Philip Larkin's *MCMXIV* and it's connotations.
asdf...@my-deja.com
I'm interested in Philip Larkin and his poetry.
I'd like to discuss particular phrases with regard to the denoted and
connoted meanings.
For example, has anyone noticed how strange *MCMXIV* is?
I noticed something on the umptieth recitation from memory, that hit me
with the force of a blow.
Something that completely changed my perception of the poem.
Anyone here know what I'm talking about?
Yours faithfully,
John
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Jaimes Alsop
> Dear All,
>
> I'm interested in Philip Larkin and his poetry.
>
> I'd like to discuss particular phrases with regard to the denoted and
> connoted meanings.
>
> For example, has anyone noticed how strange *MCMXIV* is?
>
> I noticed something on the umptieth recitation from memory, that hit me
> with the force of a blow.
>
Larkin's my favourite poet. What did you see that struck you so?
--
Jaimes Alsop
The Alsop Review
http://www.alsopreview.com
The Sanity Inspector
Those long uneven lines
Standing as patiently
As if they were stretched outside
The Oval or Villa Park,
The crowns of hats, the sun
On moustached archaic faces
Grinning as if it were all
An August Bank Holiday lark;
And the shut shops, the bleached
Established names on the sunblinds,
The farthings and sovereigns,
And dark-clothed children at play
Called after kings and queens,
The tin advertisements
For cocoa and twist, and the pubs
Wide open all day;
And the countryside not caring
The place-names all hazed over
With flowering grasses, and fields
Shadowing Domesday lines
Under wheats' restless silence;
The differently-dressed servants
With tiny rooms in huge houses,
The dust behind limousines;
Never such innocence,
Never before or since,
As changed itself to past
Without a word--the men
Leaving the gardens tidy,
The thousands of marriages
Lasting a little while longer:
Never such innocence again.
************************
Very visual, obviously the fruit of looking at a lot of old
photos. "With flowering grasses and fields/Shadowing Domesday lines"
is quite double-edged.
--
bruce
The dignified don't even enter in the game.
--The Jam
David Christian
Sanity Inspector) wrote :
>Never such innocence,
>Never before or since,
>As changed itself to past
>Without a word--the men
>Leaving the gardens tidy,
>The thousands of marriages
>Lasting a little while longer:
>Never such innocence again.
hi, y'all,
It took me a second to remember my Roman numerals, but thats 1914. Life
just before a war, rather like Auden's _September 1, 1939_
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Free thought, neccessarily involving freedom of
speech and press, I may tersely define thus:no
opinion a law-no opinion a crime.
Alexander Berkman
peter stewart richards
The Sanity Inspector wrote in message
<38792e12...@news.mindspring.com>...
>Never before or since,
>As changed itself to past
>Without a word--the men
>Leaving the gardens tidy,
>The thousands of marriages
>Lasting a little while longer:
>Never such innocence again.
>
asdfzxcv,
Finally the poem. I get the impression that there's homework to be done
here. From your post I can't tell if you're from the UK, so here's a load
of information that you would need if you aren't:
MCMXIV is 1914 and the poem is about the day before the 'war to end all
wars', the war that altered (Europeans') views on man's capacitiy for
inhumanity to man, hence:
Never such innocence again.
The Oval is a cricket ground in South London, Villa park is Aston Villa's
football stadium, in Birmingham.
For some godforsaken reason, there is a public (bank) holiday at the end of
August.
Farthings were legal tender untill some time in the 60s, they were a quarter
of a penny. The last one was minted around '56, I think. Sovereigns were
(ostensibly gold) one pound coins. They went out of circulation a long time
ago, but perhaps not before 1914.
Children are still named after the children of the royal family.
Pub licencing hours (closing time) were introduced in the interest of more
productivity from the workforce during the first world war.
The Domesday book was commissioned by William the conqueror to register all
the real estate in England and bring clinical efficiency to feudalism. Even
in 1914, there were families downstairs serving the families upstairs.
Is it English history homework?
p
aurator
Inspector's post
> >"MCMXIV"
>
> Farthings were legal tender untill some time in the 60s, they were a quarter
> of a penny. The last one was minted around '56, I think. Sovereigns were
> (ostensibly gold) one pound coins. They went out of circulation a long time
> ago, but perhaps not before 1914.
