Research Paper on:
Three Poems by Philip Arthur Larkin

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particular," as well as "generally relevant" (ONeill 184). By this ONeill appears to mean that British poet Philip Larkin was adept at choosing just the right detail to  focus on that would easily convey meaning and relevancy to his topics with a minimum of words. An examination of three of Larkins poems from his collection entitled The Whitsun  Weddings readily support ONeills argument. These poems are "The Whitsun Weddings," i.e. the poem that gives the collection its name, "MCMXIV," and "Ambulances." "MCMXIV," which is "1914" in Roman  numerals, is like a snapshot of British society as it was on the brink of World War I. ONeill describes "MCMXIV" as an "elegy, a lament for an age which  is irretrievably gone" (ONeill 185). Larkins poems draw attention to details which stress the "difference" of that vanished era (ONeill 185). According to ONeill, the importance of "difference" is pivotal  in the entirety of the collection of poems. In "MCMXIV" "Larkins sense of loss, of otherness...is presented with an understated sadness unmatched in his work" (ONeill 185). Larkin  writes: "Never such innocence, / Never before or since, / As changed itself to past / Without a word...The thousands of marriages/ Lasting a little while longer" (Larkin 28). As  this indicates, in this poem, Larkin perfectly catches the nature of a society that has no idea what awaits it. Previous battles were so long ago that the "place-names" are  all "hazed over," with only "flowering grasses, and fields" to shadow "Domesday lines" (Larkin 28). Soon thousands of marriages will end, and the people will learn the bitter lessons  of World War I, but for a brief moment their uninformed, blind innocence shields them from what lies ahead and Larkin grieves for them. In "Ambulances," Larkin again