Poetry AppreciationContact John on 01666 837227 Moving through the centuries in verse, from the C17 poets Milton and Marvell to Philip Larkin in our last six meetings, has proved a happy experience for the group. Larkin, who died in 1985, is perhaps best known for two poems: ‘The Whitsun Weddings’ and ‘An Arundel Tomb’. The former records his impressions as he travels by train from Hull to London on a hot summer’s afternoon. He is distracted from the book he is reading by noisy shouts as the train stops at stations as he moves south. The noise comes from relations seeing off newly married couples: ‘The fathers with broad belts under their suits And seamy foreheads; mothers loud and fat; An uncle shouting smut; and then the perms, The nylon gloves and jewellery substitutes, The lemons, mauves and olive ochres…’ All is sharply observed while the destiny of the newly-married is reflected upon. I used a recording of a Radio 4 Archive programme on the poet, which included his public reading of ‘Whitsun Weddings’. He hated reciting his work to an audience, but succumbed on this single occasion because, ingratiatingly, no less a person than John Betjeman had asked him to do so. We complete our run through the centuries in September by reading poems by Ted Hughes.
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