There is nothing ostensible about the gold in the sovereign. The first
sovereign was minted in 1489 and weighed 0.5 oz. Since the first of the
modern series of sovereign in 1817 there has always 0.2354 oz of gold in
the sovereign, it has a purity of .917. The sovereign, as you correctly
state is a one pound coin. The slang "quid" for the £1.00 note is
actually an abbreviation for "quid pro quo" the saying that successfully
got the English and Commonwealth nations to accept a paper note 'as good
as gold." For, until 1914, a paper £1 could be exchanged, quid pro quo
for a gold sovereign. Because of WW1 convertibility was briefly halted
and those that held paper could not redeem in gold, redemption was
resumed after the war until a date not at my ready fingertips.
Nowaday, the £1 note is backed solely by air and credence, like almost
all our paper currencies.
obquote
An honest shilling is better than a knavish sovereign.
A B Cheales 1875 Proverb folklore
Gareth Jones
The Sanity Inspector <choll...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:38792e12...@news.mindspring.com...
<snip the poem, good though>
From alt.quotations ....
Philip Arthur Larkin (1922-1985): English poet, novelist, and critic, a
leading figure of The Movement, a term coined to describe a group of British
poets that coalesced during the 1950s, about the same time as the rise of
the 'Angry Young Men'. The Movement poets addressed everyday British life in
a plain, straightforward language and often in traditional forms. They
first attracted attention with the publication of the anthology New Lines,
edited by Robert Conquest; among the contributors were Philip Larkin,
Kingsley Amis, Donald Davie and Thom Gunn.
Larkin was born in Coventry. He attended St. John's College, Oxford, during
World War II, where he met Kingsley Amis. After graduating he became a
librarian, first in the library of an urban district council in Shropshire,
later in university libraries in Leicester and Belfast. From 1955 until his
death he was the librarian of the Brynmor Jones library at the University of
Hull, which he built up from a staff of 11 to one of over 100.
As poet Larkin made his debut with the collection The North Ship in 1945,
written with short lines and carefully worked-out rhyme schemes. The sad
songs showed the influence of Yeats. It was followed by two novels, Jill
(1946) and A Girl In Winter (1947). Among Larkin's major works are The Less
Deceived (1955) and The Whitsun Weddings (1964), whose title-poem describing
the poet's journey by train from Hull to London is his best-known work.
Larkin uses the tones and rhythms of ordinary speech, and focuses on the
urban landscape of the industrial north. High Windows (1974) includes two
substantial poems about ageing, illness and death, 'The Old Fools' and 'The
Building'. In these works Larkin explores the mood of post-war England and
its reduced expectations. However, his common sense, scepticism and cool
approach of drab suburbia and welfare state sponsored lives provoked
accusations of emotional cowardice. The urge to self-limitation appears to
have carried Larkin to the point of not writing much poetry and keeping his
deeper feelings out of the poems he did write.
Although he had a number of affairs, Larkin feared marriage and family, and
never married, but he managed to maintain three long relationships. In 1974
he bought a house in Hull, which he shared with his companion Monica Jones.
Shortly after refusing the Laureateship when his friend John Betjeman died,
Larkin underwent surgery for cancer of the oesophagus, and died within a
year on December 2, 1985. In spite of his wish that his papers be destroyed,
some of his manuscripts were saved, but his voluminous diaries were burnt.
In 1993 Andrew Morton published a controversial biography of the poet, and
revealed the Nazi sympathies and misogynism of Larkin's father and the
poet's casual racism and other political incorrect attitudes.
'Deprivation is to me what daffodils are to Wordsworth.' -- Philip Larkin.
Bruce ... note the Robert Conquest connection!
Gareth
E Selow
>
> From alt.quotations ....
> Philip Arthur Larkin (1922-1985): English poet, novelist, and
critic, a
> leading figure of The Movement, a term coined to describe a
group of British
> poets that coalesced during the 1950s, about the same time as
the rise of
------<snip>------
In this case I forgive the crossposting and thank you for your
interesting survey, Gareth.
Elvira
--
Ever tried. Ever failed.
No matter.
Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
Samuel Beckett
Richard Wyatt
First of all thanks for the post. Discussion centered around poems by
established poets is a profitable activity. Not only do we hone our own
skills but we discover great poems. I've never read Larkin before but
certainly intend to read more in the future.
