Larkin the "transcendant anti-Romantic"

I would have to say I'm more drawn to the idea of Larkin as a dark writer looking for that trancendent experience. Given the comments in "Church Going" regarding the narrator looking for a religious experience in a supposedly religious area, I'd like to think that there is a desire to have that feeling. Otherwise, why bother with the search? It'd be much easier to buy him as a cynical person who has no faith in finding connections to anything. He seems to share this idea in "Talking in Bed" when he mentions the idea of isolation even in the most intimate of settings. However, if that is truly the case, the why write about any intimate relationship at all? Larkin's endeavors to prove how apathetic he is only seem to say the opposite. In "Talking in Bed" he writes that the more time that passes, the more isolated people become to each other when in fact it should be the exact opposite. While this could be a perception of Larkin's real-life experiences, he could also use this as a defense of remaining alone. If all relationships are built on lies and false feelings, then the is no point in pursuing a relationship or trying to establish a connection with anyone. The more someone disparages an idea, the more that person is likely to eventually believe what they're saying. The same can also be said in "Church Going" when Larkin seems to go out of his way to downplay the importance of religion, while the narrator consistently searches for the trancendence found in religion. In degrading those who classify themselves as religious, the narrator can pretend to be unaffected by his lack of religious insight. The narrator here behaves much the same way in "Talking in Bed;" both serve as a form of self-defense. For these reasons, I regard Larkin as more of a moody writer in search of a belief in the Romantic ideals.

Steps by Frank O'Hara

The first thing that can be noted about this poem is the fact that it shares a title word with O'Hara's more famous poem "A Step Away from Them." Not to say that O'Hara was known for original titles, in this book alone he has at least 4 poems entitled "Poem", but it does deserve mentioning. Mostly, in my opinion, because this poem is all about what other people are doing rather than O'Hara himself. Even though the poem starts off with O'Hara's actions and ends with them. I like to think of this poem as an "I do this, I do that" poem with a twist. I like to read it like a love poem. He opens up with referencing Ginger Rogers in "Swingtime" in which she starred opposite Fred Astaire in one of their many romantic movie set ups. In the movie she not only plays a woman in love, but also a dancer so the idea of "steps" is not far off nor the subject of love. O'Hara goes on to say that he's leaving a bed full of V-days (presumably a reference to Valentine's Day) because he was tired of D-Days (doom's days?) and yet the blue still welcomes him. O'Hara writes that he wants just a place to be alone with a nameless figure (a "you"). The New York references continue with the depiction of traffic as just another way to establish connections among humans and society. Congestion serves as an excuse for people to have physical contact with others and that when their "surgical appliances lock" they stay together; at least for the day. Which could possibly serve as a O'Hara mocking one night stands with surgical appliances as a metaphor for sexual organs. He breaks the lines referencing this form of a connection in three different lines: and when their surgical appliances lock they stay together for the rest of the day (what a day). In doing this he leads us into a false sense of a true connection. As the reader, we think that they will stay together and then are blindsided with a more cynical reality of where false connections truly lead--no where. O'Hara then starts talking about the art world of New York again. He's once again looking at the positive by saying that something isn't as blue as it appears but quickly jumps to the cynical again when describing the image obsessed members of Hollywood's elite (rib watchers). O'Hara quickly leaves the darker images behind (as he is known to do) and then starts talking about the joy of being alive. Then he jumps to how the murders in New York are helping deal with the population explosion, but they're taking place in the wrong country. This idea seems in complete opposition to O'Hara's earlier comment that the congestion helped establish stronger human connections. Yet, O'Hara seems to be particular in which people connect with others. The reference to the Seagram Building (the most expensive building built of its time in 1957 due to the extensive use of copper) seems to be a dig at the re-zoning laws issues in New York in 1961. This zoning resolution encouraged people to open privately owned businesses emulating that of the Seagram Building. This would go on to be unsuccessful so when O'Hara says it's no longer rivaled in interest, it could be his way of saying "no one is interested in it." O'Hara then describes the simplistic life of an older married couple who apparently share a well worn routine that speaks of a long lasting relationship. Which of course rounds back to the origin of the poem: love. O'Hara ends the poem by reflecting on the idea that it's so wonderful to be able to wake up and live life knowing that he (the narrator) has someone to love. Everything else, even the negative, can take a back seat in his mind because at the end of the day, all that truly matters is the relationships we have and those we love.

