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This is an interesting claim. I have not found lack of trust to be all that central to his work. I just had a flip through my copy of the Collected Poems, and n
by ycombinete 4y ago
This is an interesting claim. I have not found lack of trust to be all that central to his work. I just had a flip through my copy of the Collected Poems, and none of the 30 or so bookmarked favourites feature trust.
I would say that at the core, tying the various themes(sex, death, failure, general human misery) together are the sentiments of resignation, and resentment. The kind of resentment that grows out of powerlessness, and inevitability.
- pyuser583 4y agoThank you! I’ll have to reread his work. I really love Larkin. What you’re describing “sex, death, failure, general human misery, fueled by resentment grown out of powerlessness and inevitability” makes me think of Evelyn Waugh.
- ycombinete 4y agoDefinitely! I found this in Waugh’s letters, which are fantastic. He is more wryly sardonic, and less bleak than Larkin.