Now to take a stab at some of the things that are going on. The poem
seems to revolve around the irony of men going to war. As they prepare
to go out and kill the world where they live resembles more and more
some idyllic, garden of Eden strewn with flowers and social
interaction.Marraiges last longer, social barriers crumble and so on. It
also seems to me that the implication is in the poem that death in the
form of gravestones ( the long uneven lines) might be the next step in
improving the place. I might be stretching in that one though. Anyway
the further men go from the place the more humane it becomes. Those are
a few thoughts Thanks again for the post.
Richard
peter stewart richards
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.
Pope
Thanks for the sobering information.
p
aurator wrote in message <3879A7...@burns.everday>...
Joe Sykes
<<
>Nowaday, the Ł1 note is backed solely by air and credence, like almost
>all our paper currencies.
Oops.
A nearly perfect little post. I do enjoy a good read about stuff that
swirls around in our heads but doesn't settle. I'll print out your gem
but it'll disappear into that file marked miscellaneous where it will
prove completely useless when I'm at the dinner party where someone
asks, 'Anyone know...?' One of my uncles gave me twenty one Krugerrand
for my twenty first. Each exactly an ounce of gold. Boring.
Larkin can be a bore, too, if you aren't careful. I like him best when
he brings a simple elegance to contemporary vernacular. He published
a book of essays, title escapes me, which I enjoyed but I'm blessed if
I can remember a single one. Possibly more to do with the early onset
of my dotage than with Larkin's talent. Fellow wrote some proper poetry,
it must be said. For a bigot.
Syko
Michael J Conover
>Ever tried. Ever failed.
>No matter.
>Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
> Samuel Beckett
What I’ve felt,
What I’ve known,
Never shine through in what I’ve shown.
Never be,
Never see,
Won’t see what might have been.
-Metallica (James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, Jason
Newsted)
The Unforgiven, "Metallica", 1991
---Michael
The Sanity Inspector
wrote:
>Larkin can be a bore, too, if you aren't careful. I like him best when
>he brings a simple elegance to contemporary vernacular. He published
>a book of essays, title escapes me, which I enjoyed but I'm blessed if
>I can remember a single one. Possibly more to do with the early onset
>of my dotage than with Larkin's talent. Fellow wrote some proper poetry,
>it must be said. For a bigot.
I recommend reading the chapter on him in Kingsley Amis's
_Memoirs_. The whole book, really, as Larkin makes cameo appearances
in the other sections, too.
Obquote:
...makes me look like a bit of a s---.
--Larkin, protesting Amis's depiction of Larkin moaning over
being about to receive the poet laureate award.
aurator
>
> In article <3879A7...@burns.everday>, aurator <Pa...@burns.everday>
> <<
> >Nowaday, the Ł1 note is backed solely by air and credence, like almost
> >all our paper currencies.
>
> Oops.
>
> A nearly perfect little post. I do enjoy a good read about stuff that
> swirls around in our heads but doesn't settle.
Thank you.
The crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold, and a man is tested
by the praise accorded him.
Unknown
from aurator's oubliette.
Graham J Weeks
aurator wrote:
>
>
> The crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold, and a man is tested
> by the praise accorded him.
> Unknown
>
The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but man is tested by the
praise he receives. Prov. 27:21 NIV
--
Graham J Weeks
http://www.weeks-g.dircon.co.uk/ My homepage of quotations
http://www.grace.org.uk/churches/ealing.html Our church
http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/Christiansquoting Daily quotes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The common cold, if left untreated, lasts about two weeks.
If treated with medication and rest, it lasts about fourteen days.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CLys...@webtv.net
by Philip Larkin
The thousands of marriages
Lasting a little while longer:
Never such innocence again.
Youth-you who are carefree, beautiful-receive me again-
I Wait, I wait.
Images float through my mind, but they do not grip, they are mere
shadows and memories.
Nothing-nothing-
My disquietude grows.
A terrible feeling of foulness suddenly rises up in me. I cannot find my
way back, I am shut out though I entreat earnestly and put forth all my
strength.
Nothing Stirs: listless and wretched, like a condemned man, I sit there
and the past withdraws itself."
MCMXIV by Philip Larkin is about the innocence that is lost by the
generation that fought in World War One. The passage from the book All
Quiet on The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is saying that the
men are the lost youth. In the passage Remarque's main character, Paul,
tries to read, to feel something other than the need to fight. What he
finds is the nothingness that comes from seeing and being a part of
horrors that are indescribable. The books are meaningless nothing will
mean anything anymore, just like those last moments with their wives.