Skunk Hour

I feel like "Skunk Hour" rounds out this section of poems rather well. It hits on several of themes of the section: his family members (mostly focused on his father), his illness, and the colors (with a focus on blue), and nature. The very first verse stanza seems to be about his grandparents. The allusion to "first selectman" who would otherwise serve as the head of the town or village could be a reference to his grandfather whom Lowell looked up to. The fact that the first selectman is also a farmer, and Lowell refers to his Grandfather owning a farm in "My Last Afternoon with Uncle Devereux Winslow," also helps this assumption. The hermit heiress' son being a bishop then would reflect the first poem of the section which focuses on the death of Lowell's uncle. The second stanza also seems to be a reflection of the first few poems with the mention of "hierarchic privacy," and "Queen Victoria's century."

The third and fourth stanza are more about the poems involving his parents. Especially given the language: L.L. Bean (a recreational store), lobstermen, summer millionaire, etc. (clearly all pertaining to his father who once served in the Navy). The fifth and sixth stanzas reflect the poems like "Waking in the Blue" and "Home After Three Months Away" which deal directly with Lowell's struggle with his psychological issues and the time he spent in a sanitarium. He bluntly ends the fourth stanza with "My mind's not right." Then further adds to a description of his own suffering with "...I hear/my ill-spirit sob in each blood cell,/as if my hand were at its throat.../I myself am hell."

Finally, we end the poem with the final two stanzas describing a night in the life of a family of skunks while Lowell watches. Descriptions of nature from Lowell's perspective hearken to the last few poems of this section such as "Memories of West Street and Lepke" and "Man and
Wife." Both of the aforementioned poems describe Lowell (or the narrator) admiring nature. In "Memories" he talks about the lives going on around him and even mentions "the man/scavenging filth in the back alley trash cans" very much so like the skunks in "Skunk Hour." All of the references to black and white objects in the last two stanzas (skunks, white stripes, moonlight, moonstruck eyes, chalk-dry, sour cream, ostrich tail) sends me back to the very first poem of the selection ("My Last Afternoon") in which he mentions his uncle blending "to the one color" right after he describes a black pile and a white pile. Given all of these references to the earlier poems, and the progression of the final poem itself, I would have to say that it is the perfect way to end the entire section.

Howl

I actually feel very reconciled with the way the poem ends. Initially when I read the whole poem through I really didn't understand it, but after it was broken down in class I felt that the central ideas really came together. The majority of the first section of the poem addresses how Ginsberg feels the "best minds of his generation" tried to find transcendence and meaning within the world. The people he describes turned to drugs, gave way to insanity, looked towards art, and various other activities in order to find a higher level of awareness and spirituality. At the end of the first and second section, Ginsberg shares his beliefs on the subject: when art is done right, one can find a connection to God. I feel that that message directly correlates to the rest of the poem. He is basically saying that all drugs taken and all of the suffering these people have subjected themselves to are not accomplishing their goal. That these "best minds" are wasted when not applied to their art/craft/love.

We also see this within the second section of the poem. I would imagine that Moloch is a metaphor for capitalism. I imagine that Ginsberg is then discussing in the second section how the same great minds are not welcome in the capitalist society. The poets and artists are struggling to fit into a world that doesn't understand them and they in turn do not understand themselves. In the end of the poem however, we see some kind of comfort in the idea that the "mad generation" "bade farewell" to that world and found solitude and peace elsewhere. That idea hearkens to the end of the first section where Ginsberg describes art as the true path to God and now in this section, an escape.