Philip+Larkin

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=Philip Larkin=



Philip Larkin is praised for being one of Britain's greatest poets of this contemporary period after rising to popularity with the release of his second book, // The Less Deceived. // His poems were known for their clarity and plainness. The plainness of his poetry has made his writing especially effective because of its blatant discontent or pessimism.

**An Arundel Tomb**

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Side by side, their __faces__ blurred, The earl and countess lie in stone, Their proper habits vaguely shown As jointed armour, stiffened pleat, And that faint hint of the absurd— The little dogs under their feet.

Such plainness of the pre-baroque Hardly involves the eye, until It meets his left-hand gauntlet, still Clasped empty in the other; and One sees, with a sharp tender shock, His hand withdrawn, holding her hand.

They would not think to lie so long. Such faithfulness in effigy Was just a detail friends would see: A sculptor’s sweet commissioned grace Thrown off in helping to prolong The Latin names around the base.

They would not guess how early in Their supine stationary voyage The air would change to soundless damage, Turn the old tenantry away; How soon succeeding eyes begin To look, not read. Rigidly they

Persisted, linked, through lengths and breadths Of time. Snow fell, undated. Light Each summer thronged the glass. A bright Litter of birdcalls strewed the same Bone-riddled ground. And up the paths The endless altered people came,

Washing at their identity. Now, helpless in the hollow of An unarmorial age, a trough Of smoke in slow suspended skeins Above their scrap of history, Only an attitude remains:

Time has transfigured them into Untruth. The stone fidelity They hardly meant has come to be Their final blazon, and to prove Our almost-instinct almost true: What will survive of us is love.

Questions: 1) What is the main __idea__ of this poem? 2) Is this poem about the love of two people or the death of one of them? Why? 3) What is the effect of the odd rhyme scheme on the poem?