When Paul is trying to read the books he said images come to him but "
they are mere shadows and memories… And the past withdraws itself". At
the end of the poem Larkin writes " Never such innocence , Never before
or since…Never such innocence again." The truth is it never was the
same again for the soldiers
aurator
>
> >
> >
> > The crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold, and a man is tested
> > by the praise accorded him.
> > Unknown
> >
>
> The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but man is tested by the
> praise he receives. Prov. 27:21 NIV
Thanks Graham, what is NIV?
aubquote
Praise, like gold and diamonds, owes its value only to its scarcity.
--Samuel Butler
The Sanity Inspector
>Graham J Weeks wrote in response to aurator who wrote:
>> The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but man is tested by the
>> praise he receives. Prov. 27:21 NIV
>
>
>Thanks Graham, what is NIV?
New International Version
or Nakedly Infidel Version, depending on how fundamentalist
one is.
Kenneth S.
I know a preacher (guess who, Graham!) who likes to refer to all
versions other than the King James as "perversions."
asdf...@my-deja.com
Nice try, but this wasn't the answer I was looking for.
Yours faithfully,
John
In article <38792e12...@news.mindspring.com>,
chollanam...@mindspring.com wrote:
> "MCMXIV"
> Without a word--the men
> Leaving the gardens tidy,
> The thousands of marriages
> Lasting a little while longer:
> Never such innocence again.
>
> ************************
>
> Very visual, obviously the fruit of looking at a lot of old
> photos. "With flowering grasses and fields/Shadowing Domesday lines"
> is quite double-edged.
>
> --
> bruce
> The dignified don't even enter in the game.
> --The Jam
>
asdf...@my-deja.com
This is interesting and probably valid but doesn't address the question
I put to you all to start this thread. Please see message one of this
thread.
Yours faithfully,
John
In article <5368-388...@storefull-116.iap.bryant.webtv.net>,
CLys...@webtv.net wrote:
> MCMXIV
> by Philip Larkin
> Without a word -- the men
> Leaving the gardens tidy,
> The thousands of marriages
> Lasting a little while longer:
> Never such innocence again.
> they are mere shadows and memories=85 And the past withdraws itself".
At
> the end of the poem Larkin writes " Never such innocence , Never
before
> or since=85Never such innocence again." The truth is it never was the
> same again for the soldiers
>
>
asdf...@my-deja.com
The answer below is in the right spirit but the fact that MCMXIV is the
year of the beginning of the First World War is something that was
obvious to me to first time I read the poem and *should be obvious to
any educated person*.
Please read carefully message one of this thread.
Yours faithfully,
John
In article <387a3b10....@news.mindspring.com>,
dckomat...@mindspring.com wrote:
> On Mon, 10 Jan 2000 01:04:23 GMT c.e., choll...@mindspring.com (The
> Sanity Inspector) wrote :
> >Never such innocence,
> >Never before or since,
> >As changed itself to past
> >Without a word--the men
> >Leaving the gardens tidy,
> >The thousands of marriages
> >Lasting a little while longer:
> >Never such innocence again.
>
> hi, y'all,
> It took me a second to remember my Roman numerals, but thats 1914.
Life
> just before a war, rather like Auden's _September 1, 1939_
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Free thought, neccessarily involving freedom of
> speech and press, I may tersely define thus:no
> opinion a law-no opinion a crime.
> Alexander Berkman
>
asdf...@my-deja.com
"The Sanity Inspector" wrote:
" asdfzxcv,
>
> Finally the poem. I get the impression that there's homework to
be done
> here. From your post I can't tell if you're from the UK[...] "
I *am* from the UK.
As for the history, I was familiar with all of your points.
And I recommend you read message one again.
Yours faithfully,
John
In article <38797...@news.jancomulti.com>,
"peter stewart richards" <pric...@chello.no> wrote:
>
> The Sanity Inspector wrote in message
> <38792e12...@news.mindspring.com>...
