I greatly enjoyed the poem Annus Mirabilis by Philip Larkin. When I read it the first few times, I thought of it as an older person reflecting on their younger years. There are so many songs and stories about summers spent as a teenager, and I thought it was a piece reflecting that same idea. Then I did some research into exactly what the author meant from “The Chetterly Ban”. The book Lady Chetterly’s Lover was brought to trial in England for violating the country’s obscenity law. The book was seen as erotic and pornographic. (Many other things happened this year, such as the assignation of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. giving his “I Have a Dream” speech.) With this knowledge, I began to understand Larkin’s writing more fully. The poem was about the sexual revolution in Britain, and the author’s partake in it. The way he begins the poem, expressing that he had sex a little later than others, gives me the idea that he is remorseful and ashamed of being a late bloomer. I got my validation with the line “A shame that started at sixteen and spread to everything.” My research also lead me to another explanation-this one concerning the title of the piece. Annus Mirabilis translates to “wonderful year” in Latin. So although Larkin is embarrassed that he joined the sexual revolution late, he still considers it a great time in his life. I found his choice of poetic technique interesting. The entire piece rhymed. This is such a childish way to write. Children’s books are written with classical rhyming techniques more ways than not. However, Larkin is talking about a very adult subject. This conveys that he considers it a time in his life where he is in between boyhood and becoming a man.
"Annus Mirabilis" was also one of the poems that I enjoyed the most and the background information that you have added gave me great insight to the poem and really put it into perspective. I thank you especially for translating the title of the poem; it really put the theme together.
ReplyDeleteTo add to your analysis, I found it interesting that the author decides to open his poem with "Sexual intercourse began..." Sex is such a taboo subject in our society that I find it surprising that Philip Larkin will use it as an opening, which in a way serves as a double meaning since you stated that this was the time of the sexual revolution in Britain. The enjambment in this piece is also very useful, because it makes the ideas flow from line to line. The poem moves just like the narrator’s life moves, every new line is a new stage in his life. Furthermore, there is parallelism when the author says: “A sort of bargaining, A wrangle for a ring, A shame that started at sixteen” (l. 7-9). These three lines expressed the different ways that a person can think of sex: it can be like a business, just for marriage, or a mere sin and something to be hidden. There are also peculiar little phrases that caught my attention throughout the whole poem. For instance, “the quarrel sank” (l. 11) and “unlosable” (l 15), the latter is a completely made up word for the sake of keeping the rhythm of the poem. The author also uses alliteration when he describes “and every life became/ a brilliant breaking of the bank” (l. 14). The sound of the letter “b” is emphasized in this stanza where he expresses the complications of love in the adult life. To the narrator nothing was like that one time when he had sex in 1963. For me this is a more personal analysis than the sexual revolution going on in Britain. While it could be interpreted in the greater scheme of things, this poem can also be simply about a man who is reflecting on the blossoming of his sex life, because as he gets older economics and moral principles complicated the idea of love. It should also be noted that the poem starts and ends with the same three lines, almost like going full circle in the cycle of life or like history which repeats itself.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete