Theme:
The poem is still very much relevant to modern day advertisement. In magazines, posters, TV adverts and billboards beauty is always a major theme. Whether it be the beauty of a product or a person. Beauty is appealing to the public, although less realistic. Larkin's idea that beauty is 'essential' shows that without it nothing or no one will be attractive.
Content:
Essential Beauty is a poem about the contrast between life in advertisement and reality.
Analysis:
Whitsun Weddings - He doesn't believe in the show of happiness; the couples are happy, he is not therefore it is not real. They fake their happiness so they almost believe it themselves. They don't fool him.
Talking in Bed - Being a couple should be happy. Larkin doesn't see it as this and we are expected to enjoy lying in bed side by side but this is just images and ideals not reality.
An Arundel Tomb - Both poems have a false show, the adverts hold false happiness and the tombs show an eternal love. Larkin assumes that because he is not happy or doesn't experience the adverts that they are not real and no one is happy.
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