> >"MCMXIV"
> >
> >
> >Those long uneven lines
> >Standing as patiently
> >As if they were stretched outside
> >The Oval or Villa Park,
> >The crowns of hats, the sun
> >On moustached archaic faces
> >Grinning as if it were all
> >An August Bank Holiday lark;
> >
> >And the shut shops, the bleached
> >Established names on the sunblinds,
> >The farthings and sovereigns,
> >And dark-clothed children at play
> >Called after kings and queens,
> >The tin advertisements
> >For cocoa and twist, and the pubs
> >Wide open all day;
> >
> >And the countryside not caring
> >The place-names all hazed over
> >With flowering grasses, and fields
> >Shadowing Domesday lines
> >Under wheats' restless silence;
> >The differently-dressed servants
> >With tiny rooms in huge houses,
> >The dust behind limousines;
> >
> >Never such innocence,
> >Never before or since,
> >As changed itself to past
> >Without a word--the men
> >Leaving the gardens tidy,
> >The thousands of marriages
> >Lasting a little while longer:
> >Never such innocence again.
> >
> >************************
>
> asdfzxcv,
>
> Finally the poem. I get the impression that there's homework to
be done
> here. From your post I can't tell if you're from the UK, so here's a
load
> of information that you would need if you aren't:
>
> MCMXIV is 1914 and the poem is about the day before the 'war to end
all
> wars', the war that altered (Europeans') views on man's capacitiy for
> inhumanity to man, hence:
> Never such innocence again.
>
> The Oval is a cricket ground in South London, Villa park is Aston
Villa's
> football stadium, in Birmingham.
>
> For some godforsaken reason, there is a public (bank) holiday at the
end of
> August.
>
> Farthings were legal tender untill some time in the 60s, they were a
quarter
> of a penny. The last one was minted around '56, I think. Sovereigns
were
> (ostensibly gold) one pound coins. They went out of circulation a
long time
> ago, but perhaps not before 1914.
>
> Children are still named after the children of the royal family.
>
> Pub licencing hours (closing time) were introduced in the interest of
more
> productivity from the workforce during the first world war.
>
> The Domesday book was commissioned by William the conqueror to
register all
> the real estate in England and bring clinical efficiency to feudalism.
Even
> in 1914, there were families downstairs serving the families upstairs.
>
> Is it English history homework?
>
> p
>
> >
> > Very visual, obviously the fruit of looking at a lot of old
> >photos. "With flowering grasses and fields/Shadowing Domesday lines"
> >is quite double-edged.
> >
> >--
> >bruce
> >The dignified don't even enter in the game.
> >--The Jam
>
>
asdf...@my-deja.com
"Syco" wrote:
" Fellow wrote some proper
poetry,
> it must be said. For a bigot."
Was he trying to be funny, I wonder?
Yours faithfully,
John
In article <4Q6lsPAq...@omism.demon.co.uk>,
Sy...@omism.demon.co.uk wrote:
> In article <3879A7...@burns.everday>, aurator
<Pa...@burns.everday>
> <<
> >Nowaday, the Ł1 note is backed solely by air and credence, like
almost
> >all our paper currencies.
>
> Oops.
>
> A nearly perfect little post. I do enjoy a good read about stuff that
> swirls around in our heads but doesn't settle. I'll print out your gem
> but it'll disappear into that file marked miscellaneous where it will
> prove completely useless when I'm at the dinner party where someone
> asks, 'Anyone know...?' One of my uncles gave me twenty one Krugerrand
> for my twenty first. Each exactly an ounce of gold. Boring.
>
> Larkin can be a bore, too, if you aren't careful. I like him best when
> he brings a simple elegance to contemporary vernacular. He published
> a book of essays, title escapes me, which I enjoyed but I'm blessed if
> I can remember a single one. Possibly more to do with the early onset
> of my dotage than with Larkin's talent. Fellow wrote some proper
poetry,
> it must be said. For a bigot.
>
> Syko
bobb...@my-deja.com
You might be refering to the countryside or "gentry" not giving a rats
ass about the war because they did not generally take part. Things
haven't changed all that much have they?
Bobby
In article <85a7b4$bsq$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>,
asdf...@my-deja.com wrote:
> Dear All,
>
> I'm interested in Philip Larkin and his poetry.
>
> I'd like to discuss particular phrases with regard to the denoted and
> connoted meanings.
>
> For example, has anyone noticed how strange *MCMXIV* is?
>
> I noticed something on the umptieth recitation from memory, that hit
me
> with the force of a blow.
>
> Something that completely changed my perception of the poem.
