Maiden Name
This is a poem about marriage, and the symbolism behind a woman changing her name. Marriage is
depicted as something entirely negative, as it strips the woman of her identity as well as beauty,
youth, purity and attractiveness. There is a sense of mourning on behalf of the speaker, but this only
focuses on her lost physical and sexual attributes. The voice and admiration of the speaker himself
suggests that women are only valued for their innocence and youth- now the woman is married and
has lost these things, she is unvaluable.
Different themes:
Relationships and marriage.
Identity
Passage of time
Male gaze and sexualization of women.
Key poems to link to and why:
Places, Loved Ones- idea that through marriage identity is lost.
Latest face- the male gaze and desire for control over women.
Contextual links:
Poem was written about Winifred Arnott, whom Larkin had a brief relationship with until she
left for London and got engaged.
Key aspects of form and structure:
Irregular rhyme scheme and use of half rhyme- could be reflective of the sense of partial loss
and disjointedness.
Use of past tense to create a separation between the woman before, and after she was
married. Also use of pronouns.
Key methods and arguments of poem:
Lists are used in the first stanza to illuminate all the positive attributes that the woman has lost
through the marriage. There is a sense of mourning for her past self…
‘It’s five light sounds no longer mean your face, your voice, and all your variants of
grace…’
These are particularly feminine attributes that have been lost. Sense that married women
become ‘ordinary’- no longer pure, vivacious, exciting. Lost her sexual attractiveness for the
speaker.
‘how beautiful you were, and near, and young, so vivid...’ Her presence was constant and
of an entirely different breed than it is now.
‘unfingermarked again’- before her marriage she was pure, but now almost corrupted and
tarnished as a result of her loss of sexual innocence. Imaginary marks are now left on her
body and memory from him.
o OR could refer to her actual finger, and the ring it now bears.or the imaginary marks
his presence now leaves on her body and memory.
o OR could be making reference to fingerprints and how the husbands identity has
now been projected onto her.
Use of past tense to emphasise separation.
This is a poem about marriage, and the symbolism behind a woman changing her name. Marriage is
depicted as something entirely negative, as it strips the woman of her identity as well as beauty,
youth, purity and attractiveness. There is a sense of mourning on behalf of the speaker, but this only
focuses on her lost physical and sexual attributes. The voice and admiration of the speaker himself
suggests that women are only valued for their innocence and youth- now the woman is married and
has lost these things, she is unvaluable.
Different themes:
Relationships and marriage.
Identity
Passage of time
Male gaze and sexualization of women.
Key poems to link to and why:
Places, Loved Ones- idea that through marriage identity is lost.
Latest face- the male gaze and desire for control over women.
Contextual links:
Poem was written about Winifred Arnott, whom Larkin had a brief relationship with until she
left for London and got engaged.
Key aspects of form and structure:
Irregular rhyme scheme and use of half rhyme- could be reflective of the sense of partial loss
and disjointedness.
Use of past tense to create a separation between the woman before, and after she was
married. Also use of pronouns.
Key methods and arguments of poem:
Lists are used in the first stanza to illuminate all the positive attributes that the woman has lost
through the marriage. There is a sense of mourning for her past self…
‘It’s five light sounds no longer mean your face, your voice, and all your variants of
grace…’
These are particularly feminine attributes that have been lost. Sense that married women
become ‘ordinary’- no longer pure, vivacious, exciting. Lost her sexual attractiveness for the
speaker.
‘how beautiful you were, and near, and young, so vivid...’ Her presence was constant and
of an entirely different breed than it is now.
‘unfingermarked again’- before her marriage she was pure, but now almost corrupted and
tarnished as a result of her loss of sexual innocence. Imaginary marks are now left on her
body and memory from him.
o OR could refer to her actual finger, and the ring it now bears.or the imaginary marks
his presence now leaves on her body and memory.
o OR could be making reference to fingerprints and how the husbands identity has
now been projected onto her.
Use of past tense to emphasise separation.
