Talking in bed notes
“talking in bed ought to be easiest”- simple assertive declaration, though
it is immediately weakened by the tentative modal verb “ought” implying
uncertainty in this sense of obligation-disparity between the ideal and the
reality, immediate inadequacy in the relationship(superlative implies they
have lost the ability to communicate). “easiest”- superlative introduces
double entendre, “at one’s ease” and it is easy to talk. Irony in title- poem
features no dialogue, poem of silence- satire, Larkin subverts the usual
connotations of a unity in mutual love with his dry eloquence of cynicism-
questions the fallacy that love is enduring and sustaining through this
cliched idiom. Antithetical title contrasts the predicted notions of
attachment.
“lying together there goes back so far”- pun in “lying”- similar in ‘An
Arundel Tomb’- ambiguous, could mean sleeping/lying in bed together or
telling lies. Polysemy conveys the false promises of romantic love-
existential angst.
“an emblem of two people being honest”-The symbolism of the abstract
noun “emblem” hints that this is a poem about the failure of ideals (bed is
a symbol of honesty and they are betraying it by being silent), the
apparently inevitable destruction of the symbolic and the beautiful as they
are worn away, by the “winds” of the ordinary, by the forces of banality
and repetition. Historical connotations of heraldry- poweful and evocative
symbol. Reality, in l’s view, involves a struggle to avoid inflicting pain
which is far removed from the artistically represented emblem, the ideal
of truth and intimacy. Fact that they are an emblem- only a Surface
appearance of intimacy-falsehood-process of talking in bed is an archaic
one- observing couple from an outside perspective.
“Yet more and more time passes silently.”- Fronted conjunction “yet”
personifies time as a silent observer- volta here increases the potential for
negativity- L begins to break the delusional facades about romance. The
lovers remain apart, individual, solitary, sharing only their essential
human condition of lonely isolation. Repetition-sense of human stagnation
that contrasts with nature’s “incomplete unrest”. End stopped line-
termination of the conversation, motif of silence- implies passivity, a
sense of giving into the inevitability of the situation. Sibilance- impartiality
and dishonesty of love, recurrent indication of why there is deterioration.
“Outside, the wind’s incomplete unrest”- pathetic fallacy of the cruel
weather through the harshness of the wind mirrors the lovers condition of
unsettled incompleteness , darkness and isolation(why lovers listen to
‘outside’ not each other). AI= negative prefixes of ‘in’ and ‘un’- duality of
foreboding gloom of the outdoor environment, causing narrators need for
security from the harsh outside world. “outside”- adverbial detachment,
detachment in the relationship.
“talking in bed ought to be easiest”- simple assertive declaration, though
it is immediately weakened by the tentative modal verb “ought” implying
uncertainty in this sense of obligation-disparity between the ideal and the
reality, immediate inadequacy in the relationship(superlative implies they
have lost the ability to communicate). “easiest”- superlative introduces
double entendre, “at one’s ease” and it is easy to talk. Irony in title- poem
features no dialogue, poem of silence- satire, Larkin subverts the usual
connotations of a unity in mutual love with his dry eloquence of cynicism-
questions the fallacy that love is enduring and sustaining through this
cliched idiom. Antithetical title contrasts the predicted notions of
attachment.
“lying together there goes back so far”- pun in “lying”- similar in ‘An
Arundel Tomb’- ambiguous, could mean sleeping/lying in bed together or
telling lies. Polysemy conveys the false promises of romantic love-
existential angst.
“an emblem of two people being honest”-The symbolism of the abstract
noun “emblem” hints that this is a poem about the failure of ideals (bed is
a symbol of honesty and they are betraying it by being silent), the
apparently inevitable destruction of the symbolic and the beautiful as they
are worn away, by the “winds” of the ordinary, by the forces of banality
and repetition. Historical connotations of heraldry- poweful and evocative
symbol. Reality, in l’s view, involves a struggle to avoid inflicting pain
which is far removed from the artistically represented emblem, the ideal
of truth and intimacy. Fact that they are an emblem- only a Surface
appearance of intimacy-falsehood-process of talking in bed is an archaic
one- observing couple from an outside perspective.
“Yet more and more time passes silently.”- Fronted conjunction “yet”
personifies time as a silent observer- volta here increases the potential for
negativity- L begins to break the delusional facades about romance. The
lovers remain apart, individual, solitary, sharing only their essential
human condition of lonely isolation. Repetition-sense of human stagnation
that contrasts with nature’s “incomplete unrest”. End stopped line-
termination of the conversation, motif of silence- implies passivity, a
sense of giving into the inevitability of the situation. Sibilance- impartiality
and dishonesty of love, recurrent indication of why there is deterioration.
“Outside, the wind’s incomplete unrest”- pathetic fallacy of the cruel
weather through the harshness of the wind mirrors the lovers condition of
unsettled incompleteness , darkness and isolation(why lovers listen to
‘outside’ not each other). AI= negative prefixes of ‘in’ and ‘un’- duality of
foreboding gloom of the outdoor environment, causing narrators need for
security from the harsh outside world. “outside”- adverbial detachment,
detachment in the relationship.
