Philip Larkin’s Point of View in “Church Going”

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Discuss the Philip Larkin’s point of view in “Church Going”. How does he feel about religion? Re-read the first two lines of the poem. Can they be interpreted in more than one way? First of all, it should be mentioned, as a way of starting, that Philip Larkin was considered to be an atheist, that is to say, he disbelieved – or even denied – the existence of God, so a poem against the Catholic institution should be expected. As a matter of fact, the narrator of the poem seems to be not very familiar about the schedule of the religious services. It would be evident for someone who enters regularly inside a church at any given time knowing if there would be ‘something’ going on. Moreover, he might have entered in a hurry, without taking a look at the timetable that it uses to be attached to the door of almost every church. Thus, reading the first line, one may argue that it was maybe curiosity, and not devotion, what made the narrator enter inside the holy place. It is only when he is quite sure that there is nothing happening inside that he steps into the building. In addition to this, it gives the impression that he does not want to be seen inside, because he closes the door making such a noise that if anyone would have been inside, he would have noticed it. However, it is unavoidable to have the feeling that the narrator is escaping from something. He closes the door in such way, as if he has left everything that troubles him outside the church and, after leaving his bike outside, he would be searching for a quiet place away from the problems of his daily life. Furthermore, one may consider, after reading the proposed first two lines, that the narrator’s behavior is completely disrespectful. First of all, he refers to the holy services in a scornful way, instead of using other words, such as ‘mass’, for example. Secondly, he closes the door violently and without

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