfect image that people have of religion.
When one thinks of a church we think of something grand or elaborate and most
importantly special. Larkin however makes the church seem commonplace, boring, and
dull. This is done in a variety of ways:
* Trivial diction, e.g. "Another" church, the word another implies that all churches are the
same and thereby the speaker is expressing boredom with the church. He also refers to
bibles as "little books", making them seem trivial which is disrespectful because bibles
are considered to be holy. "Some brass and stuff"
* Mundane imagery, e.g. "Up at the holy end; the small neat organ", by expressing it as
the holy end and a small neat organ Larkin makes the church seem common and small
as opposed to grand and elaborate. Does not use much description, tends to list things
he sees which gives a boring image. (example: matting, seats, and stone OR little
books; sprawlings of flowers, cut For Sunday, brownish now; some brass and stuff)
Brownish flowers can also represent the decaying of the church.
Onomatopoeia is used to create an unwelcoming environment, making the church seem
like a place for people to feel uncomfortable and awkward: “Door thud shut”, creates a
loud bang, making the church seem empty. Unsettling and intimidating diction is also
used for a similar effect to make the church seem hostile: “Tense, musty, unignorable
silence”, “hectoring” and “snigger”.
Irony is used to show the attractive power of the church in the later stanzas, "Yet stop I
did: in fact I often do." Although Larkin doesn’t enjoy the church he still goes. He also
keeps criticising the church but then ends by concluding that the church is important
Tweedegraads Engels
2B
Contents
Church going by Philip Larkin
Dover beach by Matthew Arnold
I wandered lonely as a cloud by William Wordsworth
London by William Blake
Death by George Herbert
,First look title: Going to church, attending mass on Sundays.
Paraphrase/summary: The speaker sneaks into a church after making sure it's empty.
He lets the door thud shut behind him and glances around at the decorations, showing
his ignorance of (or indifference to) how sacred all these things are supposed to be. After
a short pause, he walks up to the altar and reads a few lines from the notes that are
sitting on a lectern. Then he walks out of the church and slides an Irish sixpence into the
collection box (which is basically like donating an old shirt button).
The speaker thinks that the place wasn't worth stopping to check out, bhe also admits
that he did stop, and that this isn't the first time. He can't help but wonder what he's
looking for when he keeps coming back to this place, and also asks himself about what
will happen to churches when there are no more believers left in the world. He wonders
if they'll make museums out of the churches, or if they'll just leave the buildings' doors
open so that sheep can hang out inside them.
Nearing the end of the poem, he wonders what will happen to the world when religion is
gone altogether. Then he wonders what the very last religious person will be like. Will
they be an obsessive compulsive, who just can't stop wanting to smell incense? Or will
they be more like the speaker, someone who's bored and ignorant about the church, and
just passing by without knowing what they're looking for?
Finally, the speaker just comes out and admits that he's pleased by the church because
it's a serious place for serious questions. Humanity, he concludes, will always have a
hunger to ask those big questions like "Why are we here?" and "Where do we go when
we die?" And for this reason, the kind of urge that created religion in the first place will
never go away, even if organized churches do.
Narrator: First person
People involved: The speaker
Structure: The poem has seven stanzas, each one with nine lines and ten syllables per
line. There is also an irregular rhyme scheme of ABABCDECE, which altogether gives
the poem a strict structure however the irregularities make the poem seem uneven.
Larkin uses this to illustrate the breaking down of the church as well as to make the
reader feel at unrest so that the reader can relate to how the narrator feels when he
enters the church.
Furthermore, one syllable per line usually indicates iambic pentameter, however Larkin
uses commas and other forms of punctuation so that the feeling of stress-unstress is
lost. There are also irregularities; some lines are 9 syllables while others are 11.
, Larkin also sets the rhyme structure so that it seems like it's ABABCECE, however the
random addition of the D line throws the reader off to further emphasise his point that in
the narrator's opinion religion and church buildings have an uncertain future and are
prone to fall apart or change.
According to the structure of the poem, it is split into three parts. In the first one the
narrator enters and describes the church, in the second he reveals his deep thought and
dissaproval for the church and in the third stanza the narrator acknowledges that the
church is important afterall. This organised structure may suggest the nature of religion
and how it is uptight or strict in the eyes of the narrator.
Symbolic reading (metaphor): The two columns of the poem indicate the two people
involved in this marriage or relationship. The blank space stands for the invisible net in
their emotional worlds implying the distance in their relationship and also the boundaries
between them. The words on each side of the invisible net are like a tennis ball going
back and forth between them.
Connotation:
The poem uses an irregular rhyme scheme of ABABCDECE in order to portray that
religion and the church have faults too, showing that the narrator does not agree with the
perfect image that people have of religion.
When one thinks of a church we think of something grand or elaborate and most
importantly special. Larkin however makes the church seem commonplace, boring, and
dull. This is done in a variety of ways:
* Trivial diction, e.g. "Another" church, the word another implies that all churches are the
same and thereby the speaker is expressing boredom with the church. He also refers to
bibles as "little books", making them seem trivial which is disrespectful because bibles
are considered to be holy. "Some brass and stuff"
* Mundane imagery, e.g. "Up at the holy end; the small neat organ", by expressing it as
the holy end and a small neat organ Larkin makes the church seem common and small
as opposed to grand and elaborate. Does not use much description, tends to list things
he sees which gives a boring image. (example: matting, seats, and stone OR little
books; sprawlings of flowers, cut For Sunday, brownish now; some brass and stuff)
Brownish flowers can also represent the decaying of the church.
Onomatopoeia is used to create an unwelcoming environment, making the church seem
like a place for people to feel uncomfortable and awkward: “Door thud shut”, creates a
loud bang, making the church seem empty. Unsettling and intimidating diction is also
used for a similar effect to make the church seem hostile: “Tense, musty, unignorable
silence”, “hectoring” and “snigger”.
Irony is used to show the attractive power of the church in the later stanzas, "Yet stop I
did: in fact I often do." Although Larkin doesn’t enjoy the church he still goes. He also
keeps criticising the church but then ends by concluding that the church is important