>
> Anyone here know what I'm talking about?
>
> Yours faithfully,
>
> John
>
The Sanity Inspector
>Dear All,
>
>"The Sanity Inspector" wrote:
>
>" asdfzxcv,
>>
>> Finally the poem. I get the impression that there's homework to
>be done
>> here. From your post I can't tell if you're from the UK[...] "
>
>I *am* from the UK.
>
>As for the history, I was familiar with all of your points.
>
>And I recommend you read message one again.
Mind your attributions, please. It's not me you're replying
to.
peter stewart richards
asdf...@my-deja.com wrote in message <86s1g1$134$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>...
>Dear All,
>
>"The Sanity Inspector" wrote:
>
>" asdfzxcv,
>>
>> Finally the poem. I get the impression that there's homework to
>be done
>> here. From your post I can't tell if you're from the UK[...] "
>
>I *am* from the UK.
>
You also just told us, in a recent post, that you are *an educated
person*. You could have saved a whole lot of trouble for all of us if you'd
let us know in the first place.
>As for the history, I was familiar with all of your points.
>
>And I recommend you read message one again.
>
I shan't and neither shall I read your first post. I can tell without
referring back to it, that you phrased your question poorly and took little
or no account of the fact that you were an unknown and anonymous voice
speaking to the whole world. Better luck next time and thanks for starting
the discussion. It has, after all, been etertaining and informative in
parts. It has also been pleasant, right up until your last series of posts
telling everybody how clever you are and how dumb everybody else has been
for failing to guess the intention of your badly formulated request.
Yours grumpily
p
asdf...@my-deja.com
"Mind your attributions, please. It's not me you're replying
> to."
My mistake. But it was caused by the careless layout of the posting I
was replying to.
Yours faithfully,
John
In article <3892446d...@news.mindspring.com>,
chollanam...@mindspring.com wrote:
> On Fri, 28 Jan 2000 12:19:15 GMT, asdf...@my-deja.com wrote:
>
> >Dear All,
> >
> >"The Sanity Inspector" wrote:
> >
> >" asdfzxcv,
> >>
> >> Finally the poem. I get the impression that there's homework
to
> >be done
> >> here. From your post I can't tell if you're from the UK[...] "
> >
> >I *am* from the UK.
> >
> >As for the history, I was familiar with all of your points.
> >
> >And I recommend you read message one again.
>
> Mind your attributions, please. It's not me you're replying
> to.
>
> --
> bruce
> The dignified don't even enter in the game.
> --The Jam
>
asdf...@my-deja.com
It has not been my intention to give offence.
I merely wished to correct p (that) with regard to my origins and to the
fact that the history lesson was unnecessary, unwelcome and missing the
point of the question.
If p wishes to persist in his grumpiness that is his problem more than
mine.
Yours faithfully,
John
In article <3892b...@news.jancomulti.com>,
"peter stewart richards" <pric...@chello.no> wrote:
>
> asdf...@my-deja.com wrote in message <86s1g1$134$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>...
> >Dear All,
> >
> >"The Sanity Inspector" wrote:
> >
> >" asdfzxcv,
> >>
> >> Finally the poem. I get the impression that there's homework
to
> >be done
> >> here. From your post I can't tell if you're from the UK[...] "
> >
> >I *am* from the UK.
> >
>
> You also just told us, in a recent post, that you are *an educated
> person*. You could have saved a whole lot of trouble for all of us if
you'd
> let us know in the first place.
>
> >As for the history, I was familiar with all of your points.
> >
> >And I recommend you read message one again.
> >
>
> I shan't and neither shall I read your first post. I can tell
without
> referring back to it, that you phrased your question poorly and took
little
> or no account of the fact that you were an unknown and anonymous voice
> speaking to the whole world. Better luck next time and thanks for
starting
> the discussion. It has, after all, been etertaining and informative
in
> parts. It has also been pleasant, right up until your last series of
posts
> telling everybody how clever you are and how dumb everybody else has
been
> for failing to guess the intention of your badly formulated request.
>
> Yours grumpily
>
> p
>
>
peter stewart richards
asdf...@my-deja.com wrote in message <879ies$haj$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>...
>Dear All,
>
>It has not been my intention to give offence.
>
>I merely wished to correct p (that) with regard to my origins and to the
>fact that the history lesson was unnecessary, unwelcome and missing the
>point of the question.
