Larkin's Poems 'Sunny Prestatyn And Wild Oats'

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‘Larkin rarely presents women in a positive light.’ In the light of this statement compare the ways in which Larkin and Abse write about women in their poems. In your response, you must include detailed critical discussion of at least two of Larkin’s poems. I agree with the statement ‘Larkin rarely presents women in a positive light’ as in his poems ‘Sunny Prestatyn’ and ‘Wild Oats’ it is recognizable that he portrays women as sex objects. In contrary, Abse feels a more personal and passionate connection towards women which is demonstrated through the poems ‘Two Photographs’ and ‘Blond Boys.’ Both poets explore their attraction to woman. Conversely Larkin presents his fascination over women to be a sexual one in which he also degrades them.…show more content…
One of the ways this is illustrated through is in the second stanza he describes her as being ‘slapped up’. The onomatopoeic phrase suggests men’s sarcastic prejudice view on women as sexual objects; it also emphasizes the challenges the girl is facing in men’s attitudes toward her. Larkin also humiliates the girl by describing the obscene disfigurement to the image of her ‘huge tits... A tuberous cock and balls’. The taboo language helps to demonstrate more than just adolescent immaturity but deliberate and repeated attempts to degrade her by a kind of visual rape. However one could also argue that Larkin seems to justify violence against women by suggesting that access to women is something men have been unfairly deprived of. This becomes evident in the first stanza where Larkin presents the girl in ‘white satin’ suggesting her purity and virginity. One could disagree with this statement and interpret the de-feminizing of women differently. It could be suggested that Larkin combines masculinity and femininity together, ‘moustached lips’, to show his view that men and women should be viewed more equally in society. However I disagree with this alternative interpretation as I feel Larkin tries to portray the attacks ‘snaggle-toothed’ and boss-eyed’ are sadistic and grotesque but he does not disagree with…show more content…
Larkin describes one of the girls to be ‘a bosomy English rose’ and the other ‘in specs’, who we feel is less attractive. Larkin objectifies one of the women and pictures her as a sexual object due to her looks, the other women he ‘could talk to’ suggesting this time Larkin is manipulating her personality. In the second stanza Larkin mentions ‘a ten guinea ring’, one could argue this could be a sign of marriage but not actually conforming to her, however this is ambiguous, as we do no know what girl hold this ring. What I find most significant about the ring is the fact Larkin goes against his views on consumerism to try and seduce a women. Nevertheless Larkin ‘got it back in the end’ which illustrates Larkin not fully conforming to her results in rejection. In the ultimate stanza Larkin criticizes his own personality ‘I was too selfish… easily bored to love’. This could suggest he is too simply mundane and egocentric for someone to love him. Alternatively it could be appear that Larkin is presenting women in a unenthusiastic light as he could also be suggesting that there can’t be one women with the right appearance and personality therefore he is selfish as he needs two women to meet his requirements. This point is reinforced in the second stanza where he describes meeting ‘beautiful twice’ which could demonstrate he met two sides of beauty one in a character and one
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