'Faithful and disappointing': truth and consolation in Philip Larkin's poetry

Abstract

Readers of Philip Larkin's poetry are well aware of the poet's disillusioned perspective on life. His poems often demonstrate the various ways in which life turns out to be disappointing even though it beguiles us into thinking that some sort of fulfilment can be achieved. Larkin's main concern then, is to show how promises of satisfaction can only ever be narratives of consolation which cover over the real facts of life. His poetic commitment is very much centred on locating the empirical truth that lies beneath the delusory comfort offered by mythical ideals. In so doing, Larkin depicts the vast discrepancy between the ideal and the real, between what we want and what we actually get. What readers of Larkin might not initially perceive is that the state of being 'the less deceived' is very hard to attain, and Larkin himself does not completely steer clear of self-deception. This dissertation is interested in outlining Larkin's trajectory of truth-telling, which falls into three loosely-based categories to be discussed respectively in the following chapters. It is possible to outline such a trajectory in the first place because Larkin's assiduous commitment to truth, authenticity, and reality are still not enough to dispose of self-deception and false consolation. These issues, tied in with the fear or acceptance of death, and the rejection or acceptance of life, meet and intertwine in a paradoxical and profound way in Larkin's poems. The Introduction sets the context for and introduces the themes of Larkin's poetic stance. In Chapter I, we will see Larkin cynically undercutting a number of consoling fictions in order to emphasise that to be undeceived is essentially to remember that death constantly overshadows life. In Chapter II, however, we will trace the manner in which the state of being 'the less deceived' can paradoxically lead to a delusory consolation that still mystifies the facticity of death. Chapter III will then follow Larkin's gradual understanding of how being 'the less deceived' involves the compromised acceptance of that which he had initially set out to reject. The implications of the contradictory directions taken in Larkin's poems and the validity of his claim on authenticity are thorny issues that the Conclusion aims to resolve, not just in terms of better understanding Larkin's poetry. Larkin's predicament is not an isolated occurrence, so that delving deeper into this aspect of Larkin's poetry is also a way of grasping what authenticity in the face of nihilism means for the reader himself.