Which question referred to 'obscure references' in the poem, yes? So I
write up a post which would explain all kinds of things about where Aston
Villa play something that people from the Black Country call football, along
with other tasty morsels that would have been pretty obscure to the average
contributor to a ng such as this. Your response is to puff out your chest
and proclaim your Britishness and Sophistication and your pique at the whole
wide world not realising that anything that signs its name as asdfzxcv must
so obviously have such attributes. You have now done precisely the same
thing for the second time, in addition to which you inform 'Dear All', or
whoever's listening, that I have a problem. I didn't know you cared.
p
sophie
> Which question referred to 'obscure references' in the poem, yes? So I
>write up a post which would explain all kinds of things about where Aston
>Villa play something that people from the Black Country call football,
heresy!
aston villa don't play in the black country.
that's wolves. or west brom.
hope this helps.
--
sophie
asdf...@my-deja.com
First I wish to thank Richard for thanking me for my post.
I'm gratified to have introduced someone to Larkin, my favourite poet.
Richard wrote:
"It also seems to me that the implication is in the poem that death in
the form of gravestones ( the long uneven lines) might be the next step
in improving the place. I might be stretching in that one though."
I must say that I hadn't made the connection between uneven lines and
graves before. It's ideas like this that make discussion groups
worthwhile I think. Thanks for that.
And sorry to take so long to reply, I'm new at Deja and I didn't
immediately find out about it.
Yours faithfully,
John
In article <28407-38...@storefull-221.iap.bryant.webtv.net>,
asdf...@my-deja.com
I feel it's "To early to tell."
Yours faithfully,
John
In article <38793164...@alsopreview.com>,
al...@alsopreview.com wrote:
> asdf...@my-deja.com wrote:
>
> > Dear All,
> >
> > I'm interested in Philip Larkin and his poetry.
> >
> > I'd like to discuss particular phrases with regard to the denoted
and
> > connoted meanings.
> >
> > For example, has anyone noticed how strange *MCMXIV* is?
> >
> > I noticed something on the umptieth recitation from memory, that hit
me
> > with the force of a blow.
> >
>
> Larkin's my favourite poet. What did you see that struck you so?
>
> --
> Jaimes Alsop
> The Alsop Review
> http://www.alsopreview.com
ra...@my-deja.com
I think perhaps it's better that the lands north of Watford Gap rekain
uncharted.
Leslie Paul Davies
:that I noticed it's rather special feature. And, though I say so myself,
:I am exceptionally perceptive in these matters.
asdf...@my-deja.com wrote:
: Dear All,
: I feel it's "To early to tell."
Yep. Me two. <PLONKLY>
GL
--
Paul W2SYF/4 Ft Lauderdale EL96vc
"Heisenberg may have slept here... "
Leslie Paul Davies
lpda...@bc.seflin.org
Gareth Jones
peter stewart richards <pric...@chello.no> wrote in message
news:38986...@news.jancomulti.com...
>
> asdf...@my-deja.com wrote in message <879ies$haj$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>...
> >Dear All,
> >
> >It has not been my intention to give offence.
> >
> >I merely wished to correct p (that) with regard to my origins and to the
> >fact that the history lesson was unnecessary, unwelcome and missing the
> >point of the question.
>
I
> write up a post which would explain all kinds of things about where Aston
> Villa play something that people from the Black Country call football,
> with other tasty morsels that would have been pretty obscure to the
average
> contributor to a ng such as this. Your response is to puff out your chest
> and proclaim your Britishness and Sophistication and your pique at the
whole
> wide world not realising that anything that signs its name as asdfzxcv
must
> so obviously have such attributes. You have now done precisely the same
> thing for the second time, in addition to which you inform 'Dear All', or
> whoever's listening, that I have a problem. I didn't know you cared.
>
Gareth
Gareth Jones
> Which question referred to 'obscure references' in the poem, yes? So
I
> write up a post which would explain all kinds of things about where Aston
> Villa
"I can't take the rock star s**t seriously," he shrugs. "There's a book
called 'How To Be A Rock Star'. The first page should say 'Hope you've got
talent, good luck'. Instead, it says 'First get a lawyer'. F**k off! I'm
primitive. I come from Aston (a suburb of Birmingham) and I make primitive
f**king street level music. That's all I need to know, ya' know?"